Mark's Friggin' At The Stress Factory Comedy Club - Saturday, March 19th, 2005

Wow! I just realized I hadn't been to a comedy show since September 11, 2004! What the hell? It's time to laugh.

I keep an eye on the local paper for upcoming shows at The Stress Factory in New Brunswick, New Jersey since it's my favorite local club. I saw that Jim Florentine was going to be doing a few shows there so I planned to take my girl Jennifer and our friend Jessica to one of the shows. I just forgot one thing... Jennifer was going away for a week and she wouldn't be around that weekend. Oh well, it's just me and my buddy Jessica then. Jess is a fan of Jim's so she was the perfect person to bring along.

We got to the club a little early so we could get something to eat. As I've said before, the food is actually very good at the club so if you ever go, don't be afraid to eat before, or during, the show. I kept my eye out for Jim after we ate. I saw the very funny Clubsoda Kenny wandering around the club so I knew Jim was around somewhere. I saw him talking to some people in the back, gave him a wave and hung out for a few more minutes. Clubsoda Kenny came over a few minutes later and invited Jessica and I to go back to the green room to see Jim. Off we went with Kenny, who calls me ''Mr. Friggin.''

Jess and I hung out with Jim, Kenny and comedian Rich Brooks. Rich stayed busy typing on his computer most of the time we were in there. Jim and Kenny kept us entertained for a while. Kenny was telling Jess some really inappropriate jokes about his wife that were pretty dirty. She didn't seem to mind though and laughed along with him. Kenny was also kind of joking around and hitting on her. When he found out Jess had sisters, he asked her to hook him up. It was all in good fun... or was it? Either way, it was funny.

Jess and I went back out to our table, right in the front row, so we could watch the show. It was a great show as usual. Julian McCullen opened the show and did the club's trademark prank phone call bit where they call someone based on the suggestion from an audience member. That went over pretty well. Rich Brooks was up after that and then club owner Vinnie Brand did a few minutes before bringing Jim up to close the show. Jim had quite a bit of new material that I hadn't heard before. It was great as usual.

After the show Jess and I took off. Jim and Clubsoda Kenny were busy selling Jim's ''Terrorizing Telemarketers'' CDs (there are 4 volumes now) and his very funny ''Meet The Creeps'' DVD so I didn't want to bug them too much. Maybe next time. I really have to get out to more of these friggin comedy shows. I'd almost forgotten how much fun they can be.

Check out the web sites below for more information on upcoming shows:

• JimFlorentine.com - Jim Florentine
• StressFactory.com - The Stress Factory, New Brunswick, NJ