Friday August 13th, 2010 - Somewhere Near Belize

   Only two shows tonight, it felt like a night off. I’m starting to get an idea of what these audiences will like and laugh at. Unfortunately, it’s not necessarily what I do on a regular basis. I see it, I accept it, and I’m not upset in the least. I need to adapt to their tastes, not expect them to jump on board with what I’m ding. I’m here to please the crowd, not me.            &nb sp;                         &nb sp;                         &nb sp;                         &nb sp;                         &nb sp;                         &nb sp;                         &nb sp;                         &nb sp;                         &nb sp;                         &nb sp;                         &nb sp;                         &nb sp;                         &nb sp;                         &nb sp;                         &nb sp;                         &nb sp;                         &nb sp;                         &nb sp;                         &nb sp;                         &nb sp;                         &nb sp;                         &nb sp;                         &nb sp;                         &nb sp;                         &nb sp;                         &nb sp;                         &nb sp;                         &nb sp;                         &nb sp;                         &nb sp;                         &nb sp;                         &nb sp;        

   This is not a career move. It never was. It’s a chance to earn steady money, eliminate all my credit card debt and hopefully bank a few bucks so I can finance some of my ideas for products and projects that I can’t do as of now. I’m taking a calculated risk by being here.

   In a perfect world, I’d work as often or as little as I want. I’d develop a solid reputation for being a good guy to work with and a quality act that can be depended on to knock out killer shows night after night, in any situation. I’ve kind of got that in comedy clubs now, but that doesn’t translate to cruise ships. This is a different audience, and I need to adjust.

   My ‘Mr. Lucky’ persona doesn’t seem to be working at all. Nobody cares. I have never really polished it to the point where I have a solid set of jokes only about being unlucky. I have a few things, but I feel it limits me sometimes in a particular audience. These people are on vacation, they don’t want to hear about a guy from Wisconsin who has bad luck.

   At least I don’t think they do. I don’t feel it. They want to talk about the ship and what’s involved on a cruise. That’s our only common ground, other than the fact I’ve been to the cities and towns these people come from. There aren’t too many places I haven’t visited.

   The first show tonight was the best early ‘PG’ show I’ve done yet. I had a plan going in, I wanted to keep the amount of premises down to a minimum so I wouldn’t have to waste any material or burn any topics I might want to delve into in the later show. There were a few kids in the audience, but not nearly as many as the last cruise. It wasn’t an issue at all.

   This experience is no doubt going to make me a better performer, because I’ll make it a priority to improve and adapt into this situation. I had a similar situation when I moved to Utah to take a radio job. Those audiences were completely different than what I was used to, and I had some big adjustments to make in a short time. I did, and now I love it there.

  I think I’ll have the same experience here. I observed both Jim Brick and Tony Esposito, and they both figured it out. They do material right down the middle, and aren’t the angry ranter types that can have success in comedy clubs. They went with the flow of the crowd and that’s what I need to do also. This is a new situation, and winners are able to adapt.

   I’ll find a way to make this work for as long as they’ll keep hiring me. It’s good to have a standard to aspire to, and I’d love to be the best guy out here. That’s going to take some work, as my act doesn’t thrill the masses like a juggler or impressionist does. I’ll have my work cut out for me trying to figure it out, but I’m up for the challenge. It’s another solid source of income, and that’s never a bad thing. Friday the 13th wasn’t so unlucky after all.

Tags: Tony Esposito

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