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Looking forward to a hometown gig

  • Shows


After weeks on the road, I’m performing close to home on March 10, 2018! I get to do some comedy time for a good cause: the Sonoma County Family YMCA. Their 5th Annual YMCA Comedy Night will let me perform for and with new comedy friends I’ve made since moving back to Santa Rosa. I’m looking forward to 30+ minutes at the mic and enjoying the audience, and, of course, the other comedians.

Playing your hometown can be great. One of the sweetest sounds I’ve ever heard is the laughter of the people I care about (and invited). I’ve experienced this pleasure a few times.

On the other hand, if you don’t do well with a “home court advantage,” it’s much worse than bombing in front of strangers. These are people who thought you were amusing when you were young and might’ve (against their better judgement) thought you were funny when you were older. But it only takes one show for these same peeps to ask questions like “You really make a living doing this?” (ouch) and “When are you gonna get a real job?” (Oh, my!)

One of the last times I headlined in Somona County, (for another good cause) I knew everyone in the audience, from former first grade classmates to my high school teachers. Easy, right? I’ve never been more anxious/nervous as I was pacing before the show. I don’t know what I expected, but I know what I hoped. I hoped for it to not be terrible. That’s the bar, I just wanted to survive with friendships and credibility intact.

Before that show, a longtime friend nearly smacked my ashen face before saying “Just do that thing you’ve been doing for your whole life…and it might be okay!” Good advice. And it was better than okay—it was good! After that gig, I could show my face at school reunions and people took my phone calls. The worse case scenario was all in my head.

I’m happy to support the Sonoma County Family YMCA and hope I do well. The show is advertised as “clean-ish,” a definition I looking forward to seeing in action! I’ll be performing for many folks I have not seen in a long while and look forward to hearing the magical music of their laughter again.

If you’re in the Santa Rosa area, you can buy tickets here. Can’t go? I’ll report back in my next blog post.

3 thoughts on “Looking forward to a hometown gig”

  1. Oh I can’t wait. Steve you were hilarious in school and even more hilarious now. So enjoy the shows I have been able to attend. I hope there will be many more close to home. See you Saturday night!

  2. As one of the lucky “invitees ” at a couple of your gigs I can only say the peeps of Santa Rosa are in for a treat. Astrid & I will be heading over for fix sometime in the future….(meet halfway in Hawaii??) JL

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