Frankenstein

trying to be funny from the safety of your own blog is one thing.

trying to be funny on stage in front of strangers is quite another.

see, i have been absolutely, completely, utterly fascinated by stand-up comedy my whole life -- from the first time i saw (and memorized) Bill Cosby Himself when i was like, 9 years old -- yet have been absolutely, completely, utterly terrified to try it.

but.

well, sometimes i guess it takes the right kind of push (or the right kind of pusher) to convince you to do something you've always wanted to but didn't know how, or were too scared to attempt, or were so sure you'd fail at that you just never did.

"so why aren't you doing this?" Ish asked me, just hours in to our meeting.

"me? gah! no!" i said. "i mean, i'd LOVE to do stand-up, but i couldn't possibly..." and then i proceded to give him every reason why i'd never be able to do it. which he soundly refuted.

and so over the last two months, he's been amazingly encouraging. he's talked to me about my (potential) material. he's introduced me to the local circuit and its many aspiring comedians. and he convinced me to sign up for an Intro To Stand-Up Comedy class.

which i started last night.

so really, who knows where this will go. (uh, if anywhere.) for one thing, it'll be months yet before i venture to actually like, get up on stage. for another, i have no idea what i'm doing and am still completely terrified of completely sucking. but i do want to be brave. i do want to try. i do want to just...see.

"i have a feeling," Ish said to me over the weekend (after i'd spent 15 minutes reeling off "ideas" i was working on for material asking, roughly 952 times, is this funny?), "that i may be creating a monster."

"what? why? what do you mean?" i asked, pretending i didn't know.

"i'm pretty sure once we finally get you up on stage and hand you a mic," he said, "you won't be giving it back."

and he smiled.

of course, i have no idea what he's talking about.