Fresh Meat is over friends. We can all breathe again! Inhale some of that delicious oxygen! Aaaaaaaaaaaaaand breathe out. Nope, not working. Still on edge! Well, I guess it’s time to sign up for a new yoga class, Brie!

The Fresh Meat show was a huge success!  The theatre was full (not full-full – because I know what that looks and feels like – but, good full), the masses were laughing and the comics were knocking ’em dead.  All in all, what a wonderful show to have been a part of!

Props & hugs to the producer, Dee and to everyone else I saw running around working hard!  ( Photographer James & Emily backstage +DJ the host) for such a smooth running professional evening. Even content-wise, I was pleased to see a good number of smart, sophisticated humour –  (mixed in with a very healthy blend of the irreverent.)

It was also so great to see all the fun people I normally work alongside, smiling encouragingly as I told a very embarrassing story on stage and reaffirming me afterwards that I didn’t stink!

As silly as it sounds to say it though, I think my highlight of the night was the moment I walked out of the green room after my performance and thought: “PHEW!!  It’s DONE!  Now I can just sit back and actually ENJOY the show!”  I think DJ Demers, the host, summed it up pretty nicely when he commented on how a bunch of the comics were puking backstage because they were so nervous.  It was a nerve-wracking show.  And a healthy dose of competition is good, sure.  Fine.  But this isn’t athletics.  It’s not like we all go at once and then the fastest, or the furthest wins.  I do not envy the performers who had to sit through the entire show, seeing all the performers kill and think – “Oh jeez, I have to do better than him, and her, and them etc.”  Whereas I got to just rip mine off like a Band-Aid.

Most of the time, I like to go last or near-last at a stand-up show, but definitely not in competition, I learned.

It was great to see the members of the community, once again assembled to celebrate and encourage those starting out in the business.  It’s great to hear that that’s what Tim Sims was about – because it’s not an easy thing to get into and to continually rationalize and justify as your debts pile higher, but your gigs get better… slowly.  Slowly.  And you work well into the night – performing, writing, re-writing, rehearsing, hounding down colleagues to coordinate stuff, producing, etc.  It’s not easy.  But is it worth it?

Three minutes, we got on Monday.

Three minutes to myself on the Second City main stage.

You’re damn right it was worth it!