Opening night: SUCCESS!

The first night of my show ("Ben Lerman's Size Matters") was packed (er, that's between 30 and 40 poeople in a teensy tiny basement). No seats left; people were standing. If tickets had been available, it would have been a sell-out. Speaking of which, why don't I go ahead and take a moment to address some of the audience feedback from yesterday's opening night.

"It shouldn't have been free." —Very smart lady.
"The best free show I've ever seen at the Fringe. It shouldn't be free." —Another smart lady.
"How can you do this for free?" —A practical young lad.

I signed autographs for four teenage girls who I hope have the good sense to hide the flyer from their parents. Sold some merch. All in all, it was a success, and turned out much better than I expected. I have to admit, when I first saw the teeny tiny café's basement, I was a wee bit horrified. But the space is actually really conducive to what I'm doing.

Two strange things happened when I was flyering yesterday. I gave a flyer to a 6'6" scary Scottish tranny on meth. She took it from me, glanced at it, then threw it back at me in disgust. Then she picked it up again when she saw the nudie pic of me with the uke in front of my junk and asked me, "Do they show what's below?" Big creepy smile. Usually the person getting flyered can't wait to get away from the person flyering them. This was a refreshing change of pace.

The other thing is the retards. I generally do not flyer retards, but they are so friendly and nice that I have changed my policy. If someone is visibly retarded, I go out of my way to give them a flyer. Not because I think they'll come to my show or, if they did, that they'd understand my show. I flyer them because sometimes it just nice to have a guarenteed pleasant conversation with someone. And functional retards who are making their way out in the world are some of the most pleasant people you'll find. It's a simple comfort in the brusque pace of urban flyering.