Speaking of the dangerous gigs, Carlos Mencia tells of getting into an exchange of insults with some front row hecklers who turned out to be the famous rappers and gangsters Dr. I’ve stayed at very cheap motels in the middle of nowhere on the road many times, but even those places were well above what is described here. Or, in one case, comedians stay in the club owner’s attic. Generally the club owners put you up somewhere for free if you’re performing for them, but it might be at some scary, filthy place with roaches scurrying around and bullet holes in the walls. Never mind conventional stage fright and the anxiety of performing in front of people I’d be a lot more unnerved just being around so many creepy, violent people.Īnd the accommodations are shockingly bad too.
Though the stories are intended to be funny and mostly succeed, I admit I also experienced a certain amount of empathic anxiety at all the tales of comedians’ panicky sprints to the parking lot to try to get to their vehicle before the angry drunks can get them. A lot of these Southern places that have live comedy sound horrible.) (Frankly the last seem the most dangerous and least amenable to reason, especially when acting as a mob. Many of the stories are about run-ins with Mafia types, gang leaders, and random drunk rednecks. The places they tell about aren’t just dives but several levels below that-the kind of establishments that exist largely outside the law and without much semblance of civilization. I was struck by just how shady and genuinely dangerous life on the road on the comedy circuit apparently is. A surprising number of them involve violence or a serious threat of violence. The majority of the stories have to do with alcohol, drugs, and sex. Over half of the people in this book I’d never heard of.
I was somewhat more into stand-up comedy twenty or more years ago and would have been familiar with at least most of the “big names,” but I’ve barely followed it in the years since. Some stories are better than others, and just about all of them would be more enjoyable to hear the comedian tell than to read in a book, but enough of the stories are funny enough to render this a winner.
In first person anecdotes of three pages or less, dozens of stand-up comedians tell their favorites stories of their life in the business. I Killed is mostly an easy, fun, light read.
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