Never Nervous

So, a good friend of mine is visiting Vancouver in a couple of weeks. All the way from sunny San Diego, Darryl Purvis.
Now, Darryl probably has one of the most interesting and scary jobs you could possibly have.
No, not an Alaskan crab fisherman. Not a bomb squad technician. And no, not a ghost buster either. Although that possibly is even cooler.
He's a stand up comic. Or comedian. Not sure if one or the other is offensive or not. Kinda like I don't know if I should say midget, dwarf or little person. One or all of those is offensive to somebody.
Kind of like the word 'retard'. I use it a lot. More than I probably should. I mean no offense to people who are mentally handicapped and who at one time would have been described as mentally retarded. But I understand the connotation is still there and there for it's insensitive to use the word (around some people).
But if the term retarded is no longer used to describe somebody who is mentally handicapped, doesn't that "free" up the word to use in my own slang? I think it jsut might. I think I made a case for it right there. It's now ok to use the word retard, guilt free. If somebody gives you shit for using it, cite this blog entry and use it as proof that the word has been emancipated from those politically correct and over-sensitive types who would vilify it's use in an attempt to feel morally superior. Retards.(joke)
But, I digress...
It ain't easy being funny. Sure, it can be easy to make your friends laugh. People of like mind and similar senses of humour tend to gravitate towards eachother.
But it's a different thing entirely to make a stranger laugh. And more specifically, a GROUP of strangers.
And more specific still, make them laugh when you want them to laugh.
Add to that, what people identify as the most common phobia: the fear of speaking in public. You've got one hell of a hard way to make a living.
Darryl's been doing it for quite some time now and has had some very good success, including his own half-hour special on Comedy Now.
He's lived in Toronto, New York and now San Diego.
He's coming up to do a short tour in Vancouver at the Funny Bone and then on to the Cave in Calgary.
So if you are in either of these two cities in the next few weeks, be sure to check out Darryl's show.
You can see Darryl's upcoming schedule and a few videos of his routine here.
After Darryl's set (I'm so hip with the show biz lingo) we're going to check out the Matt Mays concert and slurp down a few golden bevvy's.
Good times. Good times.