Keep Them Laughing

Fran wants to be a stand-up comedian. Her family and friends disagree with her.

Keep Them Laughing

A Short Story

Written By

SpaceFaction

     Fran’s family and friends can’t stop laughing at what they are hearing from Fran on a large eighty-six-inch big screen television in their small living room. Patrick and Juliet rented this television just for the appearance of Fran on the new reality competition show, Only the Best Can Make Me Laugh.

     Patrick and Juliet Danica wanted to buy this television for their eldest daughter’s television debut, but they couldn’t afford it. Fran offered to buy it for them, among other things, but she can’t afford it until she wins this competition. After what they have been hearing, she may just win this competition.

     After Fran finishes her comedy routine, she leaves the stage. Her family and friends still haven’t stopped laughing as another comedian is introduced. Slowly, they stop laughing. “I don’t want to admit it, and I will kill anyone who says I said this, but I think she may just win this Comedy Competition,” says Patrick.

     “I never liked Fran giving up a good-paying job to be a stand-up comedian,” says Juliet. Fran’s family and friends continue watching the other comedians in this competition. They laugh sometimes, but not as much as they have done with Fran. “I also think Fran may win this competition.”

Almost Ten Years Ago

     A Co-Worker drops a stack of forms behind another pile about the same size as the first one. Fran continues to enter the information from the present form she is looking at into her desktop computer. She stops entering this form and looks up at her Co-Worker.

     Fran sighs. “Another hundred forms for me to enter. Don’t tell me, he wants me to also enter these forms by the end of today.”

     “He considers you the best Data Entry Operator here,” says this Co-Worker. “If anyone can enter these forms in two hours, he knows you can do it.”

     “Sometimes, I hate being so good at my job,” says Fran as she continues working on the latest forms she has been entering into her desktop computer, while her Co-Worker starts walking away from her. “This is one of those times.”

     After Fran finishes entering her latest form, she turns it over on its side and places it in a bin that is labelled ‘finished forms.’ “Sometimes I hate this job. This is one of those times.”

     “It’s so boring.” Fran sighs. “All I do all day is enter these forms into my desktop computer.”

#

     Fran and five of her friends, two men and three other females, exit the ‘Keep Them Laughing’ Comedy Club. They are still laughing as they continue to walk down a somewhat crowded sidewalk. By the time they get to their cars a few blocks away, they have stopped laughing.

     “This was fun,” says David Weston, a friend about twenty-five. “I mean, funny. When you suggested that we come here, I was against it, but I was wrong. Why did you suggest that we come here? You never told us.”

     “I don’t know why,” says Fran. “It just happened. When I went by this Comedy Club a few days ago, I thought this would be different from what we usually do together.”

     Fran opens her driver’s side door. “I know what David thinks about this Comedy Club. What about the rest of you? Did you like our evening there?” The other four friends also liked their evenings. They expressed it in different ways, but they all liked it.

     “What about you?” Another female, also about her age, Jenny Thomson, asks. “You know how we feel about this Comedy Club, but we don’t know how you feel about it.”

#

     Michael North, the owner of the ‘Keep Them Laughing’ Comedy Club, comes running out of his Comedy Club. “Wait, I want to talk to you.”

     “Why are you leaving so early?” Michael asks. “You have only been up on stage once tonight. You are usually on stage two or three times every Friday and Saturday night.”

     “Of course, I want to stick around, but I can’t. I have to work tomorrow.”

     Michael looks confused. “Tomorrow is Saturday. I thought you didn’t work on Saturdays.”

     “Normally, I don’t, but this week I do. Don’t worry, though. I will be back tomorrow night.”

     “That’s good to hear. Asking you why you weren’t staying longer tonight isn’t the only reason I want to talk to you. I also want to talk to you about your comedy.”

     Now it’s Fran who has a confused look on her face. “What’s wrong with my comedy?”

     “Nothing is wrong with it. It’s just the opposite of that. You are a very good comedian. That’s why I want to talk to you. I want you to do your comedy routine full-time.”

#

     “What did you just say to us?” Patrick asks.

     Fran stops pacing around the living room of their family’s house. She looks at her parents. “I want to be a stand-up comedian. My job as a Data Entry Operator is boring. It’s routine. I want something different in my life.”

     “I don’t care if it’s boring or routine,” says Patrick. “You have a good-paying job as a Data Entry Operator. How are you going to pay your bills as a comedian?”

     “That’s why I haven’t quit my day job yet. It’s also why I have only been doing my comedy routines at the ‘Keep Them Laughing’ Comedy Club on Friday and Saturday nights for the last three months.”

     Juliet grabs her daughter’s wrist to stop Fran from pacing. “Why didn’t you tell us about this until now?”

     “Because of my father. I knew he would be against it. That he would try to talk me out of it, or he would forbid me to do it. I’m not a child anymore, I’m twenty-six. I can do what I want to with my life.”

     “We didn’t know what you were doing, but we knew you were doing something. Your mother and I were starting to think it was something dangerous.”

