This Week...Fun Shows, Not The Usual Crowds, and Shots!

On Monday night, I performed at the Funny Bone in Columbus. The headliner for the night was Mike Polk, a Cleveland comedian who is well recognized for his hilarious viral videos. If, for some reason, you haven't seen his most popular video, here it is:

Polk has done a series of videos about being a Browns fan as well including this memorable one (on a hilarious side note, this video may have been the kiss of death for Ryan Pontbriand, who was cut later in the season):

So, as a Cleveland native myself, it was pretty cool to be a part of this show. It was well attended by many people wearing Cleveland Browns and Indians T-shirts. It was kind of like bringing a Cleveland sports event into the realm of comedy, and thus merging two things I love into one for a night.

After my set, I found myself in a situation that can often happen at shows. A crowd member wanted to buy me a shot. I'm not much of a shot drinker, and thanked him for the offer, but said it was not necessary. He continued to push and looked like the type of guy that puts down shots pretty easily, so I finally agreed and said that I'd take a shot of Crown Royal, which is my go-to of liquor that I enjoy and also still makes me look like I actually am good at taking shots (I'm not really). When the guy returned, he brought back a shot for him and his friend which was some type of fruity mixed shot and then gave me the Crown. Well, had I know we were doing fruity mixed shots, I would have gladly taken one of those. Now, I felt like a jerk to have requested Crown plus I was drinking a shot that I did not even particularly want. But, it's hard to not offend someone who appreciated your performance while also trying to not convey that you're not much of a shot drinker.

Last night, I had the chance to see professional wrestler (and now stand-up comedian) Mick Foley perform at Woodlands Tavern. Rather than perform written jokes, Foley did a Q&A with the crowd that led into humorous stories. It actually worked a lot better than being a pure stand-up comedian as most people were out to see him because he was a wrestler and are wrestling fans. As a result, much like the Polk show feeling like a Cleveland sports comedy event, the Foley show felt like a wrestling crowd showed up to watch comedy. There was more ruckus than would be expected of a stand-up comedy show, and we cheered not necessarily at jokes but at strong comments as if Foley were trying to convince us of how hard he was going to pulverize an opponent in the ring. If you're not familiar with Mick Foley, here's his most famous moment. He had plenty of other hardcore moments in his career, which explained his noticeable limping at the show.

So, it's been a fun week of comedy with shows that were really good, but perhaps had a different feel than just a normal comedy show or comedy crowd. Also, if you're going to buy me something, please buy me a beer and not a shot. Or, just say kind words. That's good enough for me.