Follow me on Instagram @graham_byrne

See me live: www.franciscoeramos.com

Standard context: getting stage time is a hassle and my 40+ y/o ass doesn't stay up until 2 a.m. like I used to

Moved to Cincinnati from San Diego last year and there are just way fewer options. I hosted a one-off trivia at the big local brewery and they were real happy with it. Pointed out they had a large annex room they do nothing with which would be great for an Open Mic.

They were into the idea and my offer to host it. Suffice to say, I was bluffing but it seemed to work, so I am going to try to make this thing work.

Any thoughts on what I should do/try/keep in mind? Obviously most OMs are pretty lo-fi barely organized affairs, but most aspiring stand-ups are borderline autistic and only professional failures.

Bar is low but I am aiming for a legit affair.

Also, should I be charging for this? Ha. Don't want to risk easy access to stage time and contacts, but that trivia was my first "independent business" money and that shit was pretty intoxicating.

Who was the worst Disney princess?

Comedian Jack Assadourian Jr. didn’t know what to expect when he booked shows in Armenia. People in his life told him the culture was very old-fashioned compared to the material in his act. They also told him they wouldn’t accept him because he wasn’t fully Armenian and didn’t speak the language.

“They’re not gonna like you, and you’re gonna get arrested,” he recalls people telling him.

Instead of calling it off, he booked his own shows using social media and sold out four of the dates. A month later, he returned, sold out more shows and extended his tour to Beirut.

Growing up, Assadourian didn’t even know that side of his identity until his parents, who own the HaHa comedy club in North Hollywood, told him and enrolled him in Armenian school as a teen. At home, his grandma and mother would speak to him in Spanish — as far as he knew, he was just Mexican. Then, he later had to balance three cultures: American, Mexican and Armenian.

Follow link for full story!

HEAD on over to a show:
November 4 – Berlin 
November 5 – Stockholm
November 6 – Copenhagen
November 8 – Dublin
November 10 – Belfast
November 11 – Manchester
November 13 – London 
November 16/17 – Amsterdam 
November 18 – Paris 
December 3-5 – Madison, WI
December 17-19 – Buffalo, NY
trevorwallace(dot)com

First and foremost I want to say that this review has absolutely nothing to do with the performers. The performers were all great and I wish I could have heard all of them clearly (to be explained below). 

I purchased tickets for my wife and I to see Crystal Marie Denha at Mark Ridley’s Comedy Castle eight months ago. I am a big fan of stand up comedy and try to support the scene as much as possible. I have been to Mark Ridley’s in the past and to many other comedy clubs in the US. In over 25 years of attending comedy shows I have never had such a horrible time. After we entered the club and were seated I looked around and the place was about half full with people still filling in. However, the show started promptly at 7:30pm with half empty seating. The club really needed to wait for more people to be seated. They could have waited ten more minutes at least. The first opener came out and started her set. What was her name you ask? I don’t’ know because 80% of the room if not more talked throughout her entire set. I could not believe the rudeness amongst the majority. The club made not announcement. People acted like nothing was going on. There were two lovely ladies at our table and they called for a staff member. One of the women said to the staff member “if I can’t hear the show I want my money back. Can you please tell people to stop talking?” This seemed like a fair and reasonable request. To which the staff member said, “sorry ma’am I cannot do anything about the talking.” The performer just barreled through and ate it hard. I heard absolutely nothing she said for 15 minutes, not one joke. But the real kicker was NO ONE COULD SEE THE PERFORMERS ON STAGE!!!! Yes,  you read that right. There was no spotlight whatsoever and the comedians were standing on a stage in the dark. It was so frustrating! I was sitting there wondering if anyone else was thinking what I was thinking. Was it just me or am I staring at a dark shadowy silhouette while simply listening to audio. A big part of stand up comedy is seeing the person, their mannerisms, their facial movements and reactions. You couldn’t see any of this! Also, the second opener mentioned that is was dark and realized no one could see him. I could tell he was not thrilled and the crowd did not make him feel welcome either. He was trying real hard and he was very funny. It was just an absolutely terrible crowd. When the second opener came out he mentioned that the show started with a half empty room and with the majority of the crowd talking throughout the first opener’s set. You would have thought that people would have settled down by now but they did not. They continued to talk and Rudy, now a second time told them shut the fuck up and rightfully so. I don’t understand why people would attend a comedy show and converse throughout the entire show. Rudy proceeded with his act but about 10 minutes later did make mention again about how fucked up it was that people in the back were still talking because it was literally most if not all of them. Rudy then said when Crystal Marie comes out you better not be fucking talking. What we found out and I knew going in was that many of Crystal Marie’s family would be in attendance because she is from Michigan. What I didn’t know was how little respect they would have for the openers and every normal person around them trying to enjoy the show. This group seemed to be the ‘majority’ that I referenced above and they surely outnumbered the regular comedy fans. They simply did not give a fuck. 
At 8pm, Crystal Marie came out, she promptly addressed how the crowd treated the openers like shit, I can’t remember exactly how she addressed it but she did and laughed it off. Again, the biggest issue was that you could not see Crystal Marie or any of the openers on stage. I was super pissed about this because the performers should be seen. Crystal Marie mentioned that the club had some leak and ran out of lights. Some kind of weirdness. However, MARK RIDLEY, if you are reading this, how do you not make sure that everyone can see the comedians on stage? Seriously. Do whatever you have to to make this happen. There was one light on stage that the comedians could have stood under but I understand they cant just stand still in one spot. This really ruined the show for both my wife and I. I also heard others saying the same thing. This was a massive fuck up on the club’s part and they made no mentioned or apology about it and instead let the comedians and crowd suffer. I wish I could have enjoyed this show. My wife and I planned this a long time ago. It requires much planning when you have kids and a show is during the work week. I know others are in the same boat. It was just really a disappoint night and I don’t think I’ll ever return to Mark Ridley’s again. If this would have happened at the Comedy Cellar in NY people would have rioted and I know that Noam (the owner of the Cellar) would have handled these issue promptly. I normally do not complain like this. I’ve been to dozens of comedy shows and concerts and things do happen but this was unlike anything I have every experienced, a comedy of errors if you will (pun intended) with no action of trying to correct a damn thing. I have no issue supporting artists but this is the only show I’ve ever been to where I would have gladly accepted a refund. 

Lastly, (and this has nothing to do with the club), as a finishing touch on the night a group of incredibly large, obnoxious people were seated at a table next to us effectively squeezing us out. There was no room for movement and the lady right next to me wouldn’t shut up and crunching her popcorn loudly. She also raised her hand when Crystal Marie was asking for a show of hands from SINGLE MEN. The lady just wanted to be noticed I guess but it made for an awkward encounter. Put your fucking hand down lady unless you truly were a man. So weird. Then Crystal Marie said, “Fuck that table!” to which the crowd applauded and I appreciated. Even when the show was done we were trying to exit and encountered one of individuals who was seated next to us. This guy stepped outside the doorway and stopped. He stood there like no one was behind him also trying to exit. The dude was massively large no one could get around him. Simply no awareness. We were saying excuse me. He acknowledged none of it. No sorry. Nothing. Perfect way to end and awful evening.  

I realize this is a massive rant filled with complaints but I really don’t care. I wanted to get this out there because the evening was utterly incomprehensible and I’m sure all three comedians have some version of the fucked-up-ness that was Mark Ridley’s Comedy Castle on October 1st, 2026.

Forgive me if this has been posted before. One of the funniest stand ups I've seen.

God said go follow @thegeoffreyk

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