I Just Did Standup Again

The picture of Mickey Mouse has nothing to do with this post.  I just like that it’s in the public domain.

I just did another standup gig this evening.  It was OK, but this time I was a little nervous.  More so than usual, that is.  The problem was, well, for one, I didn’t have any Dutch courage.  I can’t go onstage and do anything totally trashed, but having a few drinks really does loosen me up.

I didn’t have those because today was super busy AND…it was Christmas!  

Orthodox Christmas is on 7 January.  I knew that.  WELL…I knew it was in January, and I was reasonably sure it was the 6th.  Or maybe the 8th.  But I was also told, by pretty much everyone from an Orthodox country, that it’s a minor holiday.  The big one, they tell me, is New Year’s.  Christmas is almost ignored.

Don’t you believe it. 

My first clue upon leaving my apartment this evening was cops everywhere.  And I mean, everywhere.  Also, and I don’t know how this could possibly be related but it must be or it’s the craziest coincidence I’ve ever seen, there were people rollerblading everywhere too.

I always leave early to go to the club, but this evening, it took me damn near an hour to get there.  It would usually take 20 minutes or so.

There were decorations and lights everywhere, we passed several horse-drawn carriages (something I’d never seen here before), and crowds like I hadn’t seen since China’s Golden Weeks.

Yeah, I’ve been here for more than two years now, but this was the first time I’d been out on Christmas Day.  It was insane.

This was my fourth standup performance, and I bombed.

Eh.  It happens.  It wasn’t a complete disaster.  I got a few laughs, but I stumbled on a couple of lines, I didn’t have my Dutch courage, and I was already making myself even more nervous about being late.  In the end, I wasn’t, but I was just barely on time.  I didn’t even get a chance to grab a beer before the show started.

Yes, sure, it started late because everyone was late – most of the people involved in this thing, as I think I’ve pointed out, aren’t Georgian, so I wasn’t the only one taken by surprise by this.  I still got my slot, but I was nervous, probably visibly so.  I’m not sure.  I didn’t get it on video.  But that’s just as well.

I’ll be back to do it again.  Might even do the same routine – I didn’t even get halfway through it tonight.  Everyone has a bad gig sometimes, and there’s always next time.