Bonnette Comedy

I used to be a line cook, actually… I still am, but now I’m a line cook in college, instead of a line cook in high school. But if it wasn’t for my first job as a line cook, I would’ve never started comedy.

I always liked to crack jokes, especially when I was at work or in class. I loved hearing people laugh, or just being stunned by what I would say sometimes. It helped cheer me up to hear people laugh and see them smile with what I had to say. I would always deliver it with 0 emotion too, because I didn’t want people to take me serious. I would put on this robotic careless character when I would deliver my lines. It’s hard to take someone serious, when they don’t have much emphasis in their voice or on their face too.

Eventually, one of the servers I worked with would take notice. He always cracked a laugh with the wild dialogue I would speak while working as a line cook. He liked how I gave 0 emotion, especially because the majority of the nights we would be swamped with tickets and over 45 minutes behind, due to being 1 of 3 restaurants in a town.

His name was Alex, and day, during a slow morning shift he would come talk to me. He started with, “Cade, you have 0 emotion.”

Great. He thinks I’m autistic…

I don’t remember what I said in response, but eventually Alex goes on to describe what he likes about my jokes and one-liners, what he likes about my “comedy”.

Alex mentions that a bar he goes to does a monthly open mic that anyone could participate in and he wants to see me do it. I was stunned to hear something like this, because I never thought of doing stand-up comedy.

But there was another issue. I was only 18 years old, and usually people in a bar are 21+. So how am I supposed to perform comedy, when every show in the state of Iowa seems to be hosted at a bar. Am I even legally allowed to step foot in any bar while under 21? I thought it was against the law to be in a bar and not be 21.

After some research and a phone call, I learned that I could:

1. Be in a bar as long as I was an adult. I was 18 at the time, so I could be in the bar, but I was not allowed to be served alcohol or go purchase any. And I never planned to anyways because drunk people really piss me off.

2. I would be allowed to do stand-up at the chosen bar. The people there would really friendly, and let me know that I can come do the open mic, if that is all I was there for.

I made that phone call in the restaurant while I was on my break during a double-shift. Alex was right there in the booth in front of me waiting for the results. When he heard I was allowed, he was excited to go see me perform.

So on June 21, 2023, I went to my first open mic. And then Alex never showed up.

Alex if you are reading this, fuck you. You still haven’t come to one either, so fuck you for that too.

Luckily, I told some friends, so they tagged along and sat at the back of the bar so they wouldn’t get kicked out. The group of us were enjoying the whole open mic, after all, it was our first experience with a comedy show.

I can’t remember everyone who was in that group, but I remember Ian. Ian would continue to try to attend the open mics I did and support this career.
Ian, I cannot express my gratitude I have for you. It means a lot to have someone come to show, just to watch me.

I would go on to do really well for the first time. It felt great to receive applause and cheers. The next month I went, one of the regular comedians who wasn’t there when I performed, was trying to figure out who the new guy was.

Sadly, there is no recording of my first time, unless the catacombs at Snapchat have maybe a 20-second video of me.

But I did record my 2nd time! It took a bit of learning, but today, I bought a cheap-ass tripod and recorded it in landscape instead of bothering a spectator and having them record it in vertical.