by Harris Bloom
"Comics - A Different (and Sometimes Annoying) Breed"
I hate to stereotype, but most comics I’ve come across are neurotic. They see slights by others when none were intended, they agonize over a poor reception to one joke and they all seem to have had the kind of childhoods that has lead to life-long anxiety. For instance, I did a bringer show a few weeks ago. Like the vast majority of bringer shows, it wasn’t very good. In fact, the other comics were so bad that I wrote a blog entry about it, but without mentioning the club or show by name. The thing is, the show booker is a good guy and he likes my act, so I got a lot of time onstage and only had to bring a couple of people. The day after the show, I wrote him a comment on his MySpace page, thanking him for the show and making a joke about his poker playing. I also wrote him a private message telling him that I’d like to do the show again, bringing a few people. A few day later, I noticed he hadn’t written back to me. I checked his MySpace page – he erased my comment!
At first, I wondered what the heck was going on…then I remembered: the blog entry! He must’ve read it (I sent him my blog address as part of my message to him) and decided I was a jerk.
I wrote emails to two mutual friends, asking if they’d heard anything from him about me. Nothing.
I wrote to him, asking what was up…why hadn’t he responded to my e-mail, and why had he taken down my comment?
He didn’t write back for two days. In the interim, I assumed that I had burned a bridge.
When he did write back, he told me that he’d been too busy to log onto his computer. He took down the comment because he didn’t want industry people to think he had a gambling problem, and that he’d love for me to do his show again. And oh yeah, he thought my blog entry about his show was hilarious.
See? Comics are neurotic.
--Harris Bloom
