Tallahassee's Best Kept Secret - The Comedy Zone - Featuring Shaun Jones

It was after supper on Saturday night. Lulu and I were looking for something to do. Out of the clear blue she suggested The Comedy Zone - a little live comedy club on East Tennessee Street downtown. We got cleaned up a little - piled into the car - and drove a mile or so north to the club. There was plenty of free parking - we were early.

The price was right - $12 each - plus a $4 minimum purchase of food or drinks. Inside - the room was just filling. I reminded the waitress that I was hard of hearing - she sat me close to the stage - maybe a bit too close. I could reach out and touch the microphone and Lulu reminded me that I might be the brunt of the entertainers' jokes. I was brave and we sat down and ordered some drinks. As the other customers came in - it was fun meeting new people - also veterans giving the newbies a review of how things went.

Promptly at 7 PM - the emcee came on to introduce the warm up act and then the featured comedian.

Shaun Jones was the headliner. He has appeared in many feature films and he quickly got into connecting with the crowd. His act mainly consisted of his original people and interacting with the crowd. There were plenty of racial jokes and bathroom humor - in a good natured way. He had the crowd in the palm of his hand.

Since I was warned that I was sitting on the hot seat - I was ready when Shaun started teeing off on me. He could sense that I was enjoying myself - and each joke or put down was a little stronger - trying to reach my "uncomfortable" point. Being a middle school teacher for 33 years - I have a high threshold of "verbal abuse."

The room held maybe 100 people. The prices of the drinks and food were reