I had a comedy anxiety dream the other night.  I dreamed I was at an open mic in a big auditorium, inexplicably with windows at the back.  Some of my friends from college, people I haven’t heard from in years, were there.  I took the stage, and bombed.  Not because the crowd was bad, because instead of using my carefully prepared set, I just started rambling and trying to be funny.  Some of what I said got a few laughs (after all, I wouldn’t have decided to be a comedian if I couldn’t  be funny off-the-cuff), but mostly, it sucked.

Then I woke up.  And that very evening, I did 5 minutes at an open mic, performed mostly new stuff, and rocked it.  Every joke got a reasonable laugh.  Even the stuff I came up with on the spur of the moment.

Which reminds me, I need to tell you all about open mics.  I’ve actually got quite a lot to tell you all.