"I remember my first time…It was Modesto…"

by Brian McKim & Traci Skene on December 23rd, 2004

We got a nice email yesterday from a fellow from Manteca, CA, by the name of Tom Bickle hipping us to an article on the wires that might be of interest to our readers. He mentioned a the end of his email that he liked the magazine and that, later that evening, he was going onstage for the first time.

We thanked him for the tip and the compliments and we asked him to please let us know how it went and, if there were any digital cameras available, maybe send us a pic to document the auspicious occasion. Here’s his email from this morning:

Regarding my first open mike – I’ll be honest with you. It was … not bad.
I remembered my set, didn’t flub the wording, and made it through with no
tossed tomatoes. My delivery felt more wooden than I would like, but I can
work on it, my material was fairly strong, and I got some encouraging
feedback from others present.

It was some small consolation that the crowd was small, and even the most
comfortable and poised among the performers did not harvest roaring belly
laughs. While I am not cheering a lackluster night, at least my performance
wasn’t the albatross of the evening.

Alas, no digital cameras were available, so no pics. Thanks for asking,
it’s nice of you.

Tom Bickle

Thanks for the update, and congratulations– now that you’ve gone onstage once, your name can be in bold. We are happy to be a small part of what may turn out to be a watershed moment in your life.

As for the rest of us, perhaps this should serve as a jumping off point for our New Year’s 2005 message. To wit:

We know there are a lot of readers out there who secretly (or not so secretly) want to try standup comedy some day. And, since we’re (according to USAToday, at least) “charming, sincere and helpful,” we firgured that Mr. Bickle’s account of his first time might be a tremendous help in realizing that goal.

And, for those of us who have been doing standup for a year or five years or ten years or so long that we occasionally lose track, maybe his email will serve as a reminder of what it was like on that first night. And perhaps it will help us assess and appreciate all that has happened to us since then.

P.S. Bickle also adds that it all happened at “The Fat Cat Music House & Lounge,
hosted by local comedian Sam Bam, in Modesto, CA. They run standup every week there.”

Charming, sincere, helpful. It not only describes us… it captures our readers as well. Thanks.

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