Seventeen years ago today, I stepped on a comedy stage for the first time. It did not go well.
Continue reading “A (different) open letter to comedy…”A (different) open letter to comedy…
Tag: stand-up comedy
My all-time most bizarre comedy experience…
In general, I have a rule when I am performing comedy: Do not blame the audience if things are not going well. Too often, I have found comedians who have not done well get mad at a crowd and believe it is the fault of the audience when, in reality, they should be shouldering a lot of that responsibility themselves. If a crowd doesn’t laugh at a joke, I’m usually not one to blame the crowd. Maybe it’s not a great joke. Maybe I delivered it poorly that night. Maybe something happened earlier in my set that I failed to pick up on and now I’m seeing the repercussions of that. I find having this mindset (hopefully) makes me a better comedian and performer because it is always making me look at ways to improve my comedy.
There are, of course, notable and obvious exceptions to this rule. Sometimes an audience member has decided they are going to help the show by heckling. Sometimes an audience member is blind drunk. And sometimes a former co-worker tries to get your show cancelled before it even begins.
This story is about that last kind of example.
Continue reading “My all-time most bizarre comedy experience…”An open letter to comedy…
My name is Matt Drufke and I have been doing standup comedy while based in the Chicago suburbs for almost eighteen years. I love being a suburban comedian. I have always found the scene out here so supportive and caring and filled with people who care as much about how you’re doing as they care about how much you make them laugh. And perhaps this is why I find myself needing to write this. Because something happened this week and it bothered me enough where I wanted to write this.
Continue reading “An open letter to comedy…”Fare Thee Well, Penny Road Pub
Located in what felt like the middle of nowhere in Barrington, Illinois, the Penny Road Pub was a bar and multi-staged venue that made its living by hosting shows. More often than not there were bands, but myself and a few other different comedian/producers tried to get comedy started there as well. Unfortunately, we all learned one thing: because this venue is in the middle of nowhere, Penny Road Pub had, literally, zero foot traffic. The only way to have a crowd is to bring the audience yourself, which is not a skill suburban comedians are super-great at.
The venue closed down last night and that made me wistful. In the fifteen years or so I’ve been doing comedy, that venue provided me some of my happiest/angriest/weirdest moments. I got to hang out with some amazing people, meet lifelong friends, and watch amazing comedians work their craft in front of small audiences. When I say small, it was usually just my wife, Jon- the brother of co-producer Lewis Rhine, and Jon’s friend Charlie. Later, Lewis and I would add Joe Motisi to our production team, mostly because we just liked spending time with him and we all thought each other were hilarious.
What the show lacked in numbers, though, it more than made up for in memories.
Continue reading “Fare Thee Well, Penny Road Pub”How To Never Get Booked For A Comedy Show: A Cautionary Tale
I am both a comedian and a show producer. When these elements are working well, having this dual role is wildly fulfilling. However, when things are getting rocky, the decision to begin producing shows as a comic feels like someone came up to an alcoholic and said, “It seems like you already have this thing that is taking up way too much of your life, and not always in a positive way. Still, try this heroin!”
Continue reading “How To Never Get Booked For A Comedy Show: A Cautionary Tale”
Fancy Boys Club 