I didn’t think I’d make it up the hill.
There’s a lot of talk of figurative hills in life, but this was an actual one. The hill on London St. heading to Trail campus had turned into an icy slope thanks to a relentless winter.
A stop sign half way up the hill made matters worse because my Pontiac soccer mom van didn’t have the horsepower to push up the hill after stopping. A pair of friends and I were left one option: a running start up the hill and slow roll through the stop sign.
With a hope and a prayer we made it. I went to the comedy show in BE at The Trend pub at Trail campus that night, the same way you might go over to watch a movie at someone’s house after midnight only half-heartedly believing you’ll just watch.
I told everyone I was just going to watch the show, but I knew that I would be giving stand-up comedy a try.
Doing stand-up is a crazy high. My palms got sweaty, my voice quivered and I shook in boots. It’s like public speaking with admittance that you want to be there and you want people to laugh.
Up in front of everyone I became very self-conscious of every movement I did. It felt like I stumbled through the gates, I told a couple jokes to blank stares, but when I found a punch line that people liked it was euphoric. The laughs, the validation, my narcissistic side felt satisfied.
If you were ever like me and thought, “Hey I could do stand-up”, I would urge you to try it. If not just come and watch. Sean Quinlan, the event organizer, always brings good comics from the Toronto area and the Trend is a great place to spend a Friday night with some friends.
The first comedy night of the year was this past Friday, but there’s one every month.
Follow @seanquinlan17 or @ptbocomedy on twitter for more information on local comedy shows.