Can You Perform?
By Mike Spahr
I gotta tell ya, performing is my thing. I never had a problem doing a Smokey Robinson karaoke at Brewsters pub on any random Tuesday night while everyone was present after their weekly bowling league game. Nor did I ever pass up an opportunity to belt out a good rendition of an Elvis Presley song at the Cherrywood lounge in Marlton ( gotta be suspicious minds..standard!). Being shy at any given party after ump-teen busch lights past midnight..not an issue with me either. Honestly any chance I’ve ever gotten to make someone laugh I’ve taken full advantage of and, occasionally embarrassed myself in the process ( more funny than embarrassing though..haha). Although poking fun of yourself during humiliation is an even more powerful form of humor. This week on THE COMEDY POINT, Soul Joel himself questions the differences between performing in front of friends and family ( music,stand up,acting) and performing for larger crowds or groups of strangers.
Personally it’s never been a problem. I thrive on the energy like a beam of high powered humor channeling through my brain!! It does pose a valid question though. Maybe some people are really funny but just can’t perform on demand.Or they clam up when the moment of truth is upon them. Been there… One time a few years ago I was at a party(standard behavior on a weekend night). I was amongst a lot of my friends but there were also some people there that I did’nt know. Throughout the night the laughter meter was running pretty high recalling the days of old with close friends and just coming up with funny stuff as always.Everyone seemed to be having a jolly old time and new faces soon became familiar through conversation and laughter.
I remember Craig Angelini and I talking about something and these two dudes started chiming in. I forget what transpired but somewhere along the way Craig commented about how funny I was. Of course I took it and ran boasting that I was in fact ” funny “. We were sitting outside on the deck of a friends house and there were cars lined up on either side of the road (like and typical jersey jam) in close proximity from us on the deck. There was a nice little spread at this party including complimentary hot dogs (random but delicious) ha ha I just made myself laugh.. So as I’m going on about how funny I am one of my new found bro’s proceeds to challenge me. He said and I quote ” if you were really funny you could hit that Bronco from here with a hotdog”. Of course the first thing that came to my mind was.. What’s my athletic ability got to do with my level of laugh ability guy? So I kinda took it like he was mocking me.
Jersey Toss Up: Who was funnier?
There was a Ford Bronco easily out of range for any normal person but my wantingness to prove I was funny plus wanting to shut joe shmoe up (in a good way) interested me to the point of attempting this feat. He kept eggn me on..you’re not funny, you’re not funny. I looked at craig and we both knew then and there in our drunken stupor what had to be done. I took a wind up with my wiener and let the s.o.b fly. I felt like Jason Werth throwing a ball to home plate knowing all good and well that it was either gonna be successful or not. It was a jersey toss up!
Low and behold the hotdog hit the side window of the 1980′s bronco and put a nice distinguishing mark as it thumped the side of the truck. The two dudes who were now acquatences at the least looked at me in amazement with no comment to add. Craig and I started cracking up almost enough to urinate ourselves like I did at space mountain when I was 9. I then turned and looked at them and said..see … told ya I was funny!
Underperformer under pressure…never Been there,
Mike
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