Comic Con?

I went to a standup comedy contest to support someone recently, and there was an interesting subplot to it for it. There I was, standing in line to get in. I'd been through the ordeal of a late subway train and speaking with two different people to get my comped ticket, which is more onerous for me than it sounds. Ahead of me in line is this loudmouth who is going off about how he has all this experience and wisdom about improv comedy or some such thing, and how he wants to impart it. It's sounding like he's been frustrated in this ambition. The guy sounds like he's full of shit.

We all go into the show, which starts wildly late (showing me again for being worried about tardiness). A number of comics perform, including the guy I was there for, but who else should be among them except the loudmouth. I was rather surprised, and also sure that he would be terrible. He wasn't, or at least he wasn't entirely. The memorable moment was the host initially misstating his surname as "Zulu" (when it was "Zullo", or some such thing.) He proceeded to do a quasi-African song/chant that sounded like the intro to "Kung Fu Fighting", dramatically turning the mic to the crowd. I enthusiastically sung the next part, and even though I don't feel I was alone in that, I somehow felt embarrassed.

I guess the point of that is that I managed to respond to his performance regardless of my disdain. I further warmed to him during the wait for the results of the vote. One particular comic brought a very vocal group of supporters (and indeed, such contests are a test only of how sizable a group of friends you can drag to a show). Upon hearing their lusty support for him as the comics were being named again for the purposes of voting, the loudmouth pointed to the crowd and shouted, "Fuck you!" I was honestly impressed by that. He was sure (as I and probably everyone else in the room was) that the outcome was a forgone conclusion. No one could have guessed that the guy with the loud friends would wind up in a tie with another guy.

Later, my friend in the contest spoke of a conversation with the loudmouth. He conceded that's what the guy sounded like, but did not take as hard a line as I had initially. By this time, I admit I'd come around a little bit on the guy, but I don't imagine I'd ever fully like him. Still, I wouldn't be entirely sorry to see him perform again. He had a certain quality of boldness and judgement that I liked, and who can fully dislike a person that looks like Oliver Reed?