May 17, 2005
Man, You just had to be there...
Last night, Carole and I headed out to Kits to see our friend Gerald Vargas perform his comedy stylings at The Urban Well. This was a "best New Talent in Vancouver" competition, and there were ten really great acts on the bill.
We got there early (about 6PM) so we had dinner and a couple of drinks across the street at Malones. By 7PM, we were in the Well, said 'hi' to Gerald, and kicked back waiting for the show to start at 7:30. Carole had invited her step-sister Laura down, and she showed up just before the show was about to begin.
The commedians had to draw numbers to determine their opening slot, and just Gerald's luck, he drew 10th.... last!
After the first six comedians had finished, I feel a tap on my shoulder - it's Gerald, and he's looking kinda worried... he passes me this note:
Sure enough, Robin Williams was sitting at the end of the bar. Wow!
So, it turns out he's in town filming RV with Jeff Daniels. RV is about Bob McNeive (Williams) and his dysfunctional family who rent an RV for a roadtrip to the Rockies, where they ultimately have to contend with a bizarre community of campers. But that's neither here nor there. What's REALLY important now, is how nervous the last four performers are looking - well, to be fair, they were all troopers - but the pressure MUST have been on.
So after the last performer (Gerald), the MC gets on the mic and says something like "Well, that's the ten performers we had lined up for tonight, but there IS one more person that wanted to take the stage tonight... you may recognise him from Mork and Mindy, Mr. Robin Williams!" - The crowd goes crazy!
So, if you've ever been to the Urban Well, you know it seats maybe 50 people. You also know that if you're standing back at the bar, it's still only about 12 feet to the stage. Long story short, we got to see Robin Williams doing about 40 minutes of complete improv in an intimate venue, for nothing! Man, he's funny. I hear he does that a lot - if he's in town, he'll just show up at a local comedy club and ask if he can do some improv. That's pretty awesome, I'll tell ya.
Not much more to say - it was exciting as hell, it was an amazing surprise, and it was hillarious! I feel really bad for the last four commedians that had to compete with all that pressure, but it sure was a night to remember for the rest of us!
Posted by Calvin at May 17, 2005 10:39 PM