Drew’s Biggest Bomb

Many people, when they find out you do comedy, their first question is “Have you ever bombed?” The correct answer, for all comedians, is YES! Yes I have. It’s part of doing comedy. Oddly enough, the more you do it, the better you get at recovering from a bomb.

Here is the story of my first and biggest bomb I’ve ever had on stage!

So a fun fact about me is that I am an ordained minister, and back in the day I would do “Craigslist weddings” for a little extra cash. So in 2012, when I was about a month into comedy, I found myself planning a wedding with a nice couple and word got out that I also did standup comedy.

And by “word got out” what I really mean is, I was a month in and bragging about it to everyone that had ears. My attitude was “I’ve been preaching since I was 16, so I basically am ready to be a full time comedian and film my Netflix special TODAY!”

When telling the nice couple about how I am an standup comedian, they asked If I could do a “Tight 30 minutes for the wedding reception.”

As you may know, when someone asks for a “tight” set, what they typically mean is “A laugh every 10-15 seconds for that many minutes.” As a point of reference, I eventually filmed my first comedy album in 2019 at South Street Comedy Club, 7 years later, with a tight 30 minutes.

So no, in 2012, a month into comedy I didn’t even have a tight five minutes. And What I SHOULD have said was,

“No I cannot do a tight 30 minute set.”

But instead, the words that came out of my mouth were.

“I can do a tight 45 minutes!”

And of course they agreed, because I was sharing with them the confidence of a man who has been doing comedy for twenty years.

So after we agreed on a tight 45 minute comedy show at the end of their wedding, the most sacred day in their marriage, they went home to prepare for a lifetime of love, and I went home to prepare for the show that I was CONVINCED would be my break out moment. Netflix was going to catch wind of this 45 minutes of pure awesomeness that I was about to share with the world, and my career was going to TAKE OFF!

Or so I thought…

Now it should be noted here that many comedians in the Nashville scene did their best to warn me and talk me out of what was about to happen. Nashville Comedy can feel like a rough scene sometimes, but frequently it’s because they are just being real with you or trying to negate the massive arrogance you might be bringing to the table.

I, of course, was bragging to all the comedians I knew that “I have my first 45 minute set coming up”

And they were doing their best to tell me, “Please Dear God for yourself and Standup Comedy as a whole, get out of this! You are 100% not ready for a 45 minute set of *funny* standup comedy.”

But I was NOT hearing it. I remember a conversation specifically with a comedian where he told me,

“Bro you are just too new to do a 45 minute solid set.”

To which I responded, “I don’t know, Eddie Murphy was a breakout start that got big only after a few open mic sets.”

and then this comedian point blank asked me,
“Do you think you’re as funny as Eddie Murphy?”

And with as much cringe that can fit in my fingers as I type this, I tell you, with 100% honesty and certainty that my word for word response was…

“I mean, maybe!”

So yeah…There was no talking me out of this show. I was organizing all my five minute sets I had done at open mics, once. I was putting together what I felt would be my “best 45”. I made arrangements for a friend to come to the wedding with me and record my “special” and I even looked up who to send albums to at Netflix to get discovered, because I knew that’d be the next step. I was ready!

I had everything I needed except for jokes that were funny.

And then…the wedding reception comedy show happened. If that’s what you want to call it.

Friends, I am not exaggerating when I tell you that I spoke in front of that group for 45 minutes and only ONE of my jokes got a laugh. Just one.

If a tight set was “1 laugh for 45 minutes” then I nailed it, but unfortunately that’s not how comedy works.

There was a baby crying for the entire time I was performing. I am pretty sure it was because of my jokes.

It was awful. The worst feeling ever. Talk about deflated ego, awkward silences and no eye contact after the show, and me getting out of there ASAP.

But here’s what happened afterward.

I was down for a day or two, but then I got back out there and kept performing at open mics and anywhere else that would have me.

I moved past the awkwardness, I took notes, I got better, and I kept going…because that’s what you do in standup comedy after a bomb. You dust off the dirt, and you get up and keep going.

Was I amazing after that bomb? Absolutely not! I still sucked for a while, but I was delusional and in love with the art enough that I kept going…and so are you!

So don’t let a big bomb stop you from performing. It’s part of the process.

And that’s the time that I had my first BIG Bomb on stage!

Comedians do you have a funny bomb story that you’d like to share? Bombing isn’t exclusive to Comedy. Does anyone have a funny and embarrassing story about something that happened to them? Feel free to share below! Thank you for reading and have a wonderful day!