Sunday, June 24, 2007

"No Sympathy Night"


So I've had it in my head to write a short story based on a brief, five-word comment made by Bill Hicks on his album Rant in E Minor.

Bill was notorious for belittling his audiences from the stage and for snapping back at what he felt were slack-jawed yokels who heckled him from the safety and anonymity of the darkened room. On one of these occasions, capture on "Rant," he plainly told one of these hecklers, "Welcome to 'No Sympathy Night.' Welcome to 'You're Wrong Night.'"

That phrase--"No Sympathy Night"--and the fact that I've always been interested in stand up comedians spurred on a short story about a standup comic who belittles his audiences. It works for a short time, but eventually it begins to drive the people away.

The story opens as the comic is being confronted by the comedy club manager, who gives the comic his last shot. The meat of the story is an exchange between the comic and a 9 year-old boy who is waiting for his sister to finish waiting tables for the night. Because the kid's sister is a particularly atractive waitress with whom the comic has some history, the comic bears the obvious annoyance of the kid's omnipresence. They discuss comedy, and the comic tries to bounce some material off the kid, who obviously doesn't understand the intellectual, politically fueled rantings of the professional comedian. Finally, the kid tells a simple, straightforward "Knock, knock" joke. The comic waves it off as uncultured rubbish and chastises the kid for his laziness. But when the lights go up on the next show, the comic opens with the kid's joke, which starts the crowd reeling.

Like most of my ideas, I like it. And I've gotten maybe 500 words into this short story, which should be maybe 4000 at the most. But as the Plotastic! novel kicks in, I'm going to have to shelve it.

-Mark

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