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By Martin Chaddock
It all started out when a new
comedian opened up for me in early November. This kid was good,
real good. He hails from Queens NY from a strong Italian family
and upbringing and at least 60 people showed up to see him for
his first performance, ever. Why was he on the same bill? I was
assured that this kid has a lot of potential and to just fucking
deal with it. As a first time comic, I have to admit, the kid
was amazing, he was told to do 7 minutes and he did 15 minutes
with ease and yes, people that were there to see him perform
did laugh and laugh hard, but so did everyone else including
myself. One of the things that made me crack up the most was
his bit about his girlfriend asking him to bang her from behind,
not because she enjoyed it that way but so she can finish her
game of Angry Birds.
Going onstage
after him was a pleasure too, he had that crowd rolling
and ready and there was no stopping them and I stepped
right in and did my thing and walked up off the stage after
a 15 minute set and had the rush I always get when ever
I get off the stage. Ahh life is good.
I continue to go on stage on a regular
basis after that as I always do but that night stuck out
in the most recent shows as I was really impressed with
this kid.
Two weeks ago as I am walking up to my
New York home club, I see the kid up front talking to some
guys and he was pleasant and comes up to me and said he
remembered me and how funny I was and that he was looking
forward to being on the same bill again. The kid
was very polite and respectful, which is always a plus
for me.
This night was going to be great for me,
I was being filmed for an upcoming documentary that has
been in the works for months and nothing can go wrong.
Until….. |
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how can I go wrong?
The kid did so good the last
time he performed all his friends and family told all of their
friends and family and you literally couldn’t move in the
place. The kid did another great set and while he was on, the
host asked me if I minded that he do a short 5 minutes in between
me and him and I obliged, after all, how can I go wrong.
Well the hosts 5 minutes was
flat, unentertaining and he actually cut himself off at 3 minutes
into his 5 minutes and immediately brought me up to do my thing
to save the crowd. As soon as I put one foot on the stage after
I was introduced, the whole club minus about 15 people left at
once all during my opening bit and I was done. I was prepared
to do 15 minutes and 30 seconds into my act I knew I didn’t stand a fucking chance. Not
only did they all leave at once, they were all talking on the
way out! I managed to stay on stage for 7 minutes talking to
the camera guy about how this is perfect footage for the documentary
about bombing badly in the comedy world! During my 7 minutes
on stage I kept looking for the host to give me the so light
so I could call it a night and he was no where to be found. Turns
out he was stuck in the crowd that was leaving and he couldn’t
get to the room in time.
Once this nightmare was over, I myself
couldn’t leave
the room because of the departing crowd, so I went into the green
room and one of the old pros told me how great I was and I was
like, are you fucking kidding me? He said no, most people would
have said fuck it and just left but you kept going and that takes
a lot of balls. I was grateful for the kind words and at the
same time I know this is the life I chose and shit happens so
in the end I wasn’t upset at my performance, just upset
that I got too comfortable knowing that shit like this can happen..Unfortunately…It
was on film!
Martin Chaddock is performing Wednesday January 18th at Stand
Up New York,
a premier comedy club located on the Upper West
Side of Manhattan at Broadway and 78th Street.
Long Island born Martin Chaddock has been writing and performing
stand up comedy for over 16 years. He has performed in venues
from New York to Los Angeles and produced several successful
comedy & music events. He was most recently directed by actor
Frank Vincent in a comedy short that was based on Mr. Vincent’s
character “Billy Batts” from the Academy Award winning
film “Goodfellas”. He resides in New York City
where he performs on a regular basis.
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