Day 9 - Only Laugh - Chapter 9 (1229 words)

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ONLY LAUGH WHEN IT HURTS

By Wayne Webb

CHAPTER 9

A few weeks had passed since Tony's return to the stage. There was still plenty of media attention and people clamouring for him to appear again. His agent, the comedy club manager and Tony al agreed that it was better not to say anything or do anything.

Where could he go from here? It had been such a short time since it had all started. His attacker had still not stood trial yet, Tony was growing more and more internationally famous everyday. His videos had been dubbed and translated in many languages, and more people caught on the to the videos and watched him bleed for their entertainment.

His agent was concerned about giving away too much too soon. People would grow bored and move on if they got too much of a good thing too soon. So he cautioned against more appearances, or any kind of statement. No one wanted to burst the bubble.

The comedy club owner was raking it in and while he was fielding calls about Tony’s next gig he was bringing in the crowds and the other comedians were getting exposed and some big crowds even on the quiet nights. It was like no one knew what could happen on stage, anything or anyone could break it big next. The stand ups were bringing their A game and the crowds were eating it up.

Everyone was making money. Tony and his agent were pulling in 6 figures from online advertising and it was growing not slowing. There was just enough material to make a documentary about Tony's second stage appearance, the one where he split the back of his head and bled. Cell phone footage, a behind the scenes camera and the main stage feeds all caught enough of Tony's preparation and after effects to bookcase his performances which so far were short and light on content.

The preparation was nothing more than a mostly silent Tony pacing in the green room, in reality shot hours before and not showing any of the doubt that had crept in and sent him to the stage in desperate search of the exit. It showed no extra writing, or jokes that didn't make it. It showed no strategy and no real sense of a plan.

What it did show was humanity. A performer nothing like his performance. Interspersed with scenes from the news clips about the initial assault and his injuries, the recovery time and close ups of the wound shot while on stage, zoomed in digitally to provide a new and fresh view for the people who had already seen the show.

When he walked off stage the cameras caught him pale and in shock as he had to be half carried up the stairs. People crowded around him and blocked the shot of the drained-of-colour face and weakness of movements as the blow to his head took it's toll. The Club manager put himself in between the camera and the performer over and over again, pushing the lens away or trying to tell the cameraman to stop filming. They never did, and he never wanted them too, just to make it look like a very serious situation and not for public consumption.

It was all very interesting to the fans, but that was not what made the copies fly off the shelves, or get downloaded in the millions when it went for sale on I Tunes.

There was no commentary, no explanation voice-over to the documentary that said very little other than identifying the facts,the locations and the players via text on the screen.

What sold the movie was Jane.

The horrified look on her face spoke volumes. No one blocked her shot, and long after Tony had passed out and was no longer providing any footage at all she was still being filmed. Begging for information, pleading with the people around him to let her through, being held at arm's length by various people and then just being herself.

She was the emotion that no one else felt. Cathartic and appropriate, where no one had sympathy as such for Tony, his injuries and fate were after all the reason they watched, they had it in spades for his girlfriend. No one can fake sincerity like this, and putting it front and centre provided an arc for the film.

Jane was quiet, silent mostly, for the set up and prelude to the gig. Her initial reaction was not caught, no one expected the thudding slam of Tony's head hitting the stage. Tony had not planned it, had not warned anyone it was going to happen and did not telegraph it until the moment he threw himself with force at the hardwood stage flooring.

The first shot of her after that was a classic shot of disbelief and fear. Hands covering her mouth and eyes wide open staring at something off camera. The cameraman backstage who was getting some second unit shots for the behind the scenes clips that would accompany the web cast later had the presence of mind to stick to her for the rest of the act. She was in the wings, and he got behind her at one point to show with some perspective a long shot of him maybe twenty feet away from her.

He was talking to the audience but the audio was terrible from that angle, echoing and hollow sounding. It didn't matter as you could see him unsteady on his feet and just before Tony has raised his hand to rub the back of his head, if you knew what was coming you could see that there was blood dripping on the back of his shirt. The camera saw it and zoomed in. Jane saw it and made a strangled noise.

Her body was coiled and ready to move, twitching and jumping but never breaking free of her own fear to go to him on stage.

Everyone waited for Tony to finish and come off stage.

When he finally did he had a 30 minute show of material, some of it good and some of it ok. His shirt was soaked in places, but as the head wound was superficial it has stopped bleeding by the time he got off stage.

There was plenty of blood though and this and the shock and the waves of applause weakened him in the moment and he fell into the wings more than walked off.

Jane caught him and steadied him.

He hung in her arms for a few perilous seconds and no one else moved. Then she pushed him upright and he rose in her grasp to stand on his own two feet.

He had a huge smile on his face and while the camera did not catch the sound of his words you could easily see that he was asking her “Did you see? Can you hear that?”.

Then his eyes rolled back in his head, and he fainted into her arms again.

That was the closet she was to him that night, bodies swooped in and carried him to safety, away from the stage and away from Jane.

Her isolation and fear made up the rest of the film cut in with shots of an ambulance and the hospital even though he never went there.

They went back to their apartment where he slept and she did not.