RichWayne

The closing of 316 Ormsby has really cut back on our opportunities to perform. As many times as I complained about performing there in front on 5 people, I really miss that place. I also failed to get a spot for the March Show Up and Go Up at Comedy Caravan so I went almost 2 months without performing. Take the stress from a new position at work and combine that with no creative outlet and the result is a cranky comedian.

My friend Roy Been gave me a spot on his "Roy Been's Not for the Easily Offended Happy Funtime Extravaganza" show on April 18th. I wasn't expecting to perform but he gave me a spot at the last second. It was good to be on stage again but the show was pretty bad. The show was in the bar area of the Comedy Caravan and only about 25 people were there. It sucks to have a show in the bar area and the crowd wasn't very into the show. I felt sorry for some of the other guys because they traveled from St. Louis, Indy and North Carolina to do showcases that night. At least I didn't have to drive hours to get there.

One week later I performed at the April SUGU at the Caravan. I had fun. I did a couple of new things mixed in with some old stuff and got a decent response.

Another week later I traveled to Lexington, KY for an open mic show at Comedy Off Broadway. I was nervous and I still haven't got my timing back from being off for 2 months but I had fun. I did a lot of my best, proven material and got a pretty good response. The Lexingtonians simply LOVED my joke about UK fans being rednecks! After my set, I went to sit back down and Roy was laughing because he couldn't believe I told the joke. Hopefully, I will get to go back to Lexington for more shows. Their open mics are the first Tuesday of every month.

I began an official, regular employee at Humana 2 weeks ago after working there as a contractor since July 2005. My first day was spent in Humana orientation where they reviewed a lot of stuff about the company. One of the things we discussed was ethics and we were divided into 5 teams of about 8-9 people per team. Each team was assigned a section of the booklet we were given that covered ethics. Each team had to present their assigned section in a creative way. I volunteered to do the presentation for our team by myself. I did some of my stand-up act and filled in the information that we had to cover. It went great! Best performance I've had in probably six months. I had a captive audience of about 50-60 people including 8 teammates that were instructed to laugh at all of my jokes since I did all of the work on our assignment! I received an excellent response from the audience (not just my teammates) and received a wonderful ovation at the end. I was squeaky clean since it was at work. My first corporate gig! Technically, since I was working at the time - this was my first paid performance. A few more of those, and I can quit my job. Wait a minute, that was my job...

There was a large group of nurses in orientation that day. They spent the rest of the week in training. I had meetings all week in a room that was right next to their training room. Every day they would wave to me and say hi and say how funny I was on Monday. They even told their trainers how funny I was and how entertaining I was. The nurses loved me! I had my own fan club for a week! Unfortunately, they were all from out-of-town so the club has disbanded. :(

I have some video of some of my recent performances. Hopefully, I will post them on the website but we'll see if I actually do it.

Rich

I haven't updated this thing is a long, long time. So, first I'll pick up where I left off, then I will give the latest (not good) news and finally I will fill in some of the stuff in the middle.

The Roy Been Show was fun and I had a good time. The crowd was pretty cold when I went on stage but I warmed them up nicely. It wasn't my best show but it was cool and I enjoyed it. I don't even know if the "important people" saw the show but by the time I went on stage I had decided to forget about all of that stuff and just have fun, which I did. Several of my friends from work came out for that show, which was very cool as well.

316 Ormsby has gone out of business. That really sucks because it was our weekly home for comedy shows. Every Wednesday night (with only 2 or 3 exceptions) since July 13th, 2005 we did shows at 316 Ormsby. I performed there 21 times, which makes 316 Ormsby the place I have performed at the most. In fact, 47% of my performances were at 316 Ormsby and 64% of my performances since 7/13/05. Last Wednesday, we showed up and the place was dark. Tony and one of his staff were hanging out in an apt above the restaurant. I talked to Tony for a few minutes and he said he was shutting it down. That really sucks because they served excellent food and the people there were great. They couldn't have been more supportive of us.

