Story Night at Westside Comedy Club

A good Date Night standby, aside from dinner & a movie, is a ol' comedy club.  Especially when Wifey and I have had a particularly rough week and are in desperate need for some solid hahas.  While this week wasn't quite so desperate on the needing-some-laughs department, I thought it was nonetheless high time for a few hearty chuckles.

Trouble is -- it's kinda hard to find a cheap comedy night that's also, you know, funny.  We've had a mixed bag before at amateur night at the Improv or the like.  Anyone that's worth seeing comes with a healthy dig through the pockets.  Wifey and I are on the cheaper end of things, so paying top dollar isn't high on our list of things to do.  Also, if we're going to do comedy clubs it should be something off the beaten path.  Something different, you know?

Enter Westside Comedy Club.  I managed to stumble on them while looking for Date Night ideas.  I guess every first Saturday of the month they have a storytelling night?  Something like that.  Anyway!  Instead of normal stand-up comedy, several comedians / writers / other come up to the stage and tell stories.  The stories are usually around 15-20 minutes long, and is just that: a bunch of stories.  Sometimes sad, sometimes happy, sometimes funny.  But all-in-all .. very very interesting.

We listened to four storytellers and the two most memorable was Carlos Kotlin and Jessica Williamson.  She had a wonderfully deadpan / socially awkward delivery, which had me entirely entranced on every word she said.  Her story was endearing, dirty, sad, and funny all rolled into one - it helped, too, that it was about meth addicts that moved into her neighborhood.  The other storyteller (Carlos Kotlin), who was there in part to promote his book ("Please God, let it be herpes") - which I intend to pick up as soon as I make it through my current set of "other" books.  Carlos talked quite a bit about his dating, er, "encounters."  Also funny at times, but mostly interesting, endearing, and otherwise thoughtworthy.  I know, right, not what you may expect at a Comedy Club, yeah?

I've sinced bookmarked the Westside Comedy Club in my list-of-things-to-do.  It's a cute little club for all ye off-the-beaten-path comedy/storytelling.

After the show, Wifey and I went to see "What to expect" -- which was utterly *hilarious*.  For those concerned about "this type of movie" - trust me, there are no shock-the-crowd imagery a la Knocked Up's crowning.  It was a great comedy, with many heartfelt moments, about pregnancies and everything involved in those months.  Also, I have NO idea how the movie would be appealing to anyone but adults with kids on the brain..

So, all in all we had a Comedy & Movie Date Night!  Has that been done before?  No?  Now it has! :)

- Hubby