Tiffany Haddish... The Schadenfreude is Thick Tonight!

Ooh chil', the schadenfreude is thick tonight. (Look it up.)

Folks can’t wait to dish on how Tiffany Haddish bombed on her New Year’s Eve comedy show in Miami. Yeah? And? Full disclosure, I bombed that night too: No show. No date. Honey Boom! I survived and so will, Tiff.

Ok, let me back up: I don’t know Tiffany, so Ms. Haddish until we’re formally introduced.

But what I do know is that horrible feeling of being on stage doing stand-up and it’s not going well. At. All. It’s unpleasant but it’s part of the process. And, sadly, it can happen at ANY stage in your career. Trust me.

I compare doing stand-up comedy to going on a blind date; because, you know… those always go so well. Everybody shows up with good intentions, heart on their sleeve, putting their best foot forward but sometimes it’s just not a love match. You try to salvage the evening, but everything you do seems to make it worse. You get to the end, promising to never call each other or speak of this ever again. But Twitter. And so people will do nothing but speak of it, loudly, and with hashtags. And just like that: It’s on your permanent record.

As a professional, I’m willing to cut Ms. Haddish some slack; but only if she showed up prepared with her "A" game, otherwise, nah. You go in knowing that the stakes are high on a money show like New Year’s Eve. You save "just going on stage to mess around" for a random Wednesday at the Chuckle Hut Bar & Grill.

And so yes, if you’ve been reading other professional comedians’ commentary on this: everybody bombs. Hell, sometimes it even happens on TV. Yikes. But then it always comes down to the post-game review:

• What happened?
• Where did it go wrong?
• What was in my control?
• What wasn’t?
• What can I do better next time?

And as my mentor always said, “The best revenge for a bad set is to go back and kill.”

Now - and this would take nerves of steel - Ms. Haddish should go back again next year and crush it; you know, when #sheready.

---