the comedy hiatus
Jul. 12th, 2024 10:47 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
scottgalvinaround the end of 2021 i had started to produce shows again when things had started to open up after the pandemic. i was asked to book a show at a bar in Rockford within walking distance from my house. i wasn't super excited about the bar itself. the layout isn't great for comedy and i was unsure what to expect from patrons or staff. i vaguely knew a bartender who worked there and she was the one who asked if i'd be interested in helping out with the shows there. she knew my co-producer for years and he immediately stated he wanted no part in being at the shows but would help out otherwise. i honestly don't remember the clusterfuck of circumstances that lead to me ultimately dropping off the show i was scheduled to perform on. i remember my "cherry on top" reason for exiting but by the time i decided i didn't want any part of it i was frustrated because what i had initially been asked to help out with and what i was ultimately being asked to do were not the same. i remember seeing the flyer for the show i was booked on and seeing Marcos Lara and immediately thinking "well fuck that" and then went back and forth mentally on if i should do the show or not. i dropped off that show but found a (better) replacement so they weren't left without anyone.
i stopped doing shows with Marcos years ago for many reasons. the first and most blatant is because i don't think he's funny and i don't respect his approach to comedy. i don't like that he hosts every show he books. i don't like that he claims to provide opportunities for people but they are usually last minute offers to increase show attendance or very low paying. he does shit like offer a 3 minute set to persuade someone to go to his show over my open mic. he got a financial grant to teach comedy classes at a community center in a low income area that was attended by the same handful of people who follow him around thinking he is their legitimate gateway to success. their reward was a certificate he printed at the library and a 1 time set at District in Rockford. these people go on to set up their own shows well before they're ready and when the shows fail venues, and patrons of the venues, are left with a sour taste in regards to local comedy.
i believe everyone should have an opportunity to try stand-up if it's their dream. i believe humor is subjective. but over the years i grew tired of watching him and his comedy buddies drive away people and then blame the audience. i grew tired of being asked if i knew Marcos only to have it followed up with "he isn't very funny" from comedians and fans of comedy alike. the more i opened up about experiences and opinions on his behavior i was met with similar stories from others and realized it wasn't just in my head and the ones who had written him off before i did weren't being too harsh.
i went to a show at the venue i mentioned earlier in this rant to see my buddy Chris May perform. Jamie Martin came out to watch too despite not having done comedy for a few years. i wanted to say hi to Chris, let him see my 83 Plymouth Scamp that i was driving at the time and also to get a Canon camera lens he was kind enough to gift me. on my way in i walked past a maskless John Bragg (JB) standing at the entrance. he said hi and i kept walking. probably petty on my end but i did it for a specific reason and here's why...
at some point during the "okay events can happen but everyone has to have a mask and be social distancing" era of the pandemic i did a show in Oregon, IL and JB was in the crowd. he came up to me as i was leaving, i don't remember the conversation i just remember ending it quickly and leaving. i got asked by the promoter of the show if i knew JB and if i thought he was funny because JB had mentioned knowing me and was wanting to get booked on the show because he has family in Oregon. i said i'd never seen him do well or be funny, because it's true, and was also a little irritated he'd imply that i'd be willing to vouch for him. at some point JB bypassed the person booking the show and contacted the venue to set up his own show. i'm not sure if he was taught the comedy class i mentioned earlier but i found it to be tacky on his end.
i walk into the venue and sit down with Jamie and Chris and we watch the show and it sucks. the rest of the crowd are not feeling it and the host (also one of the bar employees) starts calling women in the crowd bitches and just making a spectacle of bombing and now it's Marcos' job to save the show. i actually felt bad for him at this point but knew there was no way in hell it was gonna happen. i'd be lying if i said we didn't have a few laughs at his expense but we were by no means heckling or even talking over the rest of the crowd that were being louder than the performers but we still ended up being accused of being there only to cause drama. despite the fact one of the people at our table was the feature performer. the girl who i had previously spoken with multiple times had came over in the beginning of the night to say hi and be super friendly with us. after Marcos bombed he went and complained and had her come scold us. i'm sure she could see that i was irritated because the conversation went from her accusing us of being there to derail the show (we were not and did not) to her asking me if i'd be willing to perform there the following month. i agreed to it in the moment but was confused and pissed off. the headliner went up and immediately started saying he was proudly homophobic and i took that as my cue to leave. i ended up messaging her and telling her thank you but no thank you.
