I am: The Terminated, oh, and Helium Comedy Club

I have missed the cosy pink confines of Phillyist these past couple of weeks. I was excited about the response to my first article (much of which was more funny and interesting than the article itself). It has, however, been a long couple of weeks. It seems that my former employer was restructuring, and anyone who didn't necessitate a severance package was first against the wall. So, of course, my "temp" status marked me for deletion.

I am not bitter, or, rather, I am not going to bitch and moan about how bitter I am on Phillyist. After all, plenty of writers have started out roughly, and plenty have ended the same. I am going to keep my chin up, brush my shoulders off, and embrace any number of other cliches in my attempt to remain optimistic.

In the meantime, I want to tell everyone about the Helium Comedy Club. I went on November 15th to see Pat House, Gino Bisconte and the (hardly) Reverend Bob Levy. The club itself has a front bar outside the main room, which seats about 250. The drinks are moderately priced and I know for a fact that the fries and the mozzarella sticks are excellent.

The comedians themselves were all edgy and at times outright evil. Chris McDevitt often plays host and at times outshines some of the guest comics. Bob Levy, a dirty, creepy old Jewish comic with a penchant for encouraging audience participation, closed the night out with about an hour of disturbingly relevant, undeniable observations and commentaries. My favorite consisted of (prepare for a run-on sentence, since this is one of my favorite topics) his singling out a young couple who apparently weren't a couple at all, but instead an example of how many people, especially twenty-something men, often get caught in the "friend zone" and end up taking these beautiful witty intelligent girls out to things like comedy shows and concerts and spending all the time and money and romantic interest normal guys spend on their girlfriends on these platonic train wreck relationships.

Levy was ruthless and most likely ended their friendship on the spot, harnessing any sexual tension that was there and focusing it into a red-hot beam of destruction any Sith lord would be proud of.

He ended the night with a little stage trick involving bleu cheese. I can't really explain in any more detail without getting vulgar, but suffice it to say this is not necessarily the sort of show you would want to go to if you get squeamish about comics in their late forties and the bleu cheese-related activities in which they may (inexplicably) convince audience members to participate.

Other than that, excellent club with an excellent track record of headliners, good food and drink, and moderate ($15) entrance fee for main attractions. (Hint: I signed up for their mailing list and they occasionally offer free admission to certain shows).

I'm not done talking about my termination (or the friend zone) yet, so click or be clicked.

Image courtesy this site.