Comedy Night

Had a great time at Greg Alexander's Comedy Night. This was a few weeks back, but it was quite an adventure.

Greg Alexander was producing a comedy show to be recorded at Center Stage in Baltimore. One of the comics was the wife of Christopher's assistant basketball coach, so we were happy to go. Turns out plenty of people went to the show, although only two parties were white, the two of us and another foursome. We felt a little out of place.

So we entered the auditorium and carefully found a place on an aisle where we could make an exit, if things got a little uncomfortable. We tried to fit in, tried not to stick out, tried not to be noticed. And things went well. Then Mr. Alexander looked up at the guy behind me and asked how he was enjoying the show. So I kind of rolled my head around a little to hear his answer. Only he wasn't asking the guy behind me, he was asking me. So when I don't respond, he quickly comes back with, "What, is that some kind of gay move?" and apes my semi-head roll. So much for trying not to be noticed.

But it doesn't end there. So I explain that I didn't realize he was asking me, and that I was very much enjoying the show. He decided he wanted to come off the stage and talk to me. Well so maybe getting an aisle seat wasn't the brightest idea. As he comes up the aisle, I stand, ready to greet him with a hand shake. He approaches me with, "Who told you to stand up? Sit down!" (may have thrown in an expletive, I don't recall. So I paused a moment to see if he was going to shake my hand, and when he stood at me with an angry look, I decided maybe I should sit. And as I did, he broke, with a chuckle and I'm just kidding. So I stood and shook his hand.

He asked me a few innocent questions, like who I was there with. Then he put his arm around me, showing me to the audience and said, "Let me ask you something. Have you ever been in a room with this many n***ers?" Wow, there's not a lot of good answers here. Even the lady behind me said, "Don't answer that!" Laura of course was petrified. Did I whisper into the mic, "M F, are you trying to git me killed?" No. Did I shout, "NI**ERS?!?! WHERE?!?!" No. I said, "All I see here is a bunch of good looking people." OK, it doesn't sound like a clever answer, but in his warm up/intro, and between comics, he had commented over a dozen times that we were a really good looking crowd. It got me past the question. And I even got a smattering of applause.


Then he asked me my name. I told him "Robert". The wheels in his head turned for a split second and he said, "Aww, Robert Bupp!!" and proceeded to give me a hug. So I felt a little better. How did he know my name? It turns out I called in to get tickets a day or two earlier, and since it was his production, he answered the phone, and took my name. Maybe I sounded white on the phone, and he put two and two together. So the evening went from interesting if a bit uncomfortable, to quite fun.


The comics were good, and when the coach's wife came on, she gave her shout outs to her parents, and friends, then saw us and yelled "Hey it's Chris's parents!" So by this point we were feeling like we were standing out, but that it was OK. We had a great time.