a few months go by and i get sent a screenshot of a Facebook post made by JB about how he should have believed Marcos about drama within the Rockford comedy scene and, without using my name, briefly described the instance of me walking by and not saying hi to him. i messaged him about it and he immediately denied it was even about me causing me to ask him "so people walk by you and blatantly ignore you all the time?" and he said something like "no just you" and i was like "so the post is about me?" and while this is all very petty it still pissed me off that he wanted to dodge the simple fact he had decided to post about some random shit 2 months after it happened. yes, i'm fully aware i'm typing a fucking essay about it 2 years later. "my hypocrisy knows no bounds" - Doc Holliday in Tombstone.
so our spat continues with him calling me a keyboard warrior. i point out that i'm in his inbox solely because he decided to make a post about how i didn't say hi to him. me not talking to him has now caused me to feel the need to speak to him. he got his wish. he insisted on talking things out in person. i had a show that night and told him he could talk to me there to which he replied he was conveniently already planning on attending (okay) and then this goofy bastard has the nerve to approach me less than 10 minutes before the show's start time to want to talk to me. i told him i was going up first and he could wait til the show was done. after the show our discussion did not go civil. i'm still as pissed about everything as i was that night. he threatened to "splatter my head" so i went back into the venue and came out with the mic stand and put it at his feet and called his bluff. he had no gun with him like he tried to insinuate but at least he had a weapon now and still did nothing. i don't appreciate empty threats. he had this continued theme of me thinking i was better than him and other comedians in Rockford which is true to an extent. i think what is lost on those who feel that way about me though is that i'm fully aware of where i am in the pecking order of comedy and it's not very high at all. so while i do consider myself a better comedian than most of them for one reason or another, that doesn't mean i have this inflated sense of self worth. i'm completely self-aware that despite having an album on Spotify, nobody is listening. nobody is rushing to book me. i don't say that as pity either, it's just simple fact. it doesn't make anything i've observed or said over the years any less true.
i've been the first one to point out of my own flaws as a comedian or producer and usually get met with generic answers blaming the crowd or venue or being told not to doubt myself. i'm aware of when things go poorly just like i am aware of when they go great. i was there. so i take offense to the narrative that i'm just some asshole who is mean to their comedy clique for no valid reason. i've been away from comedy but still see things on Facebook. comments and posts about cancelled open mics. blaming the crowd for not responding how the "joke" was intended to be taken. it gives me enough reason to believe things haven't changed much but i'd like to be proven wrong.
i stopped doing shows with Marcos years ago for many reasons. the first and most blatant is because i don't think he's funny and i don't respect his approach to comedy. i don't like that he hosts every show he books. i don't like that he claims to provide opportunities for people but they are usually last minute offers to increase show attendance or very low paying. he does shit like offer a 3 minute set to persuade someone to go to his show over my open mic. he got a financial grant to teach comedy classes at a community center in a low income area that was attended by the same handful of people who follow him around thinking he is their legitimate gateway to success. their reward was a certificate he printed at the library and a 1 time set at District in Rockford. these people go on to set up their own shows well before they're ready and when the shows fail venues, and patrons of the venues, are left with a sour taste in regards to local comedy.
i believe everyone should have an opportunity to try stand-up if it's their dream. i believe humor is subjective. but over the years i grew tired of watching him and his comedy buddies drive away people and then blame the audience. i grew tired of being asked if i knew Marcos only to have it followed up with "he isn't very funny" from comedians and fans of comedy alike. the more i opened up about experiences and opinions on his behavior i was met with similar stories from others and realized it wasn't just in my head and the ones who had written him off before i did weren't being too harsh.
i went to a show at the venue i mentioned earlier in this rant to see my buddy Chris May perform. Jamie Martin came out to watch too despite not having done comedy for a few years. i wanted to say hi to Chris, let him see my 83 Plymouth Scamp that i was driving at the time and also to get a Canon camera lens he was kind enough to gift me. on my way in i walked past a maskless John Bragg (JB) standing at the entrance. he said hi and i kept walking. probably petty on my end but i did it for a specific reason and here's why...