###

     Fran can’t forget what her father told her. If she continues with her dreams of becoming a stand-up comedian, she can’t live in their family’s house anymore. Her mother agrees with her father about her not becoming a stand-up comedian, but not about what her father is telling her not to live there anymore.

     Now Fran is living in one of the small apartments above the ‘Keep Them Laughing’ Comedy Club that Michael North lets visiting comedians use while they are in town. Only Fran isn’t temporary living there. Fran is telling her friends all this right now.

     “I still don’t understand why you are here,” says one of her female friends, about her age, Nancy Yates. “Why are you living here?”

     “You have friends,” Nancy continues. “Why didn’t you come to use for a place to live?”

     Fran stops typing away on her laptop. She looks at her friends. “Because I heard you agree with my parents that I shouldn’t be a stand-up comedian. I also didn’t think that you wanted me to live with you.”

     “That isn’t true,” says David. “We may agree with your parents about you being a stand-up comedian, but that doesn’t mean you couldn’t still live with one of us.”

#

     “Can I speak to you for a minute?” Constance Ward asks Fran after she comes out of the ‘Keep Them Laughing’ Comedy Club, a few seconds behind Fran.

     Fran doesn’t stop walking away from Constance and this Club. When Constance starts walking faster to catch up to Fran, Fran also starts walking faster. “I know the way this looks, but I’m not a Stalker.”

     “It looks like you are to me,” says Fran as she continues walking faster away from her. Constance also starts walking faster. “Especially since I have noticed you in the audience watching my comedy routines for the last several months.”

     “I know the way it looks, but looks can be deceiving.” Constance catches up to Fran and places a hand on her shoulders to stop her from walking away from her. “It’s true, I have been watching your comedy routines almost from the start of you doing it, but it’s not because I’m stalking you. It’s just the opposite of that.”

     Fran shakes her shoulders to get Constance’s hand off of her. She turns to face Constance. “What does that mean?”

     “It means that I’m an agent. I want to represent you,” answers Constance.

#

     Constance can’t stop laughing as Fran finishes her latest comedy routine and leaves the stage at that Comedy Club. She isn’t the only one who can’t stop laughing. Everyone in there can’t do it. Constance gets up, starts to walk backstage as another comedian is introduced, and enters the center stage to do their comedy routine.

     “You did another great comedy routine,” says Constance as she enters the Comedians’ Waiting Room backstage. “Did you see everyone laughing? We couldn’t stop doing it.”

     Fran sat looking at herself in a vanity mirror, doing Deep Breathing Exercises to calm herself down. “I saw them all laughing.”

     Constance goes behind Fran and starts massaging her shoulders. “Still having problems speaking to a crowd.”

     “I’m getting better at it, but it still scares me a little bit every time I walk on stage to do another comedy routine.” Fran finally calms down. “What’s next?”

     “You have two more comedy routines tonight at this Comedy Club. Then we have two other local Comedy Clubs this week. After that, we’ll have a couple of weeks to relax before we start our next local Comedy Club tour.”

     Fran looks at Constance. “When will we be going national?”

#

     Fran gets off the tour bus with Constance and six other Comedians in front of this ‘Keep Them Laughing’ Comedy Club. “How long will we be here on our National Tour?”

     “We will be here for the next two weeks,” answers Constance. “Then, we will have two weeks before we need to get to our next Comedy Club. So, we will have a little bit of time to relax a little bit before we get there.”

     “What route will we be taking?” Fran asked. “Are there any sightseeing sights along the way? You know how much I like looking at these sights.”

     Fran, Constance, and the other Comedians start picking up their bags as their bus driver starts getting them out of the storage area of the bus. “I’m still working on the second half of our National Tour. That includes any sightseeing tours along the way.”

     “Right now, you need to concentrate on our current Comedy Club,” continues Contance. “Do you have your comedy routines ready for this Comedy Club?”

#

     “Hello, Fran Dreamer,” says Matthew Weagon. “By the way, I love your stage name.”

     Fran shakes Matthew’s hand. “I didn’t have too much choice but to change my stage name. My family is against me being a stand-up Comedian.”

     “I know your family is against you. It pops up in your comedy routines every so often.”

     “How do you know about my comedy routines?” Fran asks. “Who are you, and what are you doing here?”

     Matthew leans forward in his chair in the Comedians’ Waiting Room. “I’m Matthew Weagon. I used to be a Comedian traveling around the country with Constance and some other Comedians, just like you are now.”

     “I’m a Comedy Consultant for the reality television show, Only the Best Can Make Me Laugh. I have been following your comedy success for several years now, and I think you have a very good chance of winning this year’s competition.”

     Fran leans forward in her chair. “Thank you for your consideration, but I don’t think I’m ready for it yet.”

     “Constance and I disagree. We think you are ready.”

     “I know why you don’t think you are ready.” Constance has been sitting among them. “It’s because of your stage fright problem. I thought you were over that.”

Word Count – 1,974