Double Satisfied

Yesterday I mentioned picking up some new VHS tapes at Amoeba records. When that was done, I headed off to the iO West theater on Hollywood, where I expected to see they'd used one more more jokes I'd written about news stories (as that is the stock in trade of the show).  It was a short walk from Sunset, and a tolerably pleasant one as well. On arrival, I saw to it that my comp ticket was there for me. Once I'd done that,  I found myself engaged in conversation with a guy I'd competed against in a Toastmasters contest. It was nice to catch up a little with him. He was there to perform standup in the show I was there to see.

Before I'd even finished talking to him, another friend came along. Being at that place, I find I can't be there for more than a few minutes without seeing several friends. It's heartening and nerve-wracking at once. When I'd parted with them both, I got myself a drink at the bar. They had a decent special on brown ale, which I ordinarily don't go for so much. It was pretty good, though. I took my drink into the theater and sat down to watch the show play out.

I'd hoped to sit with a friend who'd also written something for the show, but he arrived a touch late, and sat in the back. There I was in the front row alone. It's a bad spot to get a drink from or to disengage from the show at, but I planned on doing neither. The show started more or less on time and the seven sketches which led the program were largely very strong (including, especially, those of friends). I was pleased with that, though I tend to be nervous before they get to my part.

The nerves remained there during my friend the standup's performance, although he was good and helped as the sketches had to sooth me a bit. Certainly had those things been less good, it would have been much worse. Finally the portion of the show that rather resembles Saturday Night Live's Weekend Update came, and it couldn't have gone better for me or for the show. I was very happy that they used one of my jokes as the lead story. They rewrote the setup a bit, but it was much better for it and what matters anyway is that they left my punchline alone.

I was utterly relieved that one of mine was in there so early. It is not fun to watch joke after joke from other writers go out there and wonder whether your stuff got cut for time or for whatever reason else. In the end, the reaction to the joke is all I remember so long as it's in there (although the prestige I felt from having the "top story" was nice), but in the moment, the anxiety is deafening. I was able to enjoy the whole rest of it entirely.

I was mistaken to think that it was all over, however. They'd used what I considered to be a rather clever joke about Bradley Manning deciding he was a woman because he leaks documents while sitting down, and I thought that would likely be the end of it, although I'd written a lot of jokes I liked near that much. As it turned out, they used another of them which centered on two men who had sprayed a noxious chemical in a Wal-Mart. I saw the chance to take a shot at Axe Body Spray, and that got a decent response as well. They both got a good response when I told friends after the show they were mine. It was a happy time.