I have a lot of great memories of 316 Ormsby. Of course, there were a lot of nights when only a handful of people were there to watch us. (I guess that explains the going out of business part. I heard the other nights of the week were just as bad if not worse.) But every so often we would have a good crowd and I would have a good set and be very happy. That was also the place where I tried out all of my new jokes. I would perform the new stuff there and try to work out the kinks before performing the joke at Comedy Caravan. It was also great to hang out with the other guys every week. I will miss that place.

Since the Roy Been Show, I have had 4 other performances at the Caravan. November was fun but I just did a subset of the material I used for Roy's show. December was interesting because it was 2 days after Christmas and I was expecting a small and dead crowd so I just did some silly bits that I don't normally do. January was ok. I debuted 1 new joke that I had been working on at Ormsby and it went over well. Then I butchered the next joke and didn't end the set very well. February was fun. I did all new stuff about me being offered the role of "the ugly guy" in a small, independent movie (based on a true story) and a bit about how drug users make good employees (not necessarily based on a true story). I taped that performance on my new handy, dandy camcorder so if I ever hook that thing up to my computer I will try and post it on my website.

The only other place I performed at since the last update was a nightclub in Louisville called The Gate. It sucked. The entire show that is.

Later,
Rich

From an email I sent out to some friends:

This Tuesday night I will be performing on the "Roy Been's Not for the Easily Offended Happy Funtime Extravaganza" at the Comedy Caravan. Roy is a good friend of mine and he is giving me a chance to appear on his show. The show should be very good because it will be almost entirely professional comedians on the show. There will be just a couple of smucks like me on the show! Everybody else will be guys who travel and get paid on weekends. So, it should be a very good show to come see and it only costs $4 to get in. You can get tickets for $2 at the Caravan's website.

Roy is giving me 7 minutes of stage time, which will be a showcase in front of the bookers of the Caravan. This is without a doubt the best opportunity that I have received during my stand up comedy hobby. (I would call it a "career" but I think it implies that you get paid!) So, I would really appreciate your support if you can make it. The show starts at 8PM and should be over by around 9:45. I will probably be one of the first ones on stage so I will probably perform shortly after 8:00. The Caravan is now also smoke-free on Tuesday nights!

Here's an article in Velocity about Roy's show.

Later,
Rich

Some upcoming shows:

On the 22nd will be "Roy Been's Not for the Easily Offended Happy Funtime Extravaganza" at the Comedy Caravan. This show features Roy and some of his friends. This show will feature mostly professional comedians but I will get 3-5 minutes of time as well. Roy's show from last month was great and I expect this one to be equally enjoyable. The cost is $4. For more info, check out Roy's site or ComedyCaravan.com.

On the 29th will be the monthly "Show Up and Go Up" at the Comedy Caravan.

Of course, there will be shows at 316 Ormsby on the 23rd and 30th. If you plan on attending those be sure to let me know because sometimes I blow off those shows but I won't do that if my "peeps" will be there.

Of those shows, the one on the 22nd is the one not to miss. It should be a really good show start to finish.

Later,
Rich

I've done a few shows since my last update.

On Oct 25th, I did my usual 3 minute monthly performance at Comedy Caravan. I did 3 jokes I had never done at the Caravan before and 1 old one. My performance was fine considering that I was next to last and hit the stage at some point past 10:00. A lot of people had left by then but I received a decent reaction. Overall, the show was great. Several professional guys stopped in that night and they did a great job.

On Halloween I performed a private show with a couple of my buddies for the New Albany Lion's Club. Here is what my friend Roy Been said about the show on his website.

I did a show for the New Albany Lion's Club on Halloween night. It was my first non comedy club format. I put the show together at the request of a gentleman that saw my act at one of the Caravan shows. I asked a couple of other comedians, Brad Lanning, and Rich Wayne to come along and help with the show. This was the strangest show I've ever done. All in all it was a good time and I think we were able to take away some valuable life experience. Brad and I were able to get a few laughs out of the older crowd. But I have to say Rich owned the show. He was on fire and the Lions laughed at everything he said.

The show was a lot of fun but it was definitely different. The meeting started with a prayer and ended with Roy's act. Roy's act is fairly not-clean so it made quite a contrast with the opening prayer. I worked for several days to put together a 10-minute set that I thought an older audience would enjoy and it paid off. So, look for my tour of nursing homes in the South during the 1st quarter of 2006!

