Just a quick update today on last nights comedy presentation at the San Fran Bathhouse (Wellington's top venue for live comics...there do I get another free pizza now after that plug?). As mentioned yesterday the evening was billed as a female comic night and had the subtitle of 'Dames before Christmas' - mmm, not a fantastic start on the comedy with that one I guess - But following last weeks visit, I was keen to experience the evening again.
It started at 8pm so I had planned a walk in from Oriental Bay for about 7pm which would allow plenty of time for seat selection - this time I was eager to be in the eye line of the comics so that I could be the butt of a joke or two...not sure why I had this change of heart, maybe I wanted to try my well practiced retorts from last week, or maybe I knew that Caroline would be sitting next to me and possibly get some of the flack to ;)
Anyway, when you are unemployed the days kind of drag, so after typing up the blog I still had an hour or so before Charlotte finished work, and Caroline had already 'rested her eyes' for the jet lag - or maybe it was my company...I do not know - but after a few texts back and forth between Charlotte and I, we had arranged to meet up after her work, but before the show as she was unable to come along with us (again through tiredness, but not jet lag induced ;)
Thanks to my short but very sweet time with Charlotte that evening, I have now discovered another little cafe close by to my new apartment (the first discovery being an ice cream place which serves some of the best in Wellington and is just at the bottom of my hill...guess I will need the climb up to fight the calories). But it was now getting on for 7:10pm so I had to go and fetch the 'dressed, ready and waiting' Caroline for our tramp into the city. Unfortunately I was greeted by 'in bed, not ready, sleeping' Caroline - or at least that is who I suspected was on the other side of her bedroom door - but after a few mins of persuasion, she did get up and we left the apartment.
The walk into town was uncharacteristically cold due to a strong westerly wind, which also had the effect of making couples huddle together whilst waiting at street corners. So naturally I wondered what Charlotte was doing and missed my practiced 'holding each other whilst walking' skill I had been using lately. Caroline was just happy to be pointed in the direction of travel and be given the occasional 'this is this' and 'that is where this is' indicators.
After 30 mins we arrived at the venue - which was an unassuming door off of Cuba Street, well unassuming apart from the chalked 'Comedy in here tonight' message on the pavement outside it. But our way in was blocked by another hugging couple, however I recognised the chap as being one of the 'more nervous' comics from last weeks show, so I had a few lines I could now use, one being 'excuse me' but being Kev, I went with the '...well, where is my hug then?'. This resulted in a welcoming pair of arms being presented to me, but I simply patted him on the back and said, 'No, it's alright thanks, you needed the hug on stage last week, it is too late now!'
As mentioned above I was keen to find seats near the stage, so a large leather sofa along one edge looked very promising. Another promising sign was the number or reserved tables on display. This left me thinking that either the comics families had all come to see the show, or it was going to be a packed event.
Again I took my camera along but recorded even less material than last week as in summary you could say that the laughs were there but the delivery was missing in many cases. One of the more memorable comic lines was 'I am from Pennington originally but my parents moved to Auckland when I was just two...still, I tracked the bastards down and found them in the end'. However I had learnt from last week and ensured we had enough wine to be able to at least chuckle along! Oh, yes we also had a free pizza which was nice enough but a bit small. Still for NZ$15 dollars each it was something to do - not sure if I will see next week show though.
Well today I am just lazing around the apartment at the moment (yes pretty much like the last 3 weeks I know!). I think I will wander into the city in a bit to have something to eat and become a VIP...yes, I know, how much more important can one man be? Well, Rodd & Gunn clothing will hopefully think I am eligible for 10% discount since I have proof of spending +NZ$1000 there in a year...mmm hopefully they will not require me to spend anything more this year, or at least not until I get a blessed job!