I'm into Spirits

Last Wednesday, a co-worker asked if I wanted to go see a comedy show with her.

She actually stumbled upon the weekly show by accident. She left her keys somewhere one Wednesday night and needed to meet her roommate to get back into her house; her roommate was at Spirits Bar & Grill.

Every Wednesday, starting at 9 p.m., a dozen or so brave comics take the mic five minutes at a time to either make the audience laugh, boo, heckle, or remain dead silent as many of the comics I saw did.

But it was a great time. Jo-Anna Downey, the host of the show for the past 10 years, is a blast. Within the first 15 seconds of hearing her speak I was already laughing and happy I decided to go.

That happy feeling, however, wore off pretty quickly. I understand Spirits on a Wednesday night is the appropriate venue for comics (both experienced and definitely not so experienced) to test out new material to see whether or not it "works."

But we got there a little late and had to sit pretty close to the front. We were like focal points for the comics. It got pretty awkward after a while when a joke came out that totally didn't make sense and wasn't funny, but then we felt pressured to laugh because he (every comic besides Jo-Anna was a male) was looking straight at us.

Someone should have taken a picture of us sitting there with our best half-smile, half-fake laugh looks on our faces.

I can't really remember a joke verbatim (everyone, even the comics were drinking beer all night), but I remember laughing hard when Jo-Anna introduced the next guy and mentions that he's from the United States of America. The audience starts to boo automatically. He gets up on stage and says "I've been booed during the show, and after the show, but never before the show..."

OK maybe that wasn't too funny to those reading, but it's still funny in my head. And it's moments like those that got me sucked into The Comedy Network-sponsored show. I can't wait until the next time.

The ambiance is fun and mellow--even the sound effects are funny! The mix of people change each week, and come from all over. Sitting behind me was a drunk 50-something Scottish woman who at one point heckled Jo-Anna only to ask if she could buy her red shoes.

And the fact that the show has been running for 12 years is proof that the show is great.

I really enjoyed myself, and will go now as often as I can. It's free to get in, and drinks are of a reasonable price. And what's that cliché? Oh yeah, "Laughter is the best medicine."