This past Wednesday's show at Ormsby was fun because Jim and Ian came out to see the show. Of course, besides them there were about 3 people in the crowd. The show sucked overall but I did all new stuff that Jim and Ian hadn't heard and I was only concerned with entertaining them and I think I succeeded to some degree. It was fun to hang out with those guys - I'm glad they came out.

On November 22nd, I will be at Comedy Caravan for the "Roy Been's
Not for the Easily Offended Happy Funtime Extravaganza." For more info, check out Roy's site or ComedyCaravan.com. This show is NOT an open mic show but will be loaded with professionals (and me!) so it should be a great show. I'm not sure how much time I will get but I will be doing my best set possible for the time that I get. This will probably be the best opportunity that I've received so far because "important people" will be there to watch. Many thanks to Roy for the invitation to perform, which came immediately after my "show-owning" performance for the young-at-heart folks. It honestly should be great show and should be 100 times better than the average open mic show that you may have seen me on.

On November 29th, I will be at the Caravan again for the monthly open mic joyful experience.

Until next time,
Rich

This entry is a lot like some previous entries. I continue to do shows every Wednesday at 316 Ormsby. The last couple of weeks have seen better crowds. This week's show was a lot of fun.

I perform at Comedy Caravan again next Tuesday the 24th at 8:00. I will be doing material that I have never done at the Caravan before so that should be fun.

I will be doing a private show for the Lion's Club of New Albany on Halloween night along with my buddies Brad Lanning and Roy Been. "You the man!" goes to Roy for setting up the show and inviting me to perform. I will get 10 minutes so that should be a really fun show.

My man Brach McRae won a comedy contest in Lexington Tuesday night. Good job Brach!

Come see Brach, Roy, Brad and myself either Tuesday at the Carvan or Wednesday at Ormsby.

Later,
Rich

I've had 3 comedy shows since my last update. 2 at 316 Ormsby and 1 at Comedy Caravan. The shows at Ormsby continue to be the same: funny guys, great food, wonderful building and small crowds. It's worth going just for the food. My performance at Comedy Caravan last week was well received. It was similar to the performance from a month ago with a couple of new things added. The video tape has no audio on it but I always record the audio on my microcassette recorder so maybe I can figure out a way to mix the two.

A couple of my friends recently received big opportunities. Brach Mcrae did 2 paid shows at Bear's Place in Bloomington a week ago yesterday. Brach said it was a great experience and he had a lot of fun. Congrats bro - you deserve it. Roy Been will be hosting him own show at Comedy Caravan this Tuesday night. It's a great opportunity for Roy and should be a fun show. Roy is at Comedy Caravan every Tuesday night whether he is performing or not so he deserves the opportunity. Check out the show if you get the chance. Good job Roy!

The website is coming along in bits and pieces. Hopefully someday soon something will be up.

Later,
Rich

The show at Comedy Caravan was interesting. I couldn't be happier about my performance but overall the show sucked really bad. The crowd was smaller than usual for the Comedy Caravan and they didn't really want to participate with any interactive stuff. However, they responded very well to my set and a few other guys.

My set consisted of shorter versions of some of my older bits along with a few new bits that I've been working on. I worked on the set for the past month and it was supposed to be the best 3 minutes I could possibly do and it turned out very well. My "UK fans are rednecks" generated an 18 second response of laughter and applause from the audience. That joke is great because first the non-UK fans laugh at the initial joke, then they laugh at their UK-supporting friends at their table, then the UK fans shoot mean looks at their friends laughing at them and then their friends laugh at them again. Thus, the 18 second response. Standing on stage for 18 seconds and listening to people laugh and clap at something you said is the addictive part of stand-up comedy. Good shows like Tuesday night fuel the fire of my desire to continue the fun times. I don't ever plan to make my primary living by being a stand-up comedian but a few PAID bookings on the weekends would be awesome. Maybe in another year...

