After Dinner Show

Saturday night, I had a show in lower New Jersey. The organization was holding their annual fund raising banquet and I was hired to close the show with a 45 minute comedy set. There was a lot of great talent on the bill, excellent singing, piano playing, guitars and even a saxophone quartet. I did what I usually do before a show, went into my shell and watched the audience to determine the best method of connecting with them.

Comedy can be a subjective creature. What is funny to one audience can fall flat on the next. It is important to be able to read the crowd and adjust the show to them. This was a very mixed audience, from young teen to senior citizen - about 200 in all. That makes the job even more difficult since you have a wide variety of humor levels to contend with. Younger audiences want the hipper comedy they see on TV - the older crowd tends to revel in the style of great comedians of the past.

To make a long story short - the evening ended with a standing ovation. I was truly honored. They have already scheduled my show for 2010 - so I have some huge expectations to meet on a completely different program. This morning, I received an e-mail from a member of the board:

"I am still hearing (and probably will continue to do so for a while) how great your show was!

When we spoke back stage (in reality – back kitchen), I told you how I had hyped up the act to ticket buyers because I was so impressed by what I had seen on the internet and you said you hoped you could live up to my words (modest for a performer, I like that). Oh my gosh, everything that you did was funny, entertaining and amazing all rolled into one! You “WOWED” the audience!

Thanks so much for making it one of the best shows ever! Selling tickets for next year’s show will be a cake walk thanks to you."
Rhonda Gage
Board of Directors

In truth, I want to thank them and every organization, individual and corporation that has ever hired me. Because of you, I get to earn a living doing something I love - making people laugh!
THANKS!

2008 Rising Star Award Winner

Late last week I received word that I was named the top grossing ventriloquist on Gigmasters and presented the 2008 Rising Star Award on their system:

Dear Tom Crowl - Rising Star Award Winner 2008,
The press release for the Rising Star Awards went out on the newswire Wednesday, March 18th. The link to the release is below:
http://sev.prnewswire.com/entertainment/20090318/NY8565818032009-1.html

And again, congratulations from all of us at GigMasters!
Sincerely,
Kevin H. Kinyon
Founder & President, Gigmasters.com, Inc.

It was a nice surprise. I have enjoyed the opportunities Gigmasters has presented in the last year and look forward to 2009!