Creating a Comic

When I finally got home last night, I was crankier than the average bear. I was completely, thoroughly waterlogged after the final leg of my journey home — an eight mile bike ride in the pouring rain.

I had just returned from two different open mics. Standing in my garage, dripping wet and miserable, all I could think about were the shitty parts of the evening. My mind queued up a slideshow of drudgery: the initial bus commute, the interminable waiting through acts I had already seen a million times, the starving despair at the news that the pub kitchen had closed, the second venue which patted us down on our way in (as my friend Jim Kellner quipped: “that’s probably supposed to make me feel more safe, but it actually does the opposite“).

Much of the preceding eight hours had felt like a real job.

But by the time I sat down with my computer, a warm change of clothes, and a big bowl of cereal, my spirits were rallying. I had gotten on stage twice that night, after all, and both times went pretty well. And besides, how dare I feel sorry for myself? I was reminded of my favorite scene from The Godfather Part II:

“This is the business we’ve chosen,” says Hyman Roth. And he’s right.¹ In my own (significantly less badass/mafia-oriented) situation, the song remains the same: what right have I to complain? It’s not like I’m spending my evenings digging ditches. This is the business I’ve chosen.

I was in good spirits again by the time I went to bed. It had actually been a great night, as a whole, packed with valuable stage experience and warm camaraderie.

That last bit was the best part: I got to spend the whole night hanging out with other comics, and how awesome is that? (Answer: it’s super awesome.) A much more enjoyable slideshow cycled past: mingling and joking around before sign-ups at the Underground; watching Big Irish Jay’s fearless, high energy set bring a tough room around; talking shop (and life) with Andrew, in his steamed-up car in the McD’s parking lot; talking shop (and women) with Jim on the slightly boozy drive home… good times.

And all of this is in the context of a really exciting prior weekend (I hosted four shows!) and my very first real gig next week. More on those shortly. In the meantime, it’ll take more than Seattle’s crappy weather to keep my spirits down!

1. Michael’s misguided attitude is one of the reasons I dissent from the consensus that Part II was more enjoyable than the original. In The Godfather, there’s a certain tragic nobility to Michael’s fall from grace. He wants to help his family; in spite of the terrible things he does, we’re rooting for him. In the second movie he’s a loathsome dickhead to everyone, and often just plain wrong. He’s totally unrelatable. I’m also not convinced that the fancy flashback narrative is any more ingenious than the airtight structure of the first screenplay, but that’s a whole nother bag of pretentious film school worms. [↩]

 — Posted by CJ under Creating a Comic. Please comment or trackback!