Fire and Flood

One of the reasons I love stand-up comedy is because anything can happen during a show - and you're expected to be able to deal with it.  That's what makes stand-up so amazing as an art form - each time a comedian creates on stage, he/she has the opportunity to create something entirely unique for that specific audience.

Last week, I was truly able to see what "anything can happen" meant.

On Friday, as I approached HA! Comedy Club, I saw lines of fire trucks and police cars lining 46th St.  Nervous, I called Cisko (the manager and all-around great guy) at HA! in order to find out if the fire was at HA! and, if it was, if everyone was okay.  It turned out there was a small electrical fire in one of the showrooms, but everyone was safe, the theater was still intact, and that shows would continue as usual on Saturday.  After offering my help, I went back home.

I went back to HA! on Saturday (46th St. seemed so much quieter without the FDNY and NYPD blaring their sirens and crowding the street!).  For the first show of the night (the 6:30 PM show), I was slated to be the opening comic, the first comic to follow the host.  Right before I gave the host the light (the "light" being a wave of a cell phone in the back that signals the host to begin ending his set and get ready to bring the first comic up), I heard a huge "WHOOSH!" sound, followed by what sounded like waterfalls.  Rushing into the room, I discovered that water was streaming from what appeared to be the ceiling, soaking the host and his audience.

We re-directed everyone to the third showroom, a large theater, the only room untouched by fire or flood.  Since the host was also the manager, he had to attend to cleaning up the water (the source of which, we discovered, was a pipe burst due to the rapidly decreasing temperature outside).

Turning to me, he said, "You're the host now.  Let them settle for a second, then start the show."

I was now hosting a show in which the audience had just been ambushed by water.  Soaked and shocked, the audience was not probably thinking about what would happen to the rest of the show.

I got on stage.  "Thanks for coming to HA! the ride.  It's like the Earthquake ride in Universal.  Hope you enjoyed the first part of our adventure - now for the real show..."

Although previous omens would not have portended this, the show went really well.  The audience seemed to actually relish the action - what an amazing story to tell the family back home, right?  The comics also all came through, delivering great sets with sly winks to the deluge the audience had just been exposed to.

In the end, it was a great night - for the comics at HA!, who showed how professional, amazingly talented, and able to deal with everything they were; for HA! Comedy Club and its staff, which proved how incredible a venue it was by surviving fire and flood, fixing everything at an incredible speed (all showrooms were up and running by the next day!), and for making sure everyone was safe and enjoyed themselves; and for comedy itself, which proved once again that "anything can happen."