There is no tragedy, don’t fret. This was just a play on a song from the Broadway show A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum. It would have been perfect if I published the blog the same day I saw the show, but I am not quite that ambitious for a blog that pays me zero dollars.
I am also not ambitious enough to come up with a different title. Titles in general are my weak suit, so here we are.
So, last night… I had a dream. I was in a desert called… Cyberland.
No, wait, that’s another musical. Sorry. Let me try this again.
Wednesday night, I saw the best live comedy show I’ve seen since we moved to Michigan.
It was Heather Shaw, so I’m a little biased. I mean, yeah, I watched her about a million times at open mics and showcases in when we both lived in Orlando, but, y’all, my favorite part of comedy is watching jokes grow… from the first seed of an idea to a fully-fleshed out act out and all the small detours in between. It’s like watching a baby grow up, but with words instead of organic matter.
And, also y’all, I know Heather Shaw’s set SO WELL, so I was looking forward to seeing what these joke babies are like as joke adults.
I’ll do a more in-depth review, of course, but here’s this for the TL;DR crew: THEY ARE HYSTERICAL. (as expected)
Now, for the details:
I met Heather about 10 years ago when she beat Big Tim in a Redneck joke off. Now, if you don’t know Big Tim, you might not know why this is a big deal. Big Tim is a very large, very redheaded human being who always wears overalls and has a strong southern accent. Heather is, well, a lesbian who looks like Jim Carrey.
Her jokes were better than his, though, so she won the heart of the crowd at that Central Florida adult store. And, I guess, that also started off a wonderful friendship that included more adult store jokes, Fringe Festivals, pool parties, and, of course, open mics. There were ups and downs and sometimes whole swerves in our lives, but her jokes stayed strong (and hysterical), and she was always a top-tier hang.
Then Covid happened, and open mics weren’t much of a thing, but hanging out on TikTok was. Heather’s resemblance to Jim Carrey, along with her quick wit and strong beliefs, brought her an incredible amount of new fans. She totally deserves this.
Then we moved to Michigan and my access to open mics with the kind of independent comedy my brain likes shirveled up. As a professional open mic comedy audience member, this made me quite sad.
When Heather started announcing shows all over the country, I watched them like a hawk, hoping to a Michigan date. “Bring to Detroit”, I would message her.
Well, she finally did, and I was there to see it!
Her Michigan show was Wednesday, June 11, at Mark Ridley’s Comedy Castle in Royal Oak, Michigan, which just so happens to be the first comedy club opened in the state of Michigan. Both Tim Allen and Dave Coulier began their careers at the Castle. So, it’s a cool spot, y’all.
I was planning on going solo to the show because Mickey was on call at work, but at the last minute, he decided to join in the fun, so we hopped into a Lyft to head to Royal Oak.
The ride was fine. I saw the Flame and stared at it for a bit, and before we knew it, we were at Mark Ridley’s Comedy Castle! Woohoo!
In case you were wondering, it is not a castle, but it has been home to lots of comedy royalty, up to and including George Carlin, Sarah Sherman, and Louie Anderson.
It is, however, a VCS (very cute spot).
Since I have been getting older, I’ve been more okay with letting my greys grow in. With that has come an absence of embarrassment at doing things like taking photos of marquees and stuff like that. So, yeah, the first thing I did when we arrived was take a pic of the marquee, which felt kind of surreal, and it wasn’t even my name!!!
While my back was still turned, I heard a deep bang from the car behind me. I immediately thought I was doing something wrong and panicked, but nope, it was just Heather.
“I was wondering what dorks were taking pics of the marquee,” she said as she unfolded herself from the car.
Then hugs and nice words were exchanged. Well, as much as two neurodivergent people and a comedian want to hug and say nice things.
Mickey asked Heather, “Are you still a hat guy?” while proffering a dark blue hat with an extra puffy and extra bright Detroit D on it.
“Not really,” Heather replied, “but I love this one.”
Then I awkwardly shoved a blue bubble mailer that was awkwardly balled up at her.
“I brought you a baby head for good luck,” I said.
“I know you guys always have the good stuff,” she replied.
“I made it with my own two hands in ceramics class,” I continued, sounding slightly like a mental patient in my head.
The baby head is one of my recent experiments, where Nadga pours me something, and I just slap whatever glaze I want onto it. She even let me get into her vintage glazes recently. I have the doll heads artfully arranged on the piano.
While I was getting ready, I had the random thought to bring her one for luck, and I think I might make that my thing now.
So, we do the awkward exchange of gifts outside, see two of Heather’s fans in stunning matching shorts/shirts sets, and then we’re greeted by a host of some sort, who introduces himself as Bill. Y’all, Bill is a king at his job. He knows how to make both the stars and the normies (me) feel welcome.
He shook Heather’s hands, asked if we were with her, then shook our hands too. Then, he whisked us away to the green room, where we chatted with Heather for about half an hour. We met her opener and got to see a bit of how things work behind the scenes. We talked about Orlando folks we loved and missed, and even a couple that we don’t talk to or think about anymore. It was a real <cliche> walk down memory lane < /cliche>.
Then Bill came back to usher us to our seats, where we ordered mocktails (which were fucking delicious, y’all) and Detroit mix popcorn. You know, comedy treats!
The opener, Allison Summers, was the perfect sweet and spicy treat before Heather. For some reason, that sounds skeevy, but I don’t mean it like that. Allison’s comedy had the perfect balance between really blue material and jokes about faith. She had some really strong material about Ross and Kohl’s cash. She made me feel like I was near the south again, and I guess I do kind of miss that vibe.
Then it was Heather’s turn, and I got an hour of comedy like my body and brain have been craving.
Smart jokes about important things delivered in an accessible manner.
Crowd work that wasn’t mean, but it didn’t let mouthy audience members off the hook.
Set ups to jokes that made me laugh the instant the first words came out of her mouth because I knew where they were going.
Except I didn’t. The punchlines were familiar but more punchy. I could see the work Heather had put into them. I could see her growth.
It was the same, but different in the best way.
It was so good to see her face and hear her words. I hope the next time I see these jokes they’re on television on her first special.
It’s coming. I know it.
