I walked into Le Chat Noir Thursday fully expecting to be an audience member and instead got to open for Billy Anderson, a nationally touring comedian in town taping his comedy album.
Anderson, 35, grew up in North Augusta and now lives in Los Angeles. He has starred on Dry Bar Comedy and hosts The Gateway Show where stand-up comics in California perform sober, get stoned on marijuana and then attempt to go back on stage and tell jokes high. It’s like an updated version of Comedy Central’s television series Drunk History.
It was just five minutes on stage telling jokes. But for me, as a disabled veteran who until recently wasn’t even sure I would ever be able to work again, it was the most exciting and fulfilling thing I have done in a long time.
Let me get all the boring background out of the way and then tell you about the good stuff. I served 10 years in the Army and four years ago suffered a bad head injury on an airborne jump at Fort Benning, Georgia. For a time, I didn’t recognize my own children, stumbled around like a drunk because of dizziness, couldn’t remember words, math or how to get home without a GPS.
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The Army medically retired me, and I settled in with my family in Evans. A big part of my recovery has been taking stand-up comedy classes – first with Jeff Justice in Atlanta and then a comedy class for veterans put on by the Armed Services Arts Partnership, a non-profit in Washington, D.C. For me, getting on stage was just as scary as jumping out of a C-130 at 1,200 feet.
But to remember a five-minute set, I had to practice repeating it at least 50 times. Even then, I would make mistakes. The brain injury also removed a lot of filters and inhibitions, so many of my jokes were dark and inappropriate. Justice was patient and helped me come up with a couple of solid, clean five-minute sets.
I’ve been practicing and memorizing for about a year and a half now and have been on stage as an amateur stand-up comedian 24 times, mostly at open mics, but four times at shows put on by Justice for his students at the Punchline comedy club in Atlanta.
All that practice is like pushups for my brain. My memory is getting better; I can calculate tips again and recognize my friends and family. My recovery, believe it or not, is not nearly as thrilling as being able to make people laugh.
I figured it would be a year or two of hard work before I got the chance to open for a professional comedian.
Then on Tuesday, I drove to Columbia to perform at an open mic at the Art Bar. That’s where I met Anderson. I introduced myself.
I performed five minutes at the Art Bar. I’m not a prude, and my wife tells me I curse much, much more since my head injury. But not on stage. I followed Justice’s teachings and kept it clean. The crowd there is mainly University of South Carolina students, but they are warm and laugh generously, even at an old ex-Army guy’s weirdness.
Anderson watched my set and sent me a picture, but we didn’t get to talk after the show. We had chatted on Facebook because I run a Facebook page called Augusta Comedy. I had posted fliers for his Le Chat Nor show and got him to agree to come talk to our group of comedians and give us advice about going from open mics to becoming a comedy show headliner.
Then Thursday night I bought a ticket online and walked into Let Chat Noir, located on 8th Street just off Broad Street. Bryson Chapman was there behind the bar and I figured he was going to open for Anderson. Chapman is a star of Le Chat Noir’s improv group Schrodinger’s Cat and performs stand up. I asked him if he was ready for his performance.
He told me he wasn’t going up because Anderson wanted his opener to have a clean set – no cursing and no sex jokes. Though Anderson doesn’t spare the f-bombs, it’s typical in the comedy business to make the opener work clean. Chapman said he didn’t have a clean five minutes.
“Olo can work clean,” Le Chat Noir manager Krys Bailey said. Olo is a nickname my daughters gave me, and it’s my comedy stage name.
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Anderson nodded OK and went back to setting up his recording equipment.
And just like that I was working a professional show.
When I came on stage the lights were so bright, I couldn’t see a single audience member. I was nervous and a bit rushed. I forgot one of my better jokes, but my closing joke got a big laugh.
That’s it. I’m hooked.
Bill Anderson has two shows at Le Chat Noir Friday night and then two shows Saturday night. Tickets can be purchased on Eventbrite at https://www.eventbrite.com/e/billy-anderson-standup-comedy-album-recording-tickets-227367150267
Joshua B. Good is a staff reporter covering Columbia County and military/veterans’ issues for The Augusta Press. Reach him at joshua@theaugustapress.com
