Several weeks ago now, Alex invited me and Kevin to watch some stand-up comedy at the Laugh Resort. The whole evening was a good time, but things got really interesting for me while the headliner, Michael Somerville, was on stage.
He was talking about how, when he gets back into town from touring, he meets his girlfriend at a bar, and they try to pick each other up. They make it interesting by giving each other a little assignment or challenge for the night. One time, he was to whistle at her, and she was to wink at him. But, at the time they had given each other these assignments, they didn't know that he can't whistle and she can't wink!
Well, when he started talking about how she couldn't wink, I cheered. I did that because I can't wink either.
He noticed, and asked if I was cheering because I can't wink. "That's right," I said.
He got pretty excited by this, and said that I'm the only other person he knows of who can't wink. He invited me up on stage, to demonstrate to everyone how funny it looks when someone who can't wink tries to. I declined, and he carried on with his story.
Then, right at the end of his set, he was summing up: "and really, that's all there is...unless Dave wants to come up and wink for us" (or words to that effect...hey, it was weeks ago, remember!). Well, in the interim, he had mentioned that he had a CD, which he would be selling after the show. Without missing a beat, I said, "I'll do it for a a free CD."
Why did I do that? I really didn't want to get up on stage and be laughed at, did I?
Anyway, he brought me up on stage, and shared his plans for me. We were going to reenact the scene in the bar, and I would of course be playing his wink-less girlfriend. I said that I hadn't realized this would be a whole big dramatic presentation, and added that the CD had better be signed.
So, I sat on a stool, and he walked across the stage. We glanced at each other, trying not to hold eye contact. Then, he started blowing air, attempting to whistle, and I started scrunching up my face, trying to wink.
The scene was pretty funny, from where I was sitting, anyway. He seemed to be really amused, too. But, the whole experience was quite surreal, so I don't actually remember if anyone in the audience was laughing.
In the end, he started faking a whistle sound, as he'd described earlier in his bit. Not willing to be outdone, I used my hands to hold one eye open and force the other one shut. I think this might have been met with laughter and applause, but I may be imagining that.
Anyway, the whole thing ended quite quickly. But, after the show, he did honour our deal, and I got my free, signed CD.
If you get the chance to see Michael doing stand up, take it! He's a funny guy!
No comments:
Post a Comment