Sunday, I traveled to Lexington, KY**, with a friend and fellow comedian from Memphis. We went to compete in the Carnival Comedy Challenge, a contest whose winner performs aboard a Carnival Cruise. The challenge happens several times a year in different cities, and is a great chance for comedians to meet each other, and to meet with and be seen by club bookers (who can give us work and are, therefore, very powerful people in our eyes) and Carnival talent staff.
I did not win. The format is that all of the comics (there were 40-45 at this competition) perform for each other and the judges on night one and the judges choose finalists to perform the following night before an audience, which will choose the winner. Niether I nor my travel partner made the finals, cutting short our stay in the Lex.
The preliminary round is a very funny scene. As you may or may not know, comedians tend to be very unforgiving audiences for other comedians - i.e. the laughs are not forthcoming - especially when they are competing against one another. So forty or so comedians performed in a row, rapid-fire, before what was basically a completely quiet audience. There were snickers here and there, and a few hearty laughs, but mostly, we were just reciting our material, trying to not be awkward at the moments during which we would normally pause for laughter from an audience of actual people***.
There was certainly entertainment to be had, seeing so many funny people in one place, and there was entertainment on the road, too. We passed a number of wonderful landmarks, such as Nervous Charlie's, a store near the TN/KY border that advertises beer and fireworks. I'd be nervous, too, Chuckie. Not far from Nervous Charlie's, we saw Sad Sam's, an outlet advertising the same goods. Poor Sam is, evidently, living proof that Charlie has good reason for his jitters.
We passed a castle. Seriously. A castle. Have a look-see for yourself.
Ladies and gentlemen... The Castle Farm of Thomas R. Post. It's right outside Lexington on what ol' Tom Post correctly identified as the perfect place for a castle. Good call, Tommy.
We also saw the National Corvette Museum, located an hour or two southwest of Lexington right off I-65. If anyone can explain the design of this thing, by all means, use the comment feature and let me know the thinking behind this. (I understand the castle idea was already taken.)
Okay, this post is getting long, so I will bring it to a close and begin the asterisked footnotes for which I know you have been patiently waiting since the early paragraphs.
* 25.76 miles per hour, or 225,636 per year. You go, purple car!
** My comedian friend and I both wondered, seeing KY all over signs around Kentucky, if the state laments at all the increased advertising - over the past few years - of the KY line of personal products. We wondered whether the state had considered changing its official abbreviation, as it might bring different mental pictures to the minds of travelers (especially immature comedian ones) than it once did. FYI, according to several signs, KY bridges tend to get slippery in certain conditions. Be careful out there.
*** This experience was reminiscent of some of the comedy nights I experienced during Michael Ziggy Danziger's Bluff City to the Big City Stand Up Comedy Extravaganza 2005, or the MZDBCBCSUCE'05, for short (See posts from October, 2005).
No comments:
Post a Comment