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I Feel Funny: A Capital Fringe Peek

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For the performer, stand-up comedy is a really weird experience.  It’s not like going into your day job, where you know how many steps there are between the parking lot and your desk, which fridge is the slightly-less-disgusting fridge, and which K-cups make the best coffee (none of them).

i feel funny image
Adam Ruben performing I Feel Funny

Instead, imagine that you go to work at a new place every day, with new coworkers, and even though the work is basically the same, the tools you have to perform that work constantly change and may be unavailable.  You are evaluated by the same metric at each location, though the evaluation is always performed by a new group using their own rules, and sometimes that group is rip-snorting drunk.  Some days you get paid.  Some days you’re there as a volunteer.  Some days you’re only there to improve the quality of your work for future days, and some days your best-quality work is ignored.

The only constant element is your car.
The product you manufacture cannot be touched, felt, or sold.  It is used briefly, then discarded at the end of the night.
It is really, really fun.
I’ve been performing stand-up comedy for more than 15 years, and at some point, I realized I had enough true stories about bad stand-up gigs–ill-conceived shows, lessons learned, offended Mormons–to weave those together into an hour-long solo show.  Because the great part about stand-up comedy is that every gig puts the comedian in a situation in which many things can fail, and when things fail, you get stories.
I know what you’re thinking about solo shows:  You’re not exactly itching to go see another guy in a black tee-shirt and jeans talking about his life for an hour in a tiny theater.  And I get that.
But that’s where you’re wrong.  Sometimes my tee-shirt will be dark grey.

capital fringe 2015 - small logo
July 9 — Aug 2, 2015
I Feel Funny: True Misadventures in Stand-Up Comedy
starting July 10
Capital Fringe 2015
1358-60 Florida Ave. NE
Washington, DC  20002
and other locations
Fringe details and Tickets

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More Capital Fringe 2015

adam ruben
Adam Ruben

Adam Ruben is a writer, comedian, and storyteller.  He is the author of Surviving Your Stupid, Stupid Decision to Go to Grad School (Random House, 2010), appears Saturday nights at 9:00 PM on the Science Channel’s Outrageous Acts of Science, and is a storytelling teacher with SpeakeasyDC.  Adam amazed audiences with his first Cap Fringe solo show in 2011,  Please Don’t Beat Me Up:  Stories and Artifacts from Adolescence, which was called “compelling and hilarious” by the Washington Post and named one of the top five solo shows of 2011 by Maryland Theatre Guide.  His follow-up show in 2012, Dr. Science’s Science Time Science-va-ganza!, sold out its run and was called “the funniest production I have experience at Cap Fringe” by DC Metro Theatre Arts.  In 2013, Adam missed the deadline to turn in his Fringe forms.  In 2014, Adam had a second child.  Now he’s back in 2015 with a brand-new solo show!

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