shits and giggles

I dont usually travel north of 14th street, being that I live downtown, but because of that very fact, I figured I owed my upper east side friends a show of effort Thursday night, a sort of behavioral statement that Im not COMPLETELY east-village-centric, which, of course, I am. So I met them uptown at Dangerfields, a dark, musty, wood-paneled comedy club on 61st and 1st, for a surprisingly entertaining show.

The lineup had about five or six people and the first two, whose names I cannot remember, but will slyly insert later, were pretty damn funny. I am used to needing a drink or two before I start to perk up at a comedy club, but I was laughing right away. The second guy did a brilliant reenactment of every single story youll ever hear on CNN, and I imagine youre thinking, Uh- yeah? because not only does this mean nothing to you as you: a) were not there, and thus did not hear the punch-line of the joke, or b) have not been given the name of the comedian in order to research said joke and discover the punch-line to which I am referring, but just take my word for it; It was funny.

As the night went on, the comedians got more renowned and less amusing. By the end of it, Steve, the closer, had a tired and unwilling audience. And hes not an appeasing type of guy: think Lenny Bruce. So once the room cleared, or- some would argue- he cleared the room, he started just going off and getting into it. What did he have to lose? So it became this very interactive thing, a kind of midnight chat. The room completely changed from a stage with seating, to anywhere, USA. We were like a few crazies on a park bench up too late, talking about too little. And it was great. The few of us still left got into a heckling match with the guy, throwing out salacious bits of dialogue, engaging in grotesque political banter, ending with choruses of great show and good to meet you. And now Steve is my friend, and will shortly be in my top eight.

How great is it that comedians have cards with their myspace address? It leads me to wonder- if I get a card with my myspace address, will I be cool? What if I put BOTH myspace pages on there? Is that equivocal to off-the-chart kudos?

Something to think about.