2008 Woodie Awards
Student competes to open for Dennis Miller
Ryan Budds a finalist to open for comedian
Courtney Jayne
Issue date: 10/23/06 Section: News
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"Everyone else is like 30 years old," Budds said.
He said one of the other finalists is someone he knows from The Barrel of Laughs Comedy Club in Oak Lawn.
"He always introduces me (when I am performing there)," Budds said.
He said he has been doing stand-up for about a year now.
"I did my first open-mic night at a New Hall/Lin coln/Washington (event) sometime after Christmas (last year)," he added.
He said although he is a new comedian, he had wanted to perform for seven or eight years prior to his first performance. He added he had done a lot of acting in comedic plays in high school.
"I really like the idea of making people laugh," he said.
Some may remember Budds from his performance opening for Christian Finnegan in the University Union Grand Ballroom on Aug. 25.
"It was my best and worst performance," Budds said.
He said it was his best because there were at least 400 people in the room, the biggest crowd he has ever performed in front of.
"It was the worst show because I froze on stage for probably two minutes," he added.
He said he had to send in a five-minute clip of a stand-up performance for the Dennis Miller competition and he used a clip from that performance.
"Forgetting your lines is probably the scariest thing that could happen," Budds said.
He added he does not think he has had any really bad experiences, though.
"I've never been like heckled or anything like that," he said.
Budds said there are certain audiences that are harder to perform in front of than others: mostly the crowds that are not there specifically for comedy, including open-mic nights.
"It's always difficult to get natural reactions out of (those) people, sometimes they are not sure if it's something they should be laughing at," he said.
Budds said he tries to perform at least one or two shows a month now. Tuesday night he will be performing two shows at Adams Street Coffee, times are not yet available.
"It will probably be something like 7 to 8 p.m., then a break, and then 9 to 10 p.m.," he said.
He added he will be promoting the Dennis Miller competition there.
"Western Illinois University students should vote for me because I'm a Western student," Budds said.
He added he is trying to get comedy started in Macomb.
"I think it's one of the biggest accomplishments to write something and make people laugh from something you wrote," he added.
To vote for Budds and hear clips from him and the other finalists, go to www.wlup.com and click on the Dennis Miller picture.
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