Pure Comedy

Anna, Jamie and I went to the Broadway Comedy Club last Friday in Times Square. Yes, it's the place where Jerry Seinfeld does the opening sequences to his show in front of the brick wall. Even though I am actually not the world's biggest fan of Seinfeld(sorry Evan), I am a fan of stand-up comedy in general and it was pretty cool to go to such a well known spot. I've been to a few live stand-up gigs in the past and am pretty much addicted to Comedy Central's Premium Blend (Have you SEEN Demetri Martin's flip chart or Jim Gaffigan's Hot Pocket sketch?) There's just something about laughing so hard my stomach hurts that I can't get enough of. I have always believed that you have to be intelligent to be funny and I respect any profession in which your job entails making other people happy. Comedians are cool people, and struggling comedians chasing after their dreams of making it big in New York City, well, even cooler.

We decided to go to the midnight show (which was mistake number one) and we sat in the front row (big time mistake number two). This means that there was a lot of crudeness going on and that I was relentlessly picked on and humiliated. If you've never been to a comedy club before you should know that one of the ways comedians try to get everyone involved and warmed up is by asking members of the crowd questions and then humiliating them by cracking one-liners in response to their answers. Unbeknownst to me, Friday night was apparently "ask the blonde sitting in the front row humiliating personal questions and crack jokes at her expense" night. Not that I was the only one singled out, but three times I was picked on, and three times I got red in the face. Sounds fun, huh? Well, in spite of a few embarassing blushing moments, it was. If you can't laugh at yourself, really...what can you laugh at? I guess you have to take it all in stride if you are going to put yourself in a room where the person on stage's sole job is to make people laugh at ANY cost...especially if you decide to sit front and center.

We had a really great time laughing the night away and thanks to about three of the seven or so comedians we saw, we were impressed. I'll definitely go again whenever I am in need of a good chuckle. Next time though, I think I will take a seat in the back.