at some point during the "okay events can happen but everyone has to have a mask and be social distancing" era of the pandemic i did a show in Oregon, IL and JB was in the crowd. he came up to me as i was leaving, i don't remember the conversation i just remember ending it quickly and leaving. i got asked by the promoter of the show if i knew JB and if i thought he was funny because JB had mentioned knowing me and was wanting to get booked on the show because he has family in Oregon. i said i'd never seen him do well or be funny, because it's true, and was also a little irritated he'd imply that i'd be willing to vouch for him. at some point JB bypassed the person booking the show and contacted the venue to set up his own show. i'm not sure if he was taught the comedy class i mentioned earlier but i found it to be tacky on his end.
i walk into the venue and sit down with Jamie and Chris and we watch the show and it sucks. the rest of the crowd are not feeling it and the host (also one of the bar employees) starts calling women in the crowd bitches and just making a spectacle of bombing and now it's Marcos' job to save the show. i actually felt bad for him at this point but knew there was no way in hell it was gonna happen. i'd be lying if i said we didn't have a few laughs at his expense but we were by no means heckling or even talking over the rest of the crowd that were being louder than the performers but we still ended up being accused of being there only to cause drama. despite the fact one of the people at our table was the feature performer. the girl who i had previously spoken with multiple times had came over in the beginning of the night to say hi and be super friendly with us. after Marcos bombed he went and complained and had her come scold us. i'm sure she could see that i was irritated because the conversation went from her accusing us of being there to derail the show (we were not and did not) to her asking me if i'd be willing to perform there the following month. i agreed to it in the moment but was confused and pissed off. the headliner went up and immediately started saying he was proudly homophobic and i took that as my cue to leave. i ended up messaging her and telling her thank you but no thank you.
a few months go by and i get sent a screenshot of a Facebook post made by JB about how he should have believed Marcos about drama within the Rockford comedy scene and, without using my name, briefly described the instance of me walking by and not saying hi to him. i messaged him about it and he immediately denied it was even about me causing me to ask him "so people walk by you and blatantly ignore you all the time?" and he said something like "no just you" and i was like "so the post is about me?" and while this is all very petty it still pissed me off that he wanted to dodge the simple fact he had decided to post about some random shit 2 months after it happened. yes, i'm fully aware i'm typing a fucking essay about it 2 years later. "my hypocrisy knows no bounds" - Doc Holliday in Tombstone.
so our spat continues with him calling me a keyboard warrior. i point out that i'm in his inbox solely because he decided to make a post about how i didn't say hi to him. me not talking to him has now caused me to feel the need to speak to him. he got his wish. he insisted on talking things out in person. i had a show that night and told him he could talk to me there to which he replied he was conveniently already planning on attending (okay) and then this goofy bastard has the nerve to approach me less than 10 minutes before the show's start time to want to talk to me. i told him i was going up first and he could wait til the show was done. after the show our discussion did not go civil. i'm still as pissed about everything as i was that night. he threatened to "splatter my head" so i went back into the venue and came out with the mic stand and put it at his feet and called his bluff. he had no gun with him like he tried to insinuate but at least he had a weapon now and still did nothing. i don't appreciate empty threats. he had this continued theme of me thinking i was better than him and other comedians in Rockford which is true to an extent. i think what is lost on those who feel that way about me though is that i'm fully aware of where i am in the pecking order of comedy and it's not very high at all. so while i do consider myself a better comedian than most of them for one reason or another, that doesn't mean i have this inflated sense of self worth. i'm completely self-aware that despite having an album on Spotify, nobody is listening. nobody is rushing to book me. i don't say that as pity either, it's just simple fact. it doesn't make anything i've observed or said over the years any less true.
i've been the first one to point out of my own flaws as a comedian or producer and usually get met with generic answers blaming the crowd or venue or being told not to doubt myself. i'm aware of when things go poorly just like i am aware of when they go great. i was there. so i take offense to the narrative that i'm just some asshole who is mean to their comedy clique for no valid reason. i've been away from comedy but still see things on Facebook. comments and posts about cancelled open mics. blaming the crowd for not responding how the "joke" was intended to be taken. it gives me enough reason to believe things haven't changed much but i'd like to be proven wrong.
despite who is "right" or "wrong" i still found myself at a point where i didn't like how all of this was making me feel. the hostility, the reckless urges, the inability to concentrate. all of that was on me to address and work on. it was nobody else's fault that i had gotten to that point of instability. if comedy is about being funny then why am i not having fun? i realized i had to take a break from comedy. i gave producing another shot before i came to this realization. i will post separately about the weekend that ultimately lead to me realizing it was time to quit.
