Luck is overrated.

I have failed at two attempts to perform my seventh open-mic set.

Dear Reader, 

Thank you for following my journey into the dark, dusty, crowded, and not-so-crowded corners of my standup adventure. I'm trying to make performing standup a habit that sticks, so I can keep pushing through to refine and add to my material. 

Science says it can take anywhere from 18 to 254 days for a person to form a new habit and an average of 66 days for a new behavior to become automatic. Who am I to argue with science?! 

When I began this, I planned to hit an open mic once a week for as long as it takes. I was going well with a six-week streak when I struck out. 

I have written enough about the annoyance of always being forced to take the stage at the night's end. This is mainly because the host selects the order; if the host doesn't know you, they will stick you at the end. I understand the politics, but it's tough because the small crowd has mainly dispersed by then. It's hard to test your material on a handful of people who are probably exhausted and possibly drunk by closing time. Being selected last reminds me of my scattered attempts at playing sports during recess as a kid.

I discovered a few open mics in Nashville, randomly selecting comics that I thought would be perfect. The first time I did this, I got last place - randomly!

Stalled at seven!

Sadly on my seventh night out, the host didn't select my name. It was a bummer to spend the time and energy to rehearse, get dressed, and get out to the club, only to discover I wasn't going to perform. Damn you, Lady Luck! 

My schedule permits me to hit an open mic once a week; if I miss that window, I miss that week. And missing weeks kills the habit I'm trying to form. It completely throws me off to the point that I feel like giving up, and procrastination begins to show its ugly head.  

And so, my seventh attempt failed. I was out of town the following week, so I didn't hit a club again until last night at Third Coast. I diligently rehearsed my set yesterday and was excited (and nervous) to give it a go again. I was thankful to have Caitlin Price (my comedy comrade) there for encouragement and to return the favor by supporting her.

We chose Third Coast because it was a random draw venue, so we figured we could finally have a larger audience by testing our luck. Plus, Third Coast is where we first met in our standup 101 class led by Carl, who also hosts the open mic. It was good to see him again last night. And alas, we were both not selected from the seemingly random draw. 

I want to believe the draw was genuinely random. In the East Room, the host pulls the names out of a bag on stage. I suppose he could review the submitted names ahead of time to remove any stinkers, but I don't believe that is the case. Last night was different, though.

We each added our names to strips of paper that we dropped into a cup. Before the show, those paper strips were randomly drawn and added to the call sheet. However, nobody saw the names selected, so it's difficult to know how random it was. But I do think it was odd that we both weren't selected. Both newbies. Say it ain’t so, Carl!

Caitlin and I stuck around for several sets and left feeling defeated and possibly cheated. I can only hope that it's a lack of luck responsible for our names not getting picked. I felt stalled at my seventh attempt to perform comedy, but we agreed to keep trying.