the gift

I love doing stand up comedy, I really do.

There's nothing quite like when you're up on stage, looking at people's faces, watching their reactions, working out in your head where you should go next, leading them there and then seeing their faces change as they catch the joke. It's that moment that draws me in - that inexplicable connection that is so amazing and so awesome.

Let me try to share it.

Do you remember the movie "The Natural"? The one with Robert Redford as an over-aged man who returns to the sport he loves so he can give it one more shot? He loves baseball - it's all he's passionate about - but things keep happening, thwarting his return to play in the majors. Now, by no means am I saying I am Robert Redford, or that I am anything like his character "Roy Hobbs" was to baseball. No - at least not yet:)

The comparison I am trying to make is to that when he stepped up to the plate, there was that moment that Director Barry Levinson brought to fruition - when everything was in slo-mo, when "Roy" looks out at the field, sees the pitcher, looks back over to his dugout and then down at his "Wonderboy" bat and everything becomes crystal clear. Everything makes sense - everything is aligned and it just feels so perfect.

That. That, my friends, is how I feel on stage.
And I am so very thankful to have discovered this gift.