New York Squared-Part 1- The experience

Hey guys so i Just got back from New York City the other day, and it was a pretty crazy time. I actually ended up going two weeks in a row pretty much. I went with Garrett Jamison the first trip and we ended up staying at his friends house in Manhattan. Now I know what your thinking place too stay for free in Manhattan, what can go wrong right? Well how about flying in on 2 hours sleep, and trying to rest but finding out that you have too help someone move for 9 hours. Now don’t get me wrong I am happy that we got a tour of the 3 out of 5 boroughs in New York, but moving a whole house was not the way I expected to do it. The attitude is completely different the NYC in my opinion, no one says high or bye you just talk or go, even the ATM machine does not tell you when its done. Everyone is on their own schedule there cause there is so much too do, you don’t have time caring about what other people are up too. The first trip down I ended up doing about 6 shows in 3 days, it was fun but different cause the comedy scene is so big there its close to impossible to meet comics, cause you never see them again. I was describing it to someone like this, every open mic or “booked show” is its own world which is populated by the same people, and these people do not cross over worlds. I only say this cause in the 6 shows I did I only saw 1 comic twice, so it was hard to start a conversation, cause everyone who does stand up knows for whatever reason, if your new too town we dont care about you unless your funny. Now unfortunately this is something that really sucks but  how it is, the normal process is do a show, hopefully do well- see comics from the first show at another show, and than start a conversation, and hope that you passed the insane test for the local open mic comic to have a normal conversation with you. Cause in this business or any business I guess no matter how a person is outside there job, if they are good at what they do they will have the confidence of Fabio if your new to town. So in short, we did 6 shows and pretty much met no comics.

Now either than the shows and big buildings, we did something else that I think NYC may have invented and like to brag about and that is hanging out in Deli’s and Coffee shops. Now if you know me you know that I like to hang out a lot and if you don’t know me, I like to hang out a lot. But this was to a whole new level I came to realize I don’t even have patience to hang out, like I thought i did, the fact that every one is on there own schedule made it hard for me to get into the hang out mood. Imagine having to wait for someone to hang out with them, the whole process is someone I am not a fan of I found out. What we do in Toronto, is amateur hour to New York, and the best thing is no one knows where anything is, if I was oblivious to hate and just being an asshole, I would think its everyones first day in New York. That was 1 of the 2 lines you would get, “Its my first day here” or just nothing at all, Not even a look. But that is New York you know its so big that you dont need to cross over 14th cause there is 30 of what you need on 12th.

Now New York to me was like a movie that you had to watch twice to understand, cause the second time i went it all started making a little more sense too me, I started to understand the beast called NYC. The main thing I realized that made my experience alot easier and better, both on stage and off, is that New York runs off pure intimidation. Now before I get shot or whatever let me explain, everything is so big there buildings, lights,stars, everything. But what I realized is that in so many words comedians suck every where. Now this is not a jab at the comic, cause I understand that everyone is trying to do there own thing, this is more along the lines of, just because someone was born and raised in NYC does not mean they are going to be any better than someone that is born and raised in some small town in the middle of no where, all they got is New York City beside there name. Cause on the outside New York is rock hard, huge and its got a rep, but on the inside its a one stall washroom that you cant even sit down cause the door touches you knee. NOw dont get me wrong there is alot of amazing comics too come out of New York, and still too come, its probably the funniest place in the world, but on that same note, an open mic is still an open mic the difference is do you wanna pay $5 to do something that you tell yourself, friends and family that you love too do, in my opinion that $5 may be what turns a passion to a hobby, cause i love playing pool and the only way i can play is going to a pool hall paying by the hour and playing  couple games also getting that whole pool hall experience.

All in all I understand that there is gonna be alot of things in this blog, that does not make sense, spelled wrong and just flat out ignorant. But hopefully you got one thing from this and it made sense, leave me feedback if its even possible, I am not sure if the comment section is even there. But if it is let me know, and I will put Part-2-Performance up soon.

Thanks

Mark

March 4, 2011 | Categories: Uncategorized | Tags: Blog, Comedian, comedy, Delis, Mark debonis, New York City, Pizza, toronto | Leave A Comment »