Not sure there is much worse than a wet blanket. “What’s that, Chris?” I’ll give you an example. On my Facebook comedy page (@chriscoencomedy, like away), I posted a simple line – “How do you drink at work? Asking for myself.” You see, most people say “Asking for a friend!” and they mean themselves. So I flipped it, right? Hahahahahaha. Sigh. Well, it got a lot of responses, more than any other goofy post I’ve ever put up. Then I saw the update, “This conversation is incredibly stupid.” Well, it is a comedy page, so yes, it’s not discussing liberty vs. security, astrophysics or even a nice healthy recipe for squash soup. It’s a joke about me trying to find out how to drink at work (seriously, click the contact link and let me know – don’t read this, work people).
I have never seen this, though, like I saw recently on a comedy show promo my pal put up (I won’t name names to avoid any unnecessary drama for all parties). The show is a cool idea, it’s the “Founders” of Columbus Comedy. Basically all the comics who helped start and/or run open mics and booked shows before the scene grew up into its current form. I started in 2007 and everyone on the show was seasoned vet then, so I thought it was a cool idea. Oh by the way, everyone on the show is a white guy. BUM BUM BUM!!!!! (Dramatic music in background).
Why does that matter? Well, apparently it started a multiple person wet blanket fest in the comments section because people started posting about how white and male the show was and how horrific and terrible this was and oh God, the humanity. Never mind that 1) one of the hosts is a female, 2) two of the female comics that could have been on the show can’t make it due to distance or circumstances beyond their control, 3) no one on the peanut gallery thread was around then to see who was left off the show or had any suggestions as to who should have been on the show, 4) probably supports no actual shows now or did then – there’s diversity on nearly every single show in Columbus and boy oh day there’s a shitpot ton of different shows in town now and 5) who gives a red shit, either go or don’t. I heard another performer say once to me, “The show was great, it was very diverse!” I said, “Oh, so it went well? Funny show?” “Oh no, but very diverse!” Maybe I’m wired differently, but I can watch a show with all gay or all straight performers, all minority or all white, female only or all males or hell, one of each sub group you can name…and I only care if it makes me laugh.
I book a show monthly and in honesty, I try to book different people on the show. Why? I never know what the crowd will be. I’ve had comics in college and middle aged comics. Parents and people that couldn’t take care of a cactus. I’ve had every race, sex, sexual orientation and gender booked, because it’s smart business. If I’m booking a show called “Laughing Ladies” for example, though, I’m not putting guys on it. It just so happens that the open mics and shows that were running were run by these guys; the ones that weren’t were run by people who are not available, have moved or quit comedy altogether. The irony is that the same venue, Backstage Bistro at Shadowbox Live supports shows not only diverse in character, but diverse in nature, from stand-up to improv to sketch.
Thanks to the comments pissing me off and my refusal to engage them on someone else’s page out of respect, I will do something I don’t do often or maybe ever, I’m promoting a show on my website I have absolutely nothing to do with and by proxy, all the shows that day of the week. http://www.shadowboxlive.org/shows/tuesdays Find one you like! I wonder if these wet blankets enjoy anything. “Here’s a steak?” “Um, is this organic grass fed beef?” “Happy Birthday!” “Ugh, is that what you bought me? I don’t like yellow.” I wonder if these idiots ask the demographic composition of their favorite restaurant when they sit down to eat. OF COURSE THEY DON’T I’M BEING FACETIOUS. It’s Friday, party poopers. Take some Ex-Lax for that constipation and quit dropping comments on people’s comedy show promos.