In the Zone
My trip to Fort Walton Beach, I was booked by a guy who does all the booking for the comedy zone clubs. I had been trying to get him to answer my emails for about six months and then in mid -October he sent me an email on a Tuesday asking me if I could be in ft Walton on Saturday night for a show that was paid with hotel - 500 miles From my house. I knew I had to take the gig . Because it was by far the biggest thing I’ve ever done in stand up.
I was really excited and really nervous I was doing feature a spot for a headliner Monte Allen.
I knew taking the trip by car was gonna be tough so I asked a friend to come along with me we left Friday night I drove almost all the way there and around midnight we stopped and stayed in a motel in the morning we drove down to Fort Walton Beach
It was really cool to check into a hotel that was being paid for by the club and it was a nice hotel. We go to the club and we were immediately shown into the green room, it’s a pretty famous club and lots of country singers off and perform there, Apparently Garth Brooks is there all the time kind of cool knowing that we were in the same room with him even though he wasn’t there. We were told we could have whatever drinks we wanted and food anything we wanted. We were told how the show was going to run, then I met the headliner he seem like a nice guy a regular average guy the crowd was very country western, type of a crowd of people all ages over 100 in the audience. There was a small guest spot and then I was brought up For 25 minute feature.
I was told the owner of the club Mark Haskins was watching. It was just so nice being treated like royalty versus how most comedians get treated which is just shoved in the corner and not paid. So this was really kind of a treat for me. The audience were great very well receptive I had a really good set I got off stage-feeling really really great, I went to the green room and I had to sign a W9 and got my check that was the first time that ever happened.
It was a totally unique feeling. Being referred to as an artist, and being paid for my art. Its an amazing feeling , cant really describe it. I think I will never forget that show, because it was really the first time I felt as though I was being recognized as a legitimate comic.