I have been attending open mics and comedy showcases here in Eugene. I went to the Bar of the Gods open mic a few times, hosted by Xander and Jen Tam.
events here in Eugene have been hosted by Seth Milstein, Mike McGowan, Leigh Anne Jasheway and Nick Hough. Its a fun scene. I’m glad to be a part of it, its kind of a drag to hear everyone do the same material every week, but that will happen in any scene. I hope we can play, improvise, be willing to flop sometimes and do some creative things with the scene. I’ll challenge my fellow comics in some way, and report on the results. Stay tuned for more on this issue. I have some drawings I have made of comics in the scene. Yes, I drew Gina Ginsberg three times. She said “hey, why did you draw Mia all sexy and not me.” I just draw what I see. I think Gina is beautiful, but in drawing her, I capture the “essence” that I see in front of me, and she judges those drawings to not be sexy.
I would say to the comics in my town: lets not be afraid to fail! There is no risk on stage, we have complete freedom, so lets flop and bomb sometimes. Please do new material, and even go up and don’t do anything you have planned- that will make us better. That will make it fun for us, so we can hear new material, so we can laugh at each other (because face it, most of the audience is… us) . We are free, so lets USE our freedom, instead of doing our same 7 or 5 minutes every time with small insignificant variations.