Cogito, Ergo Sumana for 2003 February 2 (entry 0)

# 02 Feb 2003, 09:33AM: Dry T-Shirt Contest: I realized various things I could have done to improve my reception at the Apollo Amateur Night.

• Upon entering the stage: "Here's the deal: if you give me two minutes, I'll take my shirt off."
• Made more Indian stereotype jokes.
• Cartwheels?

On the one hand, I believe that successful adaptation to different audiences is a mark of a good comedian. On the other hand, if I were to make an audience laugh by potty-mouthing and talking black, I'd be glad to make them laugh but disgusted at them and at myself.

On the upside, all this is moot, since, as Leonard pointed out, I never would have won anyway. I wasn't singing a song that everyone likes, with lots of high notes.

I felt disoriented yesterday. I had hoped (and thus secretly expected) that I'd win, and instead I came nowhere close. The night of, my expectations changed, and I was glad to have retired gracefully. But now I don't have a ticket to fame, and I'll have to keep working if I want it.