Fourth o’ July – Pt. 1 (Work Hard)

This weekend I had the honor and pleasure of headlining the main showroom at the Improv here in DC.

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I close at other clubs on the road, but there’s something special about the people that have been watching you since you first picked up a mic having enough confidence in you to give you such an awesome opportunity. The management and the staff at the Improv have been AMAZING to me over the years — they’re like family. And at every juncture so far they’ve supported me and even pushed me to take leaps before I even thought I was ready.

Thanks guys for everything!

So many of the friends I grew up with in Jersey have settled in the DC area. A bunch of them came out to support this weekend and for most, it was their first time ever coming to one of my shows! This is my girl Jenny with her two brothers Jamal and Jerome and their friend. They took me out dancing afterwards. We had a ball!

Pre-drinks and dancing... By the end of the night I was leaning like one of the backup dancers in the Smooth Criminal video.

This is my friend/big brother/cheerleader, Joe.

This is my friend/big brother/cheerleader, Joe. Everybody should have a 'Joe' ;)

And this is my former roommate Crystal — the only person (besides my folks — well at least besides my mom) who has lived with me and still likes me ;)

Me and Crys

Me and Crys

Many thanks to all my Jersey homies and my Howard buddies who came out to the shows this weekend, and of course the hundreds of other people who took a chance on this small town girl living in a lonely world (how hard does Steve Perry STILL rock? ;)

You made my weekend!

Homecoming and ‘headlining’

So I was in Jersey this past weekend working at the Catch a Rising Star comedy club in Princeton. Princeton is about 20 minutes away from where I grew up so it was amazing to be home. I get nostalgic for Jersey a lot because there’s stuff you can get there that you just can’t get south of the Mason-Dixon — like an authentic bagel shop bagel w/ cream cheese and lox in the morning, a good thin greasy pizzeria pie… and Puerto Ricans. I really miss those things. Puerto Ricans most of all ;)

I was closing the shows this weekend, which was exciting and scary at the same time. I hesitate to say that I was headlining, because until I really get the hang of the closing spot, I’m not a headliner. I’m just up last. I never feel prepared to close, but I also know that there’s no other way to figure out the art and pacing of closing a show other than to do it. There were 4 shows this weekend and I’d say that 2.5 of them went really well. It definitely helped that I was close to home and had a bunch of friends come out!

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Nothing makes you rethink your material like your former Sunday School teacher sitting in the front row ;) But I knew Mrs. Winfrey could handle it. She was like the “Scared Straight” version of a Sunday School teacher. Heart her forever.

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If it’s possible to have two sets of parents who you absolutely, positively love to pieces, then this is my second set — Charles and Ada Martin a.k.a. Jersey Ma & Pop. Through every mistake and triumph I’ve made in my entire life they’ve been there to support me. From sliding me money when I was broke and building me a computer when I couldn’t afford to buy one, to cheering on all my successes and helping to put my setbacks into perspective, I couldn’t ask for two better people in my life. I mean, other than the fact that they’re diehard Jets fans, I’d be hard pressed to come up with one negative thing about them ;) And even then, they still root for the Green & White ;) If you’re a fan of the martial arts — karate in particular — you might be familiar with Pop. He was featured in the martial arts documentary Fighting Black Kings and he is a Shuseki Shihan in Seido Karate — which is the highest honor a student can achieve. He’s in the Martial Arts Hall of Fame and he’s like a rock star in pretty much every country in the world. So don’t mess with him… Or me… cause he’s still got it ;) Continue reading →