Adventures in LA Comedy

Jason and I have been in Southern California all week. Traveling by car while disabled has it's pros & cons. Pro: Handicapped Parking Placard. This thing is AMAZING. My walking is very limited by my cast and so having the placard is so helpful! Not only can I park close, but I can park at meters and not pay them, and park in timed parking areas for as long as I want. It's pretty cool and definitely helpful in a busy city like LA. Con: MY LEG IS IN A DAMN CAST! It's uncomfortable to just exist, let alone exist in a car for multiple hours at a time. The sleeping situation hasn't been as horrible as I thought it would be. With the exception of a few nights in a motel- we've been sleeping on couches of my friends (Thanks MARK & HEATH! So helpful and so accommodating!) Actually what's really bothering me is the hours we're spending at Starbucks catching up on our Facebook and emails as we try to write something, anything, like this blog right now. My foot needs to be elevated, on a pillow or something soft, and not all Starbuck's facilities can provide me with that. But enough about that... I have pain pills for that...

So LA has been... weird. Our first day here, an English guy at a Starbucks approached me and told me I was beautiful. He wasn't hitting on me (I don't think) but just wanted me to know that I was beautiful. TAKE NOTE FELLAS! It's not like I was in a shitty mood before this European stranger came over to our table, but it was definitely a confidence booster! And this guy wasn't creepy at all. (Please take note of that too! Don't be creepy about it!) He was very polite, asked Jason if he was my boyfriend as to not step over any boundaries, and then BAM! Compliment! The best part of this was that I wasn't wearing any make up and had sat in a car for 6 hours. I definitely have a lot of issues with my appearance. I honestly don't think I'm the kind of girl that make guys look twice. I don't think I'm bad looking, I just believe that when out in public, and there are other women around, I'm not anyone's first choice of someone they'd like to get to know. Basically, what I'm saying is that my mysterious British man made me feel really good about myself and left me smiling the rest of the day.

That night we were booked to do a show by a friend of ours at 930. We were asked to bring as many friends as we could to watch the show. I'm horrible at getting people to see me. I don't know what it is about me, but I have friends from school that for the last 4 years have said they want to see me perform, and I tell them when and where, and they never follow through. I send event updates and messages and I'm lucky if I can get a "maybe" reply on facebook; which is really just a polite "no." A "yes" response is a polite "maybe." Anybody that replies "no" is just being honest. ANYWAY. I'm not a bringer. We got to the show around 7pm and found some people we knew. We found out that there was an open mic before the booked show, so we signed up for it. I mean, why not get some extra stage time in to practice some newer material? Long story short- the "open mic" ran until 11pm. I had some girl I went to school with show up with some friends and they WERE the audience. I didn't get on stage for the open mic until about 10pm, and I only got up when I did because my friends shouted to the host, "We want KELLY!" The host was a dick to me and Jason. He kept telling Jason he was next, and didn't put him on until almost last. The booked show started almost 2 hours late! It was super unprofessional and the open mic host was a royal ass to us. Just because he didn't know who Jason & I were didn't mean he had to treat us like shit. After my set, the host said, "You know what your friends are gonna say after this? 'You were the best one'." And I quickly replied, "Cause it's true." What an asshole. He thinks I brought people to tell me I'm good. Fuck that guy. I was good because I AM FUCKING Good. I don't like to sound egotistical but damnit I certainly was the funniest one there. We left shortly after both Jason and I performed. We were not staying for the "booked" show. Another person left the show and told me I was right- I was the best one there. THANK YOU STRANGER! Validation is always welcomed! I left the show that night having a very low opinion of the comedy scene in LA, that being my first time performing here and all.

Okay, so maybe that was a long story long... My bad.

The next night Jason and I were booked for a show at The Ice House in Pasadena. It was being recording for Comedy Time TV (Comedytime.tv ... it'll be up on the site in about 90 days I think) and we had to do 8 clean, family friendly minutes of jokes. The place was SOLD OUT! It was packed. Close to 200 people in there! It was amazing. The laughter was so loud and hard from the crowd I thought I was physically going to be pushed back a few steps from it all, like an incredible gust of wind in a storm. It was fantastic. Every joke hit! The crowd laughed so genuinely and long that it was really hard for me to not laugh with them. They were truly entertained. It was incredible. And I got a sweet DVD out of it. The polar opposite of the previous night.

The rest of the week has been alright. We haven't had too many shows to do. We were late for a sign up of an open mic and couldn't get on, and it was really hard to find shows to do on the weekend. We've been enjoying the sun and sights of San Diego this weekend. Well we did an open mic in San Diego, and it went well- tried out some new premises which has me excited that I have new premises to even try. Spent Saturday on a boat touring the San Diego Bay, and Sunday at the ball park where we watched the Giants beat the Padres and I got completely sunburned- yes I applied sun screen... apparently you have to keep applying it if you're at a baseball game for 11 innings.

We're back in LA trying to get up at the Comedy Store. It's a "lottery" to get on the open mic, but I've been told that the fact that I'm a girl can help my chances in getting on the show. I'm also not opposed to using my cast for sympathy points either. Hey! I drove hundreds of miles to get here to perform- I'm gonna take everything I can get.

I keep wondering if I could live here. It's beautiful. Traffic sucks. More comics wanting stage time. It seems like moving to LA for comedy would be like transferring schools, except you don't transfer to the same grade you're in now... you transfer and have to go back to Kindergarten. I still retain all my knowledge from my years of school, so I wouldn't have to work as hard as I did before... but I think everyone's going to look at me and treat me like a 5 year old, until I can prove to them that I know a few things.