Reflecting on my Comedy Special Taping

“I recorded my Dry Bar Comedy Special this past Saturday and I can’t wait to see what comes next.”

That was the first line of the first draft of this post. I was already thinking about what to focus on now that the special is over, rather than taking a moment to stop and appreciate what’s already happened.

I have a tendency to do that. Are you the same? I work really hard on something, it happens, and then I immediately move on to the next thing.

For example, we launched 8 friggin’ courses at the very end of 2023 and I’ve hardly done any type of marketing or promotion for them. Why? Because I’m already on to the next thing.

(If you do want to learn about the courses, you can learn about the complete package here.)

So in the spirit of reflecting on and celebrating past accomplishments, let me try that first line again…

I recorded my Dry Bar Comedy Special this past Saturday… and I’m happy to report that it went really really really well. Like big laughs and multiple applause breaks well. People asking for my contact details for potential shows well. Pretzel (my wife) telling me she still has a big crush on me well.

Admittedly, I was a mix of both excited and nervous before the first show. I knew the material well because I had been almost solely focused on prepping for the show the past 25 days leading up to the event (I got the signed agreement that I was booked for February 10th on January 16th).

In that time, I did 17 shows preparing for the special, including:

• 3 full virtual run-throughs (w/ feedback)
• 3 bar shows
• 3 comedy club shows
• 5 open mics
• 1 theater show
• 1 full in-person run-through
• 1 reunion show where no one really paid attention because they were just waiting for the band to come on after me…

That’s not to mention the countless run-throughs I did in my head or recorded over Descript so I could work on timing, transitions, and how to balance while attempting to do Eagle pose for one of the jokes.

And that doesn’t include all of the work I did to prep for the submission tape (including a 45-minute show with ? Thom Singer, CSP ?? in Austin in August and two 25-minute sets with Rajiv Satyal in Cincinnati in September). Nor does it take into account the fact I’ve been working on some of this material for years (I did one of the jokes in the special for the first time back in 2012).

While all of that work increases the chances you’ll have a good show, none of it actually guarantees that people will enjoy your set. Case in point, I did an open mic 3 nights before the taping to work on my first few lines and the audience was… not really into it.

It took me 90 seconds to get my first laugh, and in a stand-up set (particularly one that will be seen as video later), that is an eternity. You might as well be reading War & Peace up there.

So while I knew I had done my part to prep, I still didn’t know how it would actually go.

The show started with Travis Tate, the house emcee who also warmed up the crowd. Next was Kenny Mock, who was also taping his special… and he absolutely crushed it. Right out of the gate he hit punchline after punchline and the audience loved him.?

They loved him so much it made me nervous. Because his style is very different from mine… and I was up next. I started to worry, what if they like him but not me?

I found out my mom, who came out for the shows along with my two brothers, had the same concern. “How are you supposed to follow that?”

Luckily the audience was into not just Kenny but also my style of nerdy comedy. After his set, I took the stage and from the get-go, the audience was on board. I got a good laugh at the 5 second mark, again at the 11 second mark, a small laugh at 19 seconds in, then two more big ones at 31 seconds and 42 seconds, and closed the first minute with another small chuckle.?

That’s five laughs in one minute, a fantastic way to start a set and the type of response that boosts your confidence for the rest of the show (or perhaps even my entire year).

The rest of the set was a blast. There were lots of laughs and a number of applause breaks (including for a pi joke). The only problem was that there was so much laughter that I had to drop two bits towards the end of the set so I didn’t go massively over my time (a very welcome problem to have).

My set ended with a standing ovation (though don’t be impressed, Travis told the audience to give every comedian a standing ovation…) and we headed into intermission. I immediately found my mom and brothers who said they enjoyed the show, talked to a few audience members, congratulated Kenny for his great set which also left the audience eager to laugh, and called Pretzel who last-minute discovered she could livestream the whole thing.

After the 10-minute intermission was up, Travis warmed up the crowd again and then comedian Nick Harvey, took the stage to record his special. He continued the trend of knocking it out of the park (including getting 3 applause breaks in one story).

Once the show was over, all the comedians grabbed a bit of food and then we did it all again for the second taping that night. Because of the success and energy of the first show, it was easy to settle into the material for the second show, working on any lines I flubbed and getting in one of the bits I dropped from the first show.

Overall, I couldn’t have been happier with how the shows went. I’m excited to see what the end product will look like (though that could take up to a year to see) and it will be interesting to see how the internet responds.?

Will they agree with the audience in the room that day and enjoy it? Or will they be like some of the commenters on my TEDx talk and say “This guy is trying too hard to be funny?”

My best guess is that there will be a mix of both of those reactions… but they won’t really bother me because I’m proud of what I put together.?

I’m proud I’ve put in the work over the years to get my material to this state, I’m proud that it’s 100% clean, and I’m proud I could do an entire set speaking positively about my wife and make 300+ people laugh at the craziness that brought us together.

But more than proud, I’m incredibly grateful. Stand-up is an interesting artform because it seems so singular. The finished product is just one person on stage with a microphone. But there are so many people behind-the-scenes to make something like that possible.

For me, that list includes Pretzel. Not only for being an amazing human and source of some really good material (I never would have gone to yoga class without her), but also for creating the time and space for me to work on this special as much as I did over the last month+. Same goes for our little one who missed out on a lot of Papa time while I was traveling (I’m sure she’ll be the focus of a future special).

Also a huge shout out to my mom and two brothers for making the trip to Utah and helping me celebrate not just the special but also my birthday.?

A big thank you to Keith, Maren, Steven, and the entire Dry Bar team–everything was professional, smooth, and a whole lot of fun. And to the other comedians, Kenny and Nick who absolutely crushed it. One person even told us they thought we were the best 3-person line-up they’ve seen in their 18 months there. Nick suggested we should all tour together and call it an Oreo tour.

And a big thank you to everyone who helped me get reps of the show, like Rob, Dave, Apryl, Gary, Ray, Sachin, Sheba, Ben, Tom, HB, Alex, Rajiv, Tom, and many others. To Armando Maestro for helping me book the show, and to the countless people that gave me feedback on the set, sharing what worked, didn’t work, what was confusing or could be funnier.?

Yes, I was the one on stage, but I wasn’t the only one who made it possible.

While I’m thanking people, I should probably also thank you for reading this. My intent wasn’t for this email to turn into the acknowledgements section of a book, but perhaps that’s my biggest learning from deciding to reflect on the experience and not just move to what’s next.

Moving on from our wins and losses is important so we don’t stagnate or rest on our “Lauras” (as my friend, Laura, used to think the expression goes). But it is important to reflect on our experiences. Not just so we can learn from them, but so we can be reminded of all of the people who have helped us to get to where we are. If we move on without a pause, we do a disservice to those who made the effort to support us.

As I reread this post before hitting publish, I realized how many thank you notes I need to send. If someone’s helped you accomplish or overcome something recently, why not join me in sending them a thanks?

Then we can focus on what comes next…

Until next time,

=Drew

PS. I still am thinking about what’s next, which we’ll explore more in next week’s email AND in our virtual happy hour this month, taking place on February 29th.