I played Flapper’s Comedy Club in Burbank last Thursday night as the feature performer on “Wo+Men 4 Applause!”
And here’s the story:
I’m a bit of a lagger. I thought it was a stoner thing till I moved back in with my folks two months ago and have experienced first-hand that my mother cannot get her ass out of the house on time to save her life. And now that I live back in Southern California, where I’ve been told “everybody’s stoned, Courtney,” and where the traffic makes everyone late, I was informed that a 10-minute late arrival is acceptable. I mean, I was looking for parking!
But the answer is always: “duh.” Traffic? Duh. Parking? Duh. Be a professional. Late arrival is never acceptable.
I didn’t get yelled at or anything, but I’ve never done a show at a club where they keep a profile on their talent in a database and a record of your arrival times! Of course, I haven’t done a lot of comedy club shows. (Usually, with the band, we did comedy *shows,* but not necessarily in clubs, where they’re not equipped for a band). Luckily, over a decade of work on my life’s outlook has trained me not to dwell on things that have already happened, so I didn’t. Especially because I had just met my comic-friend-of-the-night.
Since I’m new on the scene and I haven’t really been to any other open mic but El Cid, I’m not meeting many comics (though it’s pretty satisfying to surprise them with my shit when they haven’t heard of me), so I love meeting an outgoing one who is fearless and flawlesssssssssss!
I was sitting outside the bathroom doing my makeup when Jackie Garcia walked up and complimented me on my skirt: I was wearing the pot dress under a jacket. And anyone that compliments me on my pot dress I know is cool. So she and I ended up palling around (and she introduced me to her agent, which was very nice) all night and having a few meetings outside, across the street where we wouldn’t get a ticket (!! Downtown Burbank apparently has a “no smoking” rule. Okay.)
Pretty much everyone on the show was super funny! Jackie was fantastic: she said she forgot her jokes, but she’s got a solid stage presence, and kept the audience captivated. There were a couple of big-time comedy/writer guys who showed up out of the blue, but I don’t know who they were (I think they were both from “Chelsea Lately”). I am really enjoying my time of Midwestern ignorance of who’s who here before I become obsessed with such information. But after my set, one of them, who went between me (the featured comedian) and the headliner (which means he’s someone cool since he basically just replaced me as the feature… which I really, honestly, don’t care about) gave me a compliment, something like “that was really fun” (I don’t remember, I just came off stage). But I do remember, he touched my arm and it was quite possibly flirtatious. Who am I kidding, of course it was! I’m Courtney McClean! … and I sing about sex, so, I’m an easy target. Heh. Anyway, big time writer guy touched me. Wanna touch me?
I sang “Safe Words,” “I’m No Cowgirl,” and “Joe Biden.” I was going to sing “Suck A Ring,” and “If You Ain’t Gonna Tap It,” instead of the other latter two but I didn’t really want to encourage audience participation this early in my LA career, and “Tap It” just isn’t ready for the showcase kind of show this turned out to be. We were in the main room at Flappers and there were at least 50 people there, which was encouraging and made for an energetic show. And the staff was really nice! I got a handful of compliments on my set, which I consider a *very* high honor coming from the staff of a comedy club. I just doubt they’re stopping every act every night and telling them they loved their set. The sound guy, Ed, too, loved it! I knew he would: he was a classic nerd, through and through, and before the show he was giving me some sound advice (pun intended) on getting a pre-amp and being able to control the sound of my banjo. Yeah, this is long overdue, so it’s happening soon.
I guess Flappers tapes all the comics’ sets so you can pay to get your set from them (you’re not allowed to tape yourself, I guess). It’s a great money-making scheme, and I’m totally going to buy into it. So, stay tuned to see that footage. I even do a high kick at the end of my set!
Tonight’s the open mic at El Cid… maybe I’ll see you there?
Courtney McClean 
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