Ive usually always worked on New Years Eve. This year is no different. I started out with short 5 and 10 min sets around Vancouver. My first paid spot was The Flying Club, I made 50 bucks for 5 min in 89, I was way too young to be in the club legally and I got drunk afterwards and was banned. I remember a raucous dry show the next year for the city of Maple Ridge where I left many a family offended by my salty language. My first actual comedy club was Punchlines in New Westminster with Ryan Styles, where I bombed unmercifully for 15 min straight. I did two New Years in a bar/truck stop/nightclub in a frozen Williams Lake BC because the money was designed to offset the horror of the reality. Then various Yuk Yuks from Regina to Edmonton. When I moved to Montreal they had the most amazing New Years that Ernie Butler used to do at Club Soda, the completely packed show headlined by Bowser and Blue with nearly every Montreal comic on it, I always wondered why every city didnt do the same format it worked so well, comics and crowd just loved it. When I moved to the states I did fewer New Years shows. I development exec at HBO got me a Burlesque hipster New Years night in Silver Lake where I wore an orange suit and brought on confident poets and semi-confident dancers. I did New Years at the Melrose Improv in 99 which was the closest to feeling surrounded by friends LA could offer, and the next year I was snowed in my girlfriends basement in Chicago where I missed my show in 2000. A few more Improvs, then a few at home with my girlfriends friends. Then back to Canada where I started corporate New Years. Doing various petro-chemical companies parties for ridiculous money and few laughs around Alberta. New Years 2007 I found myself back in Vancouver doing the club with Pete Kelamis and Charlie Demers. The next few years had me in the UK, and other than one year in Victoria BC. In 2010 I did the Manchester Comedy Store with an unreal line up, Moorehouse, Johns, myself and Jim Jefferies. The next year was the London Comedy Store where I almost missed my spot and after running 10 blocks hit the stage breathless and drenched in sweat to subdued appreciation. Then a family one in Kamloops where I drank pickled plum in green tea(which is awful!, but good luck) and this year back in London opening the Clapham Grand and closing the Comedy Store in Piccadilly Circus. Its my 25th year since this holiday became mainly a work night. Its grown on me, the optimism we collectively share as the year ticks forward. I dont think anyone will be sad to see 2014 go. But even after a quarter of a century, I still have no idea what to wear, as I look like a dick in a suit coat, but nobody wants me showing up in a sweatshirt. But if thats my biggest concern, I guess its been a pretty fortunate quarter of a century. Happy New Years to everyone who works on this night, and to those of you that dont, remember for a moment the many of us that do in order for you to have such a great night.
Posted on: Wed, 31 Dec 2014 14:55:17 +0000
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