Fate strikes again

So I just had maybe one of the best weekends ever.

I've already told you about winning Drake's Last Comic Standing, so I'll skip that. I got up early on Saturday to go to a Youth Ministry Seminar being conducted by my youth pastor. Well, not so much got up as awoken by a cell phone call from the people I was supposed to carpool with. Yeah, I've been pretty bogus about getting up on time recently. Anyway, the seminar was great, but I'm not to the really cool part yet.

Then I came back, took a much needed nap and met up with some friends for a senior BBQ. An old high school friend was in town and joined us. That was nice. Still not to the cool part.

After that came the big part of my night: opening for Kyle Cease. I was a little nervous because I hadn't had time to practice my act nearly as much as I wanted to (darn that nap!). But I went with what I consider my "tried-and-true" material (meaning I've done it maybe twice before), so I felt pretty comfortable with it. I made fun of the Relays theme (R.U.N. - Relays Uniting the Nation), talked about how I don't fit in cars, people who are against highway safety, why we still have a blind spot, and why cowboys ride off into the sunset. Maybe one day I'll transcribe all this stuff if you're really interested, but you probably get the idea.

Bottom line: it went really well. The audience, although somewhat stacked and sympathetic to one of their own, really ate up what I was giving. I don't want to say I killed, but...okay yeah, I killed. But here's the really cool part: Kyle, the headliner, was very impressed and complimentary. Right as I got offstage, he said I did a really great job. He assumed from my one-liners that I must be a fan of Mitch Hedberg, who was actually a close friend of his before his untimely passing recently. He said my libraries line actually had him in tears, and he doesn't laugh at anything. He also said, and this was the best part, if I wanted to do this and stuck with it, I could definitely "make it."

So I'm all aglow because this professional comedian thinks I'm good. I sit down to watch his set, which was really great. Apparently, he's been doing this since he was 12, and he's 27 now, so he knows his stuff. It's great because he can talk about generational stuff, like blowing in Nintendo cartridges and Sunny D commercials. Good stuff.

I went to talk to him after the show and get a picture with him and he had more good stuff to say. I kept trying to compliment his set, but he just wanted to compliment me. He asked me if this is what I want to do, and I replied yes, in a way. I want to be professionally funny, but I don't know exactly which route I want to take. So then he tells me that if I ever make it out to L.A., I should give him a call and he'll get me set up in some clubs. He said he's gotten a few people started out there and that I should think about it. We exchanged numbers and he said to give him a call next week to talk about my material and the life of a stand-up.

With my head swimming, I went to DICEfire, a bonfire for DICEY and DICEY-related peeps. There, I enjoyed great company, great S'mores, and smoke that made my clothes smelly. But I was floating, so I didn't even mind.

I really hate to sound like I'm bragging about how awesome I am, but it just meant a lot to hear from a professional that I've got potential. Now, am I going to drop out of school 4 weeks before graduation and go to L.A. to hang around seedy comedy clubs and wait for my big break? No. I'm going to wait until after I graduate. No, just kidding. Calm down, Dad. Second City's been my dream for a while and I'm not ready to jump off that ship before I even start. Not yet, anyway.

But did this weekend prove to me that my dream of being professionally funny is a reality? That I was created and put on this earth to bring joy to people through comedy?

Without a doubt.