Last night was one of the best shows I’ve ever been a part of on the Hey Guys Comedy Club stage. It was a roast for one of the club owners and the dais was made up of local comedians he’d worked with, myself included.

There were ten of us. I’d personally done open mics or shows with all of them except three, and two of the comedians were old friends of the owner who I’d never even met before. One of those two had not done comedy in four years. We also had a great crowd made up of about forty people.

All of the comedians were great in their own way, and spared no one, poking fun at everyone on the panel. Being gay, I was an obvious target and even made fun of everyone else for not being able to come up with any original material that I’d never heard before.

I’d spent probably a month working on material and even trying to get others to help me with not much success. In the end, I had a joke or two for every comedian on the dais and quite a few for the club owner. I got a good response from the audience including several applause breaks for some of my more brutal insults, one at the expense of one of the guys who I’d never worked with before.

After we all had our say, the club owner took his turn but didn’t have many comebacks for us. He was very gentle on me, and even completely forgot to say anything about another comic. He ended with some kind words about his father who’d passed on and lightened the mood with a Dr. Seuss poem, but not before growing teary eyed, emotion I’d never seen from him before. A couple of people up front in the crowd shed a few tears too.

I was very hesitant to do this show when I was asked over a month ago, but I’m glad I committed to it. It was a new experience for me, something I’ve never done before. It was a challenge to write material for, and in the end, it was a great show that I walked away feeling proud of and accomplished.