One of the weird downsides to performing on Red Carpet Comedy every month is that I have a bunch of material written that hasn’t yet received a fair try on stage. I usually only have time to work a small percentage of the new stuff into my regular act, so a bunch of the material that has potential sits waiting. Rather than continuing to be frustrated by this, a few weeks ago I gave myself a challenge to perform only new material (as of my EP recording in August of last year) when I middle Yuk Yuk’s Calgary in May.
It has taken me a few weeks to post about this goal because, frankly, it is a little intimidating. Failing on the Red Carpet Comedy stage isn’t awful because the stakes are low. The audience there knows that you’re trying new material and that it may not work. On a professional comedy club stage, however, the stakes are much higher and performers have to deliver.
I’ve already been tempted to back down a couple of times, so I’m making this post to ensure that I don’t chicken out at the last minute. From May 12 to 14 you can come and watch as I perform material only created within the last 8 months. Sometimes it will work and sometimes it won’t. Adjustments and changes will be made for every show as I learn how this material plays (or doesn’t) and how it all fits together. As scary as this will be, I’m finding myself more and more excited for it as well. Putting the show together, writing it out, cutting it back, re-writing it, etc., has me feeling much like I did when I started stand-up.
You can check out the Facebook invite for the show here and the Yuk’s Calgary website (with the phone number for tickets, etc.) is here. There will be shows every night from the 12th to the 14th at 8:00PM with a second show on the 14th at 10:30PM. If ticket sales are going well, a Friday late show may also be added.
Now that this is online (and I can’t back out) I’ve got to get back to writing the new set. As soon as I find the closer, I’ll be much less stressed…