If not for a chance run-in with a book at a New York City bookstore four-years ago, Brian Boshe might never have decided to go into standup comedy.
“I’ve always wanted to do standup,” the Seattle-based comedian said. “I found a book called ‘The Comedy Bible’ in a bookstore in New York City and bought it. After I read it, I thought, ‘I could do that.’ And the rest is history, as they say.”
Beginning this evening at the Auburn Avenue Theater, Boshe and 31 other comedians will take to the stage for the Seattle International Comedy Competition, sponsored by the Comedy Underground.
The Pacific Northwest’s premier comedy event, the competition will feature standup comedians from all over the world vying for yucks and a chance to boast the title of winner on their comedic resumes.
“I think this year it’s a big deal for the comedy world and Seattle because it’s the 30th anniversary,” Boshe said. “And for this region, it’s this one or nothing. It brings people from all over the country. All it takes is that one win to get you credit and get you noticed.”
The show features 32 comedians performing at various venues for the two-week competition. Each comedian’s act is scored by a panel of judges. The Ave will host a first-round of competition tonight, featuring 16 comics performing five minutes each.
Boshe, a 26-year-old computer programmer by day, like many of the comedians in the competition, is just hoping for a chance to make comedy his full-time gig.
More than four years ago Boshe, who moved to Seattle from Arizona, decided to take the plunge and try comedy.
Boshe first took the stage at Seattle’s Comedy Underground.
“I went up for an open-mic night,” he said. “My first joke was an airlines joke, which is very cliche for a comedian. I brought a couple of friends and after the first joke, I let out a very audible sigh, which got a laugh.”
Boshe said the rest of his set was well received.
“Which of course meant I was doomed to bomb for the next couple of months,” he said.
Although every comedian has to deal with an off-night, Boshe said some of his early gigs were excruciating.
“The first couple of years, bombing just sucks. It always sucks, but in the beginning you don’t have the chops to work through it. It’s just exasperating when you bomb, because then it feels like work. It feels like you’re working really hard, and it shouldn’t be that hard.”
“It really sucks when the next guy does well,” he continued. “If the next guy bombs also, then you can blame the audience. But when the next guy is good, you began to think it’s just you.”
Also on the bill for tonight’s competition at the Auburn Avenue Theater is Canadian comedian Jane Stanton.
“Five years ago, I did a BET (Black Entertainment Television) thing, a contest, and I won,” the Vancouver-based comic said. “And it was like Apollo style, and people got booed and I didn’t get booed. Then my second show was in front of 1,000 people.”
After jumping into the comedic deep end, Stanton has been a regular on the Pacific Northwest circuit, including three shows at Seattle’s Bumbershoot Festival.
“I thought the crowds would be totally different, but they weren’t,” she said. “They were great, an awesome audience. In Vancouver at some of the gigs, the audience can be a little more ‘judgey.’ I did have to change a punch line or two, though. I do one joke about poteen (a Canadian delicacy consisting of french fried potatoes and cheese curds smothered in gravy) and I had to change that because I’m sure most wouldn’t even know what poteen is.”
Although the Seattle International is a competition, Stanton said she doesn’t look at it as competing against the other comedians.
“It is and it isn’t (a competition),” Stanton said. “At the end of the day, you just want people to laugh. There are people judging you, there is a criteria. But just making people laugh, that’s my thing. I don’t want to be caught up in that competition, I don’t want to be bitter person, I’ve seen people do that.”
And like most of the other comedians, Stanton – who just performed a showcase for the prestigious Toronto comedy club, Just For Laughs – just wants to make people laugh full-time.
“I just want to work everywhere and make money doing comedy,” she said. “I want to go to Just for Laughs and do house acts for them.”
“Obviously I’d like to be able to do it full-time,” Boshe agreed. “I would just love to be a professional standup comedian. But it’s already given me so much. It’s just a great creative outlet and has allowed me to explore a lot of great things … performing and getting up in front of crowd, which I never thought I’d be doing.”
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COMEDY AT THE AVE
The 30th Seattle International Comedy Competition got underway this past Wednesday.
The event pits 32 comedians all vying for laughs at several venues throughout the Seattle area.
The event will come to the Auburn Avenue Theater beginning at 7:30 p.m. tonight. Tickets are $17 and $19 and are available at www.brownpapertickets.com/event/80748.
