The lights and music goes down and Steve Lesser introduces the host for tonight.... Steve Lesser! That is met with a fair amount of laughter, so there is no doubt that the audience is primed for comedy. There is more laughter as Steve goes through his version of the housekeeping announcements And then, it's showtime!
Starting it off is Eric Megert. Eric starts off his set and with his skill at making his routine almost conversational kicks in right away. He draws the audience in and it's like sitting down and catching up with an old friend. A friend who happens to be very funny. By keeping, for the most part, to material that is personal, yet very relatable, he is able to deliver a laid back, conversational routine that draws a reaction comparable to higher energy comics (that sounds very weird, but work with me here). I have talked a few times about comics who make their comedy look easy., but with Eric it is literally simple as being himself (though that can be more difficult than playing a character or having a stage 'persona'). It makes it that much easier for the audience to root for him to succeed.
Next up, and an almost perfect follow up, JD Etheridge. JD shares a lot of traits with Eric. Pretty much what you get on stage is what you get in general. Though with JD, there seems to be a lot more off of the cuff bits. There will be bits that seemed to be tangential or a stray thought, even though it is a practiced line (or a slight tweak of a practiced line). The best part of that is when he cracks up a little when those moments get a good reaction; or when he tries to slip something in and the audiences reacts. Like Eric, JD is a good natured person so it is hard to catch just how much energy they put into their comedy.
Following JD is a relative newcomer to comedy, Teresa Prevatte! Probably the most charming comic of the night (and that is saying a lot), Teresa seemed a bit tentative at the start, but that was all for show. She quickly kicked us the sass and the personality, though. She made excellent use of call backs throughout her set. Overall, her set developed extremely well. Everything transitioned well and her pacing was just right. Even more impressive is how she was able to play off of the energy from JD's set, here it could have been easy to either kind of get lost in it or to drop it completely,
Next up is Lydia Whitley! She takes the stage and her bright and bubbly personality is evident before she says a word. There were quite a few smiles in the audience as they waiting for he to begin. Precise and good natured, she pepped just a bit more as she got her first laugh from the audience. Making excellent use of stage whispers and asides, she took the audience by surprise a little bit but they caught up quickly. After a bit of guilty laughter, the audience warmed up to her even more. She definitely sets herself apart with a quirky and strong set. **** It seems that I need to add a bit of clarification at this point. When I mentioned guilty laughter, in this case it refers to a response when a comic slips something past the audience and the audience finally catches on and they kind of laugh to try to play off the gotcha. In this case, the stage whispers kind of threw some of the audience until Lydia actually remarked about about why she was whispering. As I looked around, there were more than a couple of confused looks. When Lydia let them off the hook, you could almost see the lights pop on above some of the audience members' heads. I also was remiss in not pointing out that while there were quite a few gotchas throughout the first round, Lydia's was unique in the fact that despite it being the most obvious of the gotcha, it was also the one that took the longest for the audience to catch up. She most definitely earned the laughter she got, the catch up laughter was just an added bonus!***
The next comic up is Nick DeNitto! Nick gets the cheap pop of the night when he starts out his set with a good natured dig at a comic that was a surprise no-show. After that, Nick picks up the pace and delivers a set that is a nice contrast to the more laid back previous sets of the night. Even at a quicker pace, there is a precision to his delivery that rivals the earlier comics. Transitions are not always smooth, but the audience doesn't get a chance to notice because there wasn't much fade time between laughs. From the grin on his face, it is clear he is as happy to make the audience laugh, as the audience is to be so well entertained.
Every show so far there has been one comic that I haven't seen perform before that just astonishes me. The comic that fills that role tonight is the next comic up, Brandy Brown! As a performer, I would say that the old line about "classy, sassy and a little smartassy" is an apt description. She took the energy and kicked it up a notch. It is hard to think of a smoother delivery style in the competition.
Okay, tonight there are two new (to me) comics that just wowed me, the second one is up now, Jason King! Taking the stage, he has a grin on his face like he knew the juiciest secret in the world and he is going to do you a solid by letting you in on it. Using self-deprecating humor right off the bat, the look on his face says he is daring you not to laugh. The look on his face when the laughs comes says he knew you would.
We now come to our last contestant, Brent Blakeney! He has killed it every time I have seen him before and it is no different this time. His delivery is as sharp as ever. I am not sure there are adequate superlatives to describe someone who can write a hilarious bit connecting Waffle House and the 70's video game, The Oregon Trail. I mean, come on!
The lights come up and Steve calls the comics back up in order so that that faces can be matched to names on the ballot. Ballots are collected. Maybe you are wondering at this point, is Steve going to count the ballots and do fill spot as well? That would be interesting, but alas, no. Even better though is that there is another special guest tonight, the one and only Ryan Higgins!
It is a cool show when you get to see audience work, a bit of off the cuff improv AND set, practiced routines, right. With Ryan you get all of that in one set! He moves from one type to the next without missing a beat. Part of his material seems to border on stream of consciousness and it is fun to see how he transitions from one bit to another. Sometimes it is a smooth change, but sometime he hits you with such an obvious ham-handed change up that you have to laugh at it. He ends his time with a version of one of his (in my opinion) best routines. I am a little sad that he had to shorten it, but there is business to done!
MOVING ON TO THE WILD CARD ROUND BY COMIC VOTE:
ERIC MEGERT
NICK DENITTO
MOVING ON TO THE 2ND ROUND BY AUDIENCE VOTE:
JD ETHERIDGE
BRENT BLAKENEY
JASON KING
BRANDY BROWN
CONGRATULATIONS TO YOU AND A HUGE, WHOLEHEARTED THANK YOU TO ALL THE COMICS WHO HELPED MAKE THIS SUCH A GREAT SHOW:
TERESA PREVATTE
LYDIA WHITLEY
AND SPECIAL GUEST, RYAN HIGGINS
ANYTIME YOU GET A CHANCE TO SEE ANY OF THESE COMICS, OR ANY OF THE COMICS PERFORMING IN THE COMPETITION, PLEASE DO! SUPPORTING THE LOCAL COMEDY SCENE, LOCAL COMICS AND FINE LOCAL COMEDY VENUES SUCH AS THE IDIOT BOX IS A WIN-WIN SITUATION!
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