This week's show at The Ormsby included 10 comics and 5 audience members. Wow. I did some new stuff - 1 of the ideas has potential. I also told a joke about how the Golden State Warriors are going to move to Louisville but we are going to change the name to something less offensive to Native Americans so they are going to be called the Kentucky Crackers. That may be the only time I tell that joke but I thought it was funny. That show was my 22nd stand-up comedy show.

Until next time,
Rich

This Tuesday night the 30th at 8:00 PM will be my monthly performance at Comedy Caravan. I really think that the set I have planned has tremendous potential. It's completely written now so I have almost a week to memorize and practice it. It will be the usual 3 minutes but I think it will be really good. So come check it out if you are going to be in town. The shows at the Caravan are always fun because the crowd is usually a decent size and they want to laugh. I hope to see you there...

The shows at 316 Ormsby are sometimes fun and sometimes not-so-fun - it depends on how much of a crowd we have. This week we had 20 or so which is enough to have a decent show. I've done a ton of new material this month at The Ormsby, which is always fun.

Later,
Rich

Saturday night we went the Yellow Dog Tavern in Versailles, IN for an open mic night comedy show. I did 8 1/2 minutes and it went pretty well. I did some old, proven material mixed in with some of the new stuff I've been working on the last couple of weeks. The "UK fans are rednecks" joke was over like rover in Versailles, IN. I used that as my closer and got a really nice ovation for that one. I heard there were a couple of people in the crowd who looked pissed so I'm glad I could once again reach out to the Kentucky fans. I did that joke at 316 Ormsby a couple of weeks ago and a UK fan sitting at the bar turned around and gave me the finger. I didn't notice it at the time or I would have told him how he just proved my joke!

Anyway, the show at Versailles was cool. This comedian from Cincy named Tyrone stole the show by doing an incredible set.

The show at The Ormsby this past week was ok at best. It was another small crowd. My set was ok - it definitely was not the smashing success of the week before.My friend Roy Been stole the show that night with his blow-away set. The only thing this crowd was laughing at was jokes about sex so Roy did every sex-related joke he had and the crowd loved every second of it. If I have to rely on sex jokes to get all of my laughs then I am in trouble. I tried to pick out a few of my new jokes that I thought would work and got mixed results. A couple of them worked ok - I think 1 of those jokes has major potential.

I'll be back at 316 Ormsby this Wednesday. I hope to do some of the new jokes that I chose not to do last week. Jim will love one of the new jokes I've written because it is about politics.

Later,
Rich

On June 21st, I performed at Bud's Tavern and did horrible. I did mostly new material and it all bombed. Of course, with only 9 people in the crowd everything I did bombed. I left that night with less material on my "good, proven material" list than I had when I walked in the place. It was an awful night.

As a result, I lost all confidence in my writing and for 3 of my next 4 shows I did all old material. This was very unusual for me as I love to write and perform new stuff as often as possible. But I had absolutely no confidence in what I was writing and I was struggling to even get my thoughts onto paper.

Last Wednesday I performed at 316 Ormsby and I was determined to do new material. A lot of the stuff wasn't polished and I didn't even think some of the stuff was finished but I wanted to perform new material so bad I went ahead and used it. It makes me very happy to post that my performance was very well received. I did about 10 new jokes/bits and all but a couple of them got very good responses. I was onstage for about 6 1/2 minutes so the bits were shorter than a lot of my other stuff, which I think is a good thing. There are definitely some keepers in that bunch. The other comics kept telling me what a great job I did. Tim Suggs, who has been doing stand-up much longer than I have, told me I did a really good job and that 75% of the new stuff was good.

I record the audio for all of my performances and I have probably listened to this performance 50 times. I'm not sure the last time I was as happy with a performance. It has been a huge boost to my confidence. So, I'm working on some more new stuff for this week.

The crowd last week was the biggest we have had yet at 316 Ormsby. It's a great place to have a show so hopefully the crowds will continue to grow and they will spend money so the owners will keep inviting us back. I plan on going pretty much every week so feel free to stop by and check it out.

