In comedy, like in life, you had better bring good snacks!

I just performed the worst show of my life since my very early days of comedy.

Oh sure, there were a few polite chuckles, but for the most part, I was going down quickly in flames and for a comedian, it's not pretty. You literally start pulling out every bit you know just trying to eek out even one laugh, one smile-- if it wasn't winter, you could have heard crickets. IF I thought setting my hair on fire would have made someone laugh, I would have considered it (but again there were fire codes). What was going wrong? It was one of my favorite groups to perform to....also known as some of the toughest critics---- the senior citizens--. I did all the wonderful stories about my mom. Nothing. I moved on to my Southern Husband, more nothing. I pulled out some of my classics-- nothingness nothing.

One man actually put his head on the table. Another woman started doing a crossword puzzle. Sweat was breaking out. My husband shook his head. This was some of my classic material GTMYL (Guaranteed to Make You Laugh) and nothing was bringing a smile to these faces.

What could I do? It look liked I was making them go through gum surgery. I am a comedian. It's not supposed to be painful for the audience. I ended the act and slunk off. There was clapping and then the movement of the senior crowd as they gathered their coats. One woman came up to me and surprisingly told me how good I was.

"Let me ask you something, it just didn't seem that my humor was hitting with your group. Do you know if I was doing something that maybe was offending them?"

It was the woman's turn to look surprised. "Honey, we loved the show. Half of those people are deaf. The other half are so old they just want to head home and be in time to watch Judge Judy. And things are always slow on tapioca day."

Tapioca day?

She looked around like she was giving me the secret to World Peace. "If you ever perform here again, ask to perform on chocolate cake day. No one misses chocolate cake day. The tapioca pudding though---well---," she rolled her eyes. "The only reason people come on tapioca pudding day is because all the good shows aren't on until later and usually if they give tapioca for dessert they make the sandwich pretty decent. Today was turkey and swiss." And with that piece of advice, she patted my hand and was off.

After speaking to the Senior Center coordinator, it seems these town programs actually give lunches to lure the seniors in. Had I known it all relied on the snacks, I would have made sure I packed my pockets with a few extra boxes of Russell Stovers chocolate cremes but I went in a total babe in the woods. Next time I know better. In comedy, like life, some days you show up and its tapioca and other days it's chocolate cake. But who says you have to take what they give you? I came in and brought a whole new kind of dessert but hardly anyone was there to enjoy it, and those who were there, weren't willing to open themselves up for a new receipe.

As my husband and I walked out to the car we spied a couple who had been amongst the few who were listening and laughing. I walked up to them and apologized that apparently their group wasn't pleased with the show. The woman smiled and said, "Oh no, we enjoyed it. You can't go by that group. They've just given up on enjoying anything. And besides, you have such a sweet face."

I had to laugh. That was something my mother would say.

And speaking of my Mom, if her senior group served tapioca on one day and she didn't want it, she wouldn't eat it but it wouldn't stop her from doing what she wanted. She's her own person and thank God truly that she is.

I tease my Mom a lot and she ends up being comedy in my act more often than not because she's funny, really funny. But more than that, she's got a real firecracker personality and thank God truly that she does. She hasn't given up just because there's a 7 in her age and her friends, the posse are one of the most active bunch of ladies I ever met. You're never going to find them eating tapioca if they don't want to.

But if I ever do another senior citizen show, just to be on the safe side, I may wait for chocolate cake day....or bring my mom as my security guard.