Heshy Fried

I am completely pooped, I don’t even want to think about doing any more shows, this is probably because I have done 4 shows and Purim within the last 3 days and it has wiped me out.

I started this month with a clear head and now it is filled with ideas, fear and doubt mixed with excitement and intrigue. How I managed to get 9 shows with no agent or any help is beyond me, what is even more boggling is that people actually showed up and laughed, most of the time.

My first show was in Crown Heights at the ALIYA center and while turnout was kind of lame, at maybe 40 people or so, the crowd was great and I made some new friends and got some new fans. ALIYA is mostly for Lubavitch kids to hang out, some of them are off the derech as they say and some are just there for the free food and booze.

I was going to perform for an hour but it turned into a full on 2 hour ranting session, some of my bloging friends showed up to cheer me on and everyone laughed for the entire time. Moshe Feiglin who runs the place said he was impressed and many of the kids seemed to think so, it was a great start to the tour.

Then I bombed in Cleveland, or I think I did, many people said they liked it, but besides for several tables of laughter it seemed like a room full of crossed arms and pissed off modern orthodox people. I tried and I think I failed, although the person who ran the event told me it was good, why can’t people ever be up front. There were definitely a crew up people that liked it, I would say it was 40% liked and 60% were pissed. Modern people in general don’t have a good a sense of humor.

The next show was at a shul in Crown Heights, and while their were many outbursts of laughter, many of the women expressed that they felt left out. There were about 5 women laughing at every joke while all the other women talked about kugel. The men, however loved it, and out of all the crowds this was definitely the loudest and most adamant about my jokes. I did get one boo, but I wont go there.

Then Baltimore which has been the biggest shocker to me, blew me out of the water. If not for my friend and promoter Chaim Lazerous, I would have gotten maybe 10 people. It showed me how it made no difference how many fans you have, it all comes down to marketing. He put up fliers and got me an article in the paper as well as a spot on the radio.

When I was welcoming people to the show in Baltimore, I could tell it was a bunch of random people. Hardly any of my so called, die-hard fans showed up. Instead a diverse crowd of mostly women and their daughters, showed up. Quite a few single girls as well, and the crowd was great. The space was great as well, Ner Tamid is a beautiful shul and great for performances.

I got up and immediately got laughs and throughout the night several of my more wild laughers kept going, I loved it, I never had those crazy laughers before who are like loose canons that laugh at anything. So I did an hour set and then went back up for 20 minutes and then I let people ask me questions to see my responses - that was a lot of fun and I think I may do that at others shows.

On Purim I had two shows in Crown Heights at Seudas and while they were fun, it was very noisy and hard for me to talk due to lack of sleep and alcohol.

I am looking forward to next weeks show at Brooklyn College - March 19th