So I just got back from my very first trip to L.A., and maybe I was wrong about it being soooo far in my earlier entry… What I should have said is it’s soooo out of my budget. That’s a far more accurate statement. While I was there I visited aforementioned comedy buddy, caught up with another friend and auditioned for the new season of Last Comic Standing. I was excited because last week the high temps in L.A. were in the 80’s. But when I go, it’s in the 50’s and 60’s, which is not bad for February all things considered, but sucks when you have to sleep outside on the street. I don’t mean to sound trite here, but that one cold nite bundled up on Melrose really made me appreciate how fortunate I am… Hey, how’d I do with the “not-sounding-trite” thing? Not so good? Eh, that’s about what I thought…
Well, I obviously didn’t get a callback – or else I would have started the entry with that… or maybe changed the name of my website to guesswhogotacallback.com – but I also didn’t go with the mindset that I’d actually be chosen for the show. I thought it’d be a cool thing to do, if for nothing else than the story and I figured I’d meet some cool people – both of which were true. My audition was cool. I got thru 2 of the 3 bits I had planned to do and I got chuckles from one of the stone-faced judges all the way thru, and they were actually very nice to me. I also learned a lot… like if you really want to make it to the second round of auditions for a stand-up comedy reality show and you have some “Groove is in the Heart/Dee-Lite style” platform heels and a pink wig in your wardrobe you should definitely wear them. And I got to meet comedian/agent/club owner Barry Katz who gave a group of us some great advice that apparently none of us took, but appreciated nonetheless… HA! I was also interviewed by the LCS crew and cutie pie Mark Long from Road Rules 1 for the FOX Reality Network while I was in line, so maybe I’ll make it into the outtakes or a bite on the FOX channel… We’ll see.
Shout to all the great folks I met in L.A… not that they’ll be reading this, but it was a pleasure meeting Will and Daryl and Kay West. SO AWESOME to meet like-minded comics gettin’ their hustle on 3,000 miles away… cuz we’re all in this thing together. And I don’t know how many of you watch “Flavor of Love” on VH1, but recently departed contestant Goldie is a comedian as well and she was in the chair just in front of me in line for the audition. I haven’t ever seen the show, but she was a very cool girl…
Best of luck to all of you who are planning to audition at the other open calls around the country… and please don’t be discouraged if the judges look you right in the face and tell you, “Sorry, but you’re not what we’re looking for.” It’s not necessarily (HA!) a reflection on your talent. They’re making a TV show and they need it to be entertaining… Plus, if they turn you down and you hit it really big… you can talk about them on your E! True Hollywood story like that poor coach who cut Michael Jordan from the HS basketball team. He’ll never live that down.