So last Friday night, I was part of a comedy fundraiser show for the Penn Hills High School Class of 2007.
The most exciting part of the show: it was being taped by Comcast for later airing on Digital Cable On-Demand. How cool is that! I could point all of my fans (both of them) to their own cable box whenever they wanted a hit of some Tom Musial Comedy goodness. I would have a five-to-seven-minute “video calling card” available to any digital cable subscriber in the local Comcast service area.
The show started with an introduction by Downtown Tony Brown, a performance by the Penn Hills High School Dance/Stepping Team, and then a few minutes of introduction from the emcee, T Jones. Then it was my turn: the lead-off comedian.
My set started off pretty well — I got some laughs on my intro — the crowd seemed into it — I got some laughs on my setup — I was heading straight for my first big punchline — and the microphone went out.
Now, any experienced professional comedian has a prepared response to technical difficulties. Apparently I am not an experienced professional comedian, because I stood there like an idiot, scratching my butt head and looking around for someone to rescue me.
After a few beats, someone in the audience yelled out, “we can still hear you!” So I put the mic back on the stand and started doing set Unplugged-style. Which was fine, except for the fact that TV people were capturing their sound through the audio system.
The set went fine from that point. With about a minute or two left in my set, I was given a new microphone, and I was able to do my Big Finish with the complete assistance of audio technology.
After my set, I briefly talked to the Comcast producer. “Don’t worry,” she said, “we can edit out everything where the mic didn’t work.”
So keep an eye on this website to find out when my exciting ninety-second clip is expected to air on Comcast Digital Cable On-Demand!