Bear with me faithful readers, this is going to be a bit different than my other updates.
Let me ask you this: have you ever been in a ‘moment’ where time seems to slow down and your senses seem to sharpen? You have a sensation like a small electric current is running through you? All this leaves you with the realization that you are on the verge of something great unfolding before your eyes? If you have, you know the rush, the exhilaration that hits you.
That was Friday night for me at The Ultimate Comic Challenge Semifinal Show at The Idiot Box! Even with all that I had written about the show and having experienced 5 of the 8 semifinal shows throughout the life of the competition, I was completely shocked and amazed at what went down. When I got to the club, I was a little worried because there were only a few people inside. With it being cold and windy, I wondered if that would affect attendance. Turns out that, no it wouldn’t at all. By a few minutes before show time, the club was holding a sold out show.
As the comics arrived and milled around, the atmosphere was different than one might expect. There was the nervousness of course, along with a sense of determination. That was balanced out by the sense of unity; as if each one was responding to being in such rare company as opposing to being around nine opponents. It was a cool thing to see and feel!
As the minutes ticked down toward showtime, the audience did indeed show up. Not only that, but they brought their own high level of energy to build upon that from the comics. It was easy to see the comics feeding off of that energy as time wound down. All the signs were there for an EPIC show.
Finally, the lights dimmed down, the music faded and the host for the night, Jennie Stencel, was announced and she took to the stage to do the housekeeping announcements and warm up the crowd. In a sight departure from her usual stage persona, Jennie was a bit sillier than usual, and that seemed to be just what was needed to win over the crowd and pump the comics up even more. And with the announcement of the first comic, Ryan Davis, it was on!
There is a difference of opinion on going first. Some don’t like i because you have no idea what the reactions are going to be like. Others love it because they get to set the tone for the show and get a chance to set themselves in the audience’s memory. Any concern about whether this was a good spot or not was put to rest about 2 sentences into Ryan’s set. The crowd was more than willing to give up the love for the comics. As high energy as he is when he hits the stage, Ryan fed off the energy and noticeably kicked it up a notch. And he would not be the only one to show the obvious affect the crowd was having on them.
As each comic took the stage after that, the crowd had their backs. The energy was there all night and for each comic, but it was kind of weird, the energy almost took on a new dimension, for lack of a better word, for each comic. It was like each comic hit the stage in front of their own personal crowd. The same type of reactions took on different personalities as each comic won the crowd over. I wish I could explain this adequately, but trust me, this is something rare (or maybe just to me). It was wonderful to be there and hear it and feel it.
Going through the show, as I looked around the club, it was easy to see the effect the comics were having on the audience. Looking around and seeing people wiping their eyes or holding their sides or even, as happened to me more than once, doing the silent laugh because they just can’t catch their breath to laugh out loud. This was even more verified hearing conversation during the break while votes were being counted. People talking about everything from hurting to sides to worry about peeing a little because of the laughter.
Another thing that made the evening special was the reaction that the comics were having to each other throughout the night. While I have never seen the atmosphere in the club get tense during the shows, there is usually a definite aura of competitiveness in the air which tends to limit the overall interactions during the shows. There was little to none of that though. As the comics came off the stage, the other comics made an effort to congratulate them and to let them know how well they did.
As the last comic finished her set, the energy level didn’t drop at all. After ballots were turned in, it became a big free-for-all of congratulations and expressions of admiration as audience members sought out the comics and the comics sought out each other. This is a competition so there will be comics leaving the competition after votes are counted, but the worry over that was overwhelmed by declarations of being a new fan, or I can’t wait to see you on stage again, or I want you to know that I voted for you. This was one of those times that you can say that while some may come up short in the voting, but there were no losers. I know how corny that sounds, but it also happens to be true.
After a few minutes , the lights dimmed again and we were called back into the club for the announcement of the finalists. The energy level was almost intoxicating at this point! There was a buzz in the air as Jennie slightly drew out beginning the announcement. Then as she started to announce the first name, the air went still as it seemed that everyone was kind of holding their breath. With the first name announced, that bubble burst and the applause and cheering for each name was loud enough to make you feel like the air was vibrating. As loud a the crowd was for all of the comics announced, there were two moments stood out as the noise became almost unbearable in such close quarters.
The first one was the announcement of Melissa Douty as a finalist. Several of the comics had expressed how concerned they were with her as she moved forward to the semifinals . She made it very clear tonight that they were right to be. On top of this, Melissa made a little bit of comic history for the Idiot Box. In the 8 years that the competition has been held, she was the first female comic to make the finals. What made this even more special was that the realization came afterwards when everything started calming down. A cool side note added to one hell of a performance.
The second one was when Dusty Cagle was announced as a finalist. I could almost imagine that the windows were vibrating from the level of noise. Dusty has been a consistent face around the club since he first signed up to take the stand up class offered at the Idiot Box.... a little over a year ago! The votes he earned with his routine, the overall admiration was won as much by who he is as by what he does.
Overall, the announcement of all 5 finalists and the 1 alternate was met with raucous applause and cheers. The crowd wasn’t through showing how much they admired and enjoyed the show they just witnessed. As we started filtering out of the club several small groups still stood outside and went over the show and giving congratulations/condolences and talking up future shows. There were several people that flitted among the groups, not willing to have the night end.
Now, let’s get down to the good stuff!
First up, the alternate. This comic finished 6th in the voting and will step in as a finalist if any of the 5 need to step out for any reasons:
The five comics who moved on to the finals by audience vote:
Troy Dougie Harris
Zo Myers
Jay Stadler
Dusty Cagle
Melissa Douty, who was the night’s $50 winner for receiving the most audience votes,
Zo Myers
Jay Stadler
Dusty Cagle
Melissa Douty, who was the night’s $50 winner for receiving the most audience votes,
Also, I would like to once again thank all of the other semifinalist comics:
Without a doubt, the level of talent in the competition this year was unbelievable. If you get a chance to see any of the comics who performed tonight, or any night of the competition, please do so. We are lucky to have such a strong comedy scene here in Greensboro and throughout the state.
Finally (pun intended), please continue supporting these comics and the competition itself when the UCC finals come to The Carolina Theatre on January 22nd, 2016!
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