Richmond, VA – An outdoor comedy show at Libby Hill Park erupted in a applause this past Saturday as 27-year-old comedian Mark Dillenger walked away from the microphone stand to go back behind a tree where the show’s backstage area was located, and was followed by a brand new gas grill.
“It felt good, I think,” he said quietly, so as not interrupt the sizzling of the headliner. “I’m doing a mid-size picnic next week in a park up the street, so I was hoping this would go well. Plus, now I can say have ‘opened for George Foreman’ in my stage credits.”
Dillenger was booked by Penn Easterly to kill some time while the first round of hot dogs were getting a good char during an outdoor show that billed Easterly’s new Foreman Smokemaster as the “most badass grill of the century.” Dilleneger was asked to bring his own microphone and had to prepare at least 10 minutes of stand-up material.
“It was pretty cool to warm up the crowd for a grill that’s warming up the food,” Dillenger said. “The show itself featured a dozen other stand-up comedians doing shorter sets while their significant others and members of their families watched on. We all got first dibs on burgers off the Grillmaster, so, you know, not a bad deal!”
The show gave many comedians an opportunity to perform for live audiences for the first time since a widespread quarantine was put in place. Social distancing and mask wearing were to be strictly enforced “unless you don’t feel like it” per the poster that was shared via social media.
Easterly donned an apron which read “Kiss The Chef’s ass” as he shouted “Woo!” while flames shot up from his grill. “This is as hot as it gets, y’all!” he yelled right before Dillenger was about to launch into a punchline. “Oh, I’m sorry, am I being loud?”
“The nice thing about this quarantine is that a lot of people still be shoppin’,’” said Ernie Yeldon, a comedian who got his start in October 2019. “I can do my classic bit and all I have to do is add ‘online’ in front of it. One woman booed me and I just looked at her and said, ‘what, you use eBay or something?’ It was a major victory for me.”
Yeldon was later found passed out after alledgedly drinking too much and eating too many performer comped hot dogs.
By Chris Hudson.
The Bringer 