Rich

316 Ormsby is a great place to have a comedy show IF there were actually people there to watch. Hopefully the crowd will grow over time because trying to be funny in front of 6 people is a real challenge - one that I haven't really conquered. But it is places like 316 Ormsby that make me realize how great it is to be able to perform at Comedy Caravan. The show Tuesday was good and I was very happy with my 3 minutes. For the first time ever at Comedy Caravan I did all OLD material. I did 3 of my better bits and got a really good response. Let me tell you right now to mark Tuesday August 30th on your calendar because that is the next time I will be at the Caravan. I'm planning something a little different for that night and I have 5 weeks to work on it. I think it has a ton of potential and if you can only make it to 1 of my shows EVER - this will be the show to be at. So I'm asking you - please come to that show if you can. You will be reminded later...

Thanks,
Rich

I will be performing tomorrow night and every Wednesday night in the near future at 316 Ormsby in Louisville. I will also be performing next Tuesday night (the 26th) at Comedy Caravan. The Caravan performance will be the usual 3 minutes in a show that starts at 8 PM.

316 Ormsby (believe it or not) is located at 316 W. Ormsby Ave in Old Louisville. Ormsby Ave is about 6 blocks south of Broadway. The building is located between 3rd and 4th Streets. 316 Ormsby is a restaurant/bar. It's a nice place. The owners of the bar are the original owners of the Napa River Grill so the food is quite good but much cheaper than the food at Napa River Grill. They also have a bunch of drink specials going on and the beer is pretty cheap if that is your thing.

The show starts at 8:00 and should be over before 9:30. I will probably only get 5 minutes of stage time. This is only the 2nd show at this place so we would like to get a lot of people to come out for this show. Obviously, if a bunch of people come out and spend some money then the owners would be more likely to invite us back in the future. If you guys would like to come to the show - that would be great!

Rich

Last Tuesday I performed at Buds for the second time. It sucked. I did a bunch of new stuff and none of it worked. In fact, nothing I did worked. I just chalked it up to a bad night. There were only about 10 people in the crowd so that didn't help.

Last night I did my monthly 3 minute gig at Comedy Caravan. I was very happy with it. The video tape turned out good. The only thing that upset me is that the guys who are supposed to be giving us advice didn't watch my set. I don't know how they can give us advice if they don't watch us perform.

Rich

Last night I performed at an open mic at Bud's Tavern. Bud's is a tiny bar in Shively. There were about 20-25 people there to watch the 8 comics who performed. I did 11 minutes, which is about twice as long as my previous long performance. I did pretty good - the crowd was laughing throughout the performance but with that small of a crowd I didn't get any big reactions. I'll have to do some new stuff next time I perform there because I did most of old material last night. That will be a good place to try out new material. I did all old material last night because there were a couple of guys there that I wanted to impress because they can get me more opportunities to perform. Hopefully, it will lead to something. Bud's has an open mic every Tuesday so right now I plan on going back next week. If I change my plans I will post it on here.

Until next time,
Rich

I will be appearing Tuesday night the 14th at 9 PM at a place called Buds Tavern. Buds is at 4019 Dixie Hgwy in Shively. The good thing about this show is that I should be able to get at least 5-10 minutes. I probably won't be doing any new material - I'll probably work on my "showcase" set. Admission to the show is free. It's a bar so it's probably 21 and over only.

Rich

Last night was my monthly 3-minute allotment at the Comedy Caravan. I did 2 new bits. The first bit was about pimping out the PopeMobile and cruising on Broadway next year on Derby weekend. The bit got a really good response. The second bit didn't work as well. I'm not sure if it has potential or not. It may be one of those ideas that I think is funny but nobody else does. Any feedback would be appreciated.

Overall, I was happy with the performance. Anytime I do 3 minutes of new material and find 1 really good keeper than I am happy. Watching the video tape, I seemed more relaxed than usual. Several of my friends came out to see it - as always it was great to have you guys there - especially Maniwa! Listening to the audio tape, I heard Jim say that the host "needed glasses" after he introduced me as a "handsome young man." Actually, I think Tim has glasses - he just wasn't wearing them. I also got a nice reaction for my observation that seeing Tim and I stand next to each other is living proof that black guys age more gracefully than white guys because Tim is 3 years older than me but looks about 15 years younger. Anyway, I had fun.

A couple of first-timers performed last night. It was weird that I (performing for my 9th time) was giving them advice before the show. 1 of the guys did great - I think he has a future. The other guy struggled at times but did pretty well at other times. He says he will be back so I was glad to hear that.

Several weeks ago I performed at a bowling alley / restaurant / outdoor bar w/ sand volleyball courts called JD Legends in Franklin, OH. It is a really nice place to bowl, play volleyball, drink with your friends and even the food was decent. However, it is a terrible place to do standup comedy. At least it was on that night. I don't feel like typing up the whole story right now but it was pretty much a waste of my time and money. The only good thing that came out of it is that I got to meet Tom Mabe. Tom is a professional comedian who has been on Bob and Tom and has had a lot of success in his career. He lives in Louisville and is a funny guy. He was cracking me up that night.

Last night I performed at Taylor's Pub in Cincinnati. Taylor's is a bar / restaurant that has a comedy night the first Monday of each month. Last night was the second such show. They have a nice little setup there and the food was good.

My performance was ok. I was extremely nervous for 2 reasons. 1. It was my first time performing at Taylor's and in the Cincy area in general. So, I had a new community of comics to try to impress. 2. I could see the people's faces in the audience. At Comedy Caravan, there are two huge, bright lights in your face and you cannot see anybody except for a couple of people right in front of you. It's a little strange at first but it is actually good because you don't get distracted. At Taylor's, I could see most of the crowd and that was crazy. Early on I made eye contact with Missy and almost completely forgot what I was doing.

At first I was told I only had 4 minutes but Jeff re-checked his notes and then told me I had 5 minutes like he told last week via e-mail. Obviously, I had planned on doing at least 5 minutes so I was happy that I didn't have to scramble to edit my stuff down to 4. I drew consistent laughs throughout my performance but no over-the-top huge reactions like last week. For those of you that know my act (Jim) I did the extended version of the "Fluffy" bit followed by the "5 Vowels of Daytime TV" bit. This time I managed to say the last line of the "5 Vowels" correctly (which includes a "fluffy" reference) and got a decent response. Missy really wanted me to do the medical alert bracelet / redneck / UK hat bit but I really wanted to do the other material. There is always next time. All in all I did ok considering how nervous and tense I was.

The comics up there are very nice and very supportive of each other. It was like a wrestling show where everyone said hello and goodbye to everybody else. It was a nice atmosphere and I met a lot of cool guys. Hopefully, I will have a chance to return sometime in the future.

-Rich

Last night I performed at Comedy Caravan and it went pretty well. I did some old material from my very first performance and then some new stuff. My last bit was about medical alert bracelets and rednecks wearing UK baseball caps. The place exploded in laughter and applause. I was shocked that the joke got that big of a response. I really expected the crowd to be 50/50 about the joke. Missy thinks that a lot of people were laughing and pointing at their buddies who are UK fans. Whatever it was - it worked. As soon as the crowd died down I said, "That's all my time - thank you" and got the hell off of the stage. Finally, I ended a performance on a high note! It wasn't a perfect 3 minutes but I will take the good ending and be happy. They screwed up the video tape AGAIN so all I have is 3 minutes of blackness and no audio. That's EXACTLY what I wanted! Fortunately, I recorded the audio on a digital recorder so at least I have that. A big thanks goes to my friends who came out to support me. I appreciated it very much.

Next Monday is the performance in Cincy at an open mike up there. I will get "at least 5 minutes" so I am looking forward to it.

One thing I need to work on is "appearing confident" on stage regardless of how I feel. It may take 6 more months or longer to feel comfortable on stage but I need to appear more confident and comfortable when I perform.

-Rich

I will be going on stage again tomorrow night (Tues the 26th) at Comedy Caravan. Should be fun. I will be doing some old material mixed with some new stuff.

I will also be going on stage next Monday the 2nd of May at a open mic night in Cincinnati. That should be very cool. I will get at least 5 minutes on stage that night. I'm looking forward to trying out a new stage in a different city.

-Rich