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Charlotte hasn't been quite as receptive. Other than a few times in the winter, the Charlotte Comedy Theater's 60-seat venue has rarely been near capacity. In the summer, a good crowd is 15 people. At times during the last five years, Semelsberger thought the Comedy Theater would have to close down. The Perch has also gone through some tough times. They just returned to a Central Avenue location after tenuously existing without a home for a year and a half.
Semelsberger thinks low attendance has to do with the city's many transplants not knowing where to go for comedy because of a lack of money to spend on advertising -- a complaint shared by all of Charlotte's comedy groups, including the Comedy Zone. "Whenever I talk to people, they say, 'I love the Comedy Zone; it's my favorite place,'" says Brian Heffron, who thinks people tend to treat comedy shows as a special occasion activity. "[I ask them], 'When was the last time you were there?' 'Ten months ago.' 'Well, why haven't you been back?' 'I don't know, but we're gonna.'"
Antoine Johnson, booker and owner of Queen City Comedy, which books a comedy night at the Big Chill, believes black audiences in Charlotte support comedy more than white ones. Johnson says the Chill draws between 175 to 200 people on an average Wednesday night and around 500 for a big name. The crowd and comics are predominately African American, but the content is not usually race-related. When I was there several weeks ago, other than one comic saying hello to the three white people in the audience, race was not mentioned in any of the bits.
Charlotte's black audiences are so supportive that in 2000, Greensboro booker Walter Latham picked Charlotte as the site of The Original Kings of Comedy, the Spike Lee documentary about four black comics that propelled comedians Bernie Mac and Cedric the Entertainer into stardom.
Millwater believes Charlotte crowds are the best, even if they are small at times. After touring the country's comedy clubs with his wife for two years on his Homeless American Honeymoon Adventure, Millwater eventually chose Charlotte to settle down in a year ago. "I love the audiences in Charlotte. They're trained. They know when to laugh, when to clap. I think it's a Southern thing," he says.
The ambitious Millwater has plans to give Charlotte an even bigger name nationally for comedy. His new project is a comedy variety show called EGOTRIP, which will begin airing soon on public access TV. One of the recurring segments will be Zimmerman's Chick Safari, in which he approaches women on the street and tries to pick them up in sort of a Crocodile Hunter parody. Millwater's two-year plan is to create a show he hopes can air on Comedy Central and that will be written and performed by many of Charlotte's comedians.
At Millwater's workshop, an older comic, Victor Sanko, has just performed a three-minute set. It didn't get many laughs, and Millwater doesn't sugarcoat his critique. A few jokes have no joke in them, he tells Sanko, the bit on the movie Scent of a Woman is too dated, and about one punch line in which Sanko refers to a Jewish/Native-American tribe as the So-sue-me, Millwater says: "That joke was used in this workshop last year by a guy who stole jokes. I'm not saying you stole it, but it has been done a lot."
Sanko's head drops. He looks as if he's about to fall down.
"I just have one more note for you," Millwater continues.
"One more insult?" Sanko interrupts.
Millwater: "This isn't an insult."
Sanko: "I'm just disappointed, I'm sorry."
Millwater: "Why are you disappointed?"
Sanko: "Because it didn't go well."
Millwater: "It went fine. This is practice, man."
Sanko: "No, I've been practicing for five weeks."
Millwater: "I've been practicing for 10 years; I'm still not good."
Sanko: "This was supposed to be the part that gets me into ... " (he trails off).
Millwater: "I'm sorry, I didn't get that copy of the curriculum. I just thought I was supposed to give you feedback on your set."
Sanko: "I've had feedback. You're a tough guy. The others have been nicer."
Millwater: "I'm sorry. I take this really seriously."
- Angus Lamond
- Joe Zimmerman cracks his goofus grin
- Angus Lamond
- Zimmerman fires up the crowd