Tales from the Road: Oberlin College

On Friday Hampton Yount, Tim Miller, and I joined Mike Blejer in returning triumphantly to his alma mater, Oberlin College. Oberlin College, where no one is surprised by the number of students that are into men, but Tim is surprised by relatively high number of black people. I think they should definitely use that in their recruitment literature.

Seven hours each way, the whole trip took about a day and a half meaning most of the time was spent not agreeing on musical tastes and deciding which one of us was most racist, but isn't that what all road trips eventually devolve into?

Okay, on to the show, which was in a coffee shop/performance space that could probably hold a good 300 people if you were pushing it, or 40 people if you were putting on a comedy show last Friday. Despite the less than stellar numbers the Oberlin crowd was receptive and seemed to enjoy everything except PowerPoint presentations and Hampton's gay, incestuous suicide fantasy (which happens to be one of my favorite jokes in the world). We probably should have shortened our sets to account for the lack of audience but after seven hours in the car, no one is gonna tell no one that they can't do what they intended to do. Fuck you, English language!

Apparently, much of our problems stemmed from the bad word of mouth after the last stand up performance just one week prior from a bunch of racist, sexist New York stand ups (take that New York!) that we would love to know the names of for no reason in particular (**update** a review of the New Yorkers' show was found online. The last line tells you exactly why our crowd wasn't huge). At any rate, we did so well that we got invited to a rocking college party that we (suspiciously) weren't able to locate, thus ended up drinking at the local watering hole before going back to the hotel to watch my new favorite movie, Beer League. Also, Beer League is the worst movie I've ever seen.

All in all, despite minor setbacks that trip was a blast and would go back to Oberlin in a second, although I should probably wait for an invite.

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Are You Guys Majoring in Being Awesome?

i got to participate in a stand-up show last night at Georgetown University called "Hoya Comedy Lounge" organized by Matt Sapsford. i'll only say this probably more than once. college crowds rule!

they pay attention. they get references. they express enthusiasm. they show up for extracurricular ballroom dance lessons. they accept free food graciously. they are smart. they are motivated. some of them wear backpacks to events at night. they embrace you for helping their diversity quota (wink!) they make you feel as if maybe someone will understand your weird joke that nobody else understands in all of the DC metro area tristate fiefdom. or at least, they'll sympathy giggle.

if you get a chance to do a show at a college, don't think twice. go! do it. they will treat you like royalty. they might even crown you with a baseball propeller hat sporting their institution's name on it. probably not but maybe a sweatshirt. also probably not on the second thing. but self-esteem! yeah. THAT. now i understand why we embrace the youth of a nation. because they are fantastic listeners and great chucklers. and they will have power someday! and they will vote! and i can also feel good because the event was sponsored by campus health services! if that's not a good cause, well then, i'm throwing in my monogrammed loofah with matching shower caddy (perfect for dorm living!)


your guys' laughs sound highly educated
photo courtesy of Flickr and achichi

yeah so college? turns out i'm pro. that's a joke. i was never against it. are there people strongly against college? that's a story for another blog. i mean the costs and pretentiousness, sure, but ok i digress...
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