Having a Blast at Absolute Comedy

Last night I did my set in a real comedy club for the first time.

Absolute Comedy at Yonge and Eglinton in Toronto is a lovely room to play. With a paying audience, great food and unobtrusive table service, this is a pretty classy joint. On a Wednesday night the audience knows that there are new comics on the bill and they are ready to laugh and refrain from heckling (although there was quite a chatty bird in the front row – she was clearly having a ball and joined in throughout the night).

I had rehearsed my set that afternoon – Ryan Maglunob, who books the comics and is a comedian himself, let me know I should do 6 and a half minutes and no more than seven. I got the timing to around 6 minutes 20 seconds, which I figured with laughs (please God) should come out just about right. Ryan also told me that the owner, Jason Laurans, would be in, so to bring my A game. No pressure…..

I got there nice and early and picked my spot from the deck of cards Ryan gave me – I picked fourth (out of six) which was perfect. I had four friends in (all female comics) – Becky Bays and Marjorie Malpass, who were both on the Gilda’s Club charity gig I did in January, Elaine Dandy who I worked with in Burlington, and my mate Andrea Mitchell who’s a comedy writer. Andrea worked at Second City years ago and is getting back into stand-up after a while away.

Ali Hassan was the MC and did a fabulous job of warming up the audience. I felt quite nervous, but as soon as the first comic Bill Curry got on stage and the audience lapped up his great set, I was pretty sure I was going to have a good time.

What can I say? I had a blast. I really enjoyed being on that tiny stage, being able to see the audience (always my preference) and their reactions. Everything went as well as I could have ever hoped and I had nice compliments from Ryan, Harry Doupe (the headliner), Ali and some of the other comics. I checked my time which is posted in the green room and I came in at 6 minutes and 54 seconds – perfect! I was shaking when I sat down afterwards – I think although I didn’t feel nervous on stage, all of the pent-up excitement of doing the gig didn’t come out until after I came off. A pint settled my nerves and I enjoyed the rest of the night.

I really hope to play there again – it was a fabulous experience and I would at some point love to work for Absolute Comedy both in Toronto and at their sister club in Ottawa.

Related posts:

1. My stand-up set at Absolute Comedy
2. Toronto Comedy Brawl 2010 – Quarter Final Round
3. Toronto Comedy Brawl Final
4. Brantford Comedy Festival
5. Absolute is cancelled!