2nd time doing stand up at open mic night
Hello! I’m back in the Dungeon!
This is my second time performing, and I’m more prepared this time...
Though I doubt anyone will notice.
I’m 41, and my wife recently left me.
But it’s okay. I’ve found much more fulfilling hobbies than I had last year.
Last year, my favorite hobby was sending AI-generated complaint emails to the administrator of my adult recreational soccer league.
I was bored. Kill me.
This poor guy was volunteering, and he would receive perfectly worded, passive-aggressive complaints about teenage referees and roster inequalities.
In my defense...
I was a Social Justice Recreational Soccer Warrior.
And there’s nothing that says, “Thank you for volunteering,” quite like sending a three-page report on recreational soccer inequities.
I can’t spell—or define—“inequities,” so let’s just say ChatGPT has really opened some doors for me.
I never directly confronted anyone.
I just found passive-aggressive ways to annoy them.
I once named our team:
“REF! WE HAVE TO WORK TOMORROW!”
And every time the game got a little too physical for my liking, I’d yell the whole team name:
“REF! WE HAVE TO WORK TOMORROW!”
From my understanding, adult recreational soccer is about drinking beer, making fun of your teammates, and getting some exercise.
And if anyone interfered with that...
I became AI Judge Dredd.
“I AM THE LAW!... with ChatGPT.”
Now I’m doing stand-up once a month.
It feels healthier than writing AI complaint emails.
Mostly because I can trauma-dump on strangers for the price of two beers instead of paying a therapist deductible.
And my therapist doesn’t even let me drink.
Either you guys are too polite to leave...
or you actually want to hear more.
Unlike my therapist.
Honestly, beer does make it easier for me to open up about my problems.
Just ask my golf buddies.
By hole ten, they know more about me than my therapist...
and they’re still eight holes away from the clubhouse.
Last time I did stand-up here, I showed up completely unprepared and talked about my separation, politics, and racism.
You know...
all the things you want a depressed 41-year-old man talking about in front of strangers.
People were on the edge of their seats.
Not because they were wondering:
“Where is this going?”
They were wondering...
“Is somebody going to stop him?”
It was less of a comedy set...
and more of a group therapy session nobody signed up for.
Life moves pretty fast.
If you don’t stop and look around once in a while, you could miss it.
At 40, I was in this exact room celebrating the surprise birthday party my wife threw for me.
At 41, I’m back in the same room, doing open mic night, separated from my wife, and paying divorce lawyers to divide everything we own in half.
Apparently, in the divorce...
I got custody of the Dungeon.
Thank you!