Free comedy and more free comedy

Eric and I cashed in our free comedy tickets last night. We're quick learners and there were a few things we did differently this time: we drank some beers prior to the show rather than waiting until we got there, we brought more beers to the show than we did last time, and we arrived at 9pm when the show is supposed to start rather than 8:25pm which is 5 min before doors open and a solid 40 min before pretty much anyone other than the comics' wives showed up.

Imagine our surprise when, stepping out of the elevator at the fifth floor, the place was packed and there was a line out the door. Turns out the show was doubling as a benefit for Sports for Kids, a non-profit that brings the gift of sports to kids in Oakland. The host comic works with them and her biggest laugh line of the night - which she returned to often - was "Kids are fucked up." Pretty funny.

We ended up finding a couple of empty seats next to three Canadian women on a girls' weekend trip from Edmonton. They were drinking Smirnoff Ice and by the end of the show had confirmed my long-held suspicion that vodka and artificial apple flavoring in a single-serving glass container makes people mean. These simple, kind Canadian women heckled the hell out of the headliner comic and just would not stop until practically the whole audience had turned on them. Just as I started to be truly concerned that I would need to dodge empty beer cans and giveaway Sports for Kids keychain bottle openers, they simmered down and let the show limp to an unsatisfying conclusion.

The highlight of the evening came at the end: they're still doing the tell-a-joke-for-a-free-ticket deal but it was a different dude videotaping this time and so Eric and I shamelessly told the same jokes we told the first time and each got a new free ticket. Take that comedy jokers!