Eyes on the prize, bitches!

Monday night was the first ever Jimmy Gunn Riff sessions at the Punchline. All in all, I would call it a success! If you were there, then you know just how odd and awkward Jimmy's hosting can be. Part act and part that's just the way he is, it made for good fodder the entire evening. In fact, I would say the show became more of a roast than a riff on today's topics. Doug Benson, high as hell, was also very funny. If you ever saw Tough Crowd, with Colin Quin on Comedy Central, then you have a pretty good idea of how the show works. We all did sets first. We went back on stage later, sat down and took questions from the crowd. There were some great moments. I think crowds enjoy a show like this. It gives them something different and something unexpected rather than the usual.
Last night I did my audition set for the Craig Ferguson show. Right off the top I will say that my set was good. Not great, but good. I am fighting the urge to go into greater detail and describe all the joy out of it. perhaps you have noticed. I do that sometimes. The notes I got back from the scout were encouraging. You always hope for a killer set from the first joke to the last joke. His biggest concern was that they might have an issue with my Mom jokes. Were talking TV now. If you watch a lot of late night shows and check out the comics, you will notice that most of their sets are lacking in any opinion or any edge. This is not their fault. The TV people don't want any letters from anyone who could possibly be offended. I was told to avoid politics and not to mention drinking, drugs, product names or any references to violence. In other words, try not to acknowledge the times we live in at all. It left me with about 5 minuets worth of stuff I could do. Good thing, because that's all they want. According to the guy in change of taping all of us, CBS sometimes has issues with a joke where it appears the mom is doing something bad to her kid. I have issues with that too. Hence the jokes about it. It just reinforces the idea that I need to take it to the Internet. No restrictions. No commercials. If people get upset, so what. That's the beauty of the Internet. Send me an e-mail telling me you think I don't understand politics. Send me an e-mail saying you don't think I am funny. To me, all that means is, you watched it.
Soon, Last Comic Standing will air the San Francisco auditions show. Word is, they will air a nice chunk of my set. I will believe it when I see it.
At the moment, I am trying not to second guess my set or think that the Ferguson show will pass on me. Next month I will be at a comedy festival where I will spend a week in front of the David Letterman Booker. Eyes on the prize, bitches!