I recently wrote in an email to a friend, in regards to The Super Serious Show's upcoming Edinburgh Fest run, "I'm scared, excited, scared." In other words, I'm excited sandwiched between two pieces of scared. In other other words, I'm an excited sandwich.
Back tracking a moment, I was pretty much minding my own business, working on comedy stuff, living my life as a stay-at-home roommate, when my friend suggested I check out a comedy night called The Super Serious Show. I had never been to the show. Nor had I heard of it. So I did what any uninformed person would have done in my position. I headed straight to my computer and just stared at it. I stared at the computer screen for a good 10 minutes and when those useful 10 minutes concluded, I searched "The Super Serious Show" on Google.
I was happy with what I found: a comedy show with a web presence! Online videos, live photos and portraits of past performers. As I scrolled through The Super Serious Show's performer page, both delighting in photography and the incredible people depicted, I wondered how I might become involved with such a seemingly wonderful show. Despite having never been to the show, I decided to contact them and offer to help. It was a shot in the email dark, with all of the certainties of meeting someone from a dating website. But I had a good feeling about it. At the very least, I would show up, and give them the ol' "you look nothing like your photos" heave-ho. Maybe even leave abruptly during the show, cursing and stuff. Or something of equal drama.
In the end, I didn't walk out. Now I'm over a year into working at Super Serious Show incorporated, and now, with this opportunity to travel with the show, one of my very nice aunts is sure I'm headed towards fame and glory any second now.
This July marks The Super Serious Show's 2-year Anniversary as a monthly Los Angeles comedy night. I'm still here, just one member of the Super Serious team of comedy loving volunteers. There's a whole ragtag group of us helping get the chairs in order, hang the lights and prep for the steady stream of LA's best comedians. Needless to say, none of us ever imagined we'd be preparing to take our show from Los Angeles all the way to The Edinburgh Fringe Festival, the world's largest arts festival.
Over the course of 25 days, we will be putting on 24 1-hour mash-up comedy shows, featuring some of the very best performers and talent working today. There'll be some of our American pals along with some new to Super Serious performers at the amazing world travelling performance tent, The Bosco Theater. Some of these performers include Hal Cruttenden, Hannibal Buress, Joel Dommet, The Pajama Men, Kumail Nanjiani, Tim FitzHighman, Tiffany Stevenson, Marcel Lucont, Rory Scovel, Daniel Simonsen and Eddie Pepitone.
With The Edinburgh Festival Fringe looming large on the horizon we're all feeling that aforementioned excited-scared sandwich thing. This is the first time we've ever taken the show abroad so we have no idea what to expect.
One thing I can tell you for sure is that the very nice aunt I mentioned earlier, expects I'll be making my late night debut on Letterman when all of this Scotland business is over. Which worries me because my prep mostly includes running the lights at our Edinburgh shows and writing about it in my diary. I still promised her front row tickets because I'm a good person.