I was Booed Off Stage at a Black Comedy Club

I am 70 years old and have been doing stand-up comedy at open mic nights for over 30 years. I worked for an international software company based in Holland and traveled the world. It was a great opportunity to travel to many US cities and I attended an open mic night every chance I got, especially bigger cities like San Francisco, Chicago, St Louis, and many others. I usually had no problem embarrassing myself on purpose as my comedy centers around my size. At 6’6, 375 you can bet that I get noticed when I come on stage. I have a standard set that is timed perfectly at 5 minutes so that comedy club managers know that I will not abuse my time slot.

I am usually not afraid to embarrass myself on purpose and even take hits from the audience on occasion when I get heckled or I talk to people sitting near the stage.

But there was this one time that I was embarrassed and booed off stage at a comedy club in Atlanta, GA. I can look back on it now and laugh but at the time it was tough to take as I considered myself a seasoned amateur and immune to boos.

I was in town and searching for an open mic night but there were none to be had except for a Black Comedy Club that was famous for attracting Black comedians from Def Comedy Jam out of Chicago. This was in the early ’90s and black comedy clubs could be pretty lively places and the comedy could be rough at times but usually very funny.

I was single at the time and talked my very white roommate into coming with me. He was concerned that we might stand out but I assured him that there would probably be other white folks attending as some famous comics from Def Comedy Jam would be performing and it would be a mixed audience.

I could not have been more wrong because after we arrived, put my name on the list, and took our seats we noticed that there were plenty of black faces in the crowd but the only white ones were two very uncomfortable gentlemen sitting right in the middle of the club. That would have been me and my roommate, who was regretting his decision to come along and glaring at me for putting him in this situation. But I just smiled and assured him that all would be fine, I would do my 5 minutes and we could leave right after I got off the stage.

Several amateur comics like me signed up and since the club had so many professionals going on they decided to sprinkle the amateurs in with the pros. I got lucky and was picked to go on stage early in the evening at number 5. I had 2 pros bracketing me at numbers 4 and 6 so I was sure that if I bombed it was ok as a strong comic would come up after me and get the crowd back on track.

Well, I was not prepared for what happened when I went on stage and looked out at about 150 people in the audience and right smack dab in the middle was my very white roommate whose face just glowed every time the spotlight swept the crowd.

My big mistake that night was not sticking to my usual routine and taking a chance that it would work in front of a black audience. Oh no, I spent time writing some jokes that I thought would work in a black comedy club.

To say this was a bad idea was a huge understatement as I had just tried out my third routine when the boos started and some items were thrown my way to emphasize the audience’s displeasure at my crude attempts to make them laugh. I just said a quick “Thank you, that’s my time” and hurried off the stage, hoping that the next comic would bail me out and help the audience forget this lame white boy’s attempt at humor.

Even though this event was very embarrassing I was not prepared for the embarrassment getting even worse as I sat down next to my roommate. He had ducked down into his seat and tried to make believe that he was anywhere but here witnessing my crash and burn.

The MC came out and introduced the next comic as a very popular Def Comedy Jam alumni from Chicago who been on the comedy circuit for years. I also ducked down in my seat as best I could, hoping the spotlight would stay away and I could simply enjoy the rest of the show.

The professional who came on stage took the mic off the stand, walked to the front of the stage, and said,

“ Hey light man, put the spotlight on my big buddy sitting at the table right in the middle. You can’t miss him as he is pretty white and the scared dude sitting next to him is even whiter. Ok, ok, that’s good, right on their faces. Hello my Caucasian comedy buddy, I just want you to know two things this evening. If you think you were embarrassed on stage a few minutes ago you better fasten your seatbelt because me and my black brothers are going to roast the hell out of you for those lame attempts to please this audience."

"But we are also going to treat you to as many free beers as you like so bring my white brother and his terrified buddy a couple of beers and let me tell you where you went wrong with your routine.”

Over the next 90 long, embarrassing minutes, 3 of the best comics from Chicago tore me apart and got the audience falling out of their seats with laughter. Each one repeated the mantra, “Put the light on my white brother and bring him another beer.” One even complimented me for having the courage to go up on stage at all and told the audience that while I was on stage the 3 of them had been frantically writing jokes to counter the ones I was trying out on stage.

We stayed for the whole show and afterward when the club had mostly cleared out, the comics from Chicago came over to our table, offered more beer, and encouraged me to come back and do it again when they were back in town. I laughed and assured them that this was my first and the last attempt at an open mic night in a black comedy club, thank you very much. They asked what my set was like in other clubs so I did a quick couple of minutes for the group. They laughed and said I should have just gone with that and not tried to appeal to a black audience when I was white.

In the end, it was a good night and I made some new friends. I also learned that even your most embarrassing moments can come out ok if you just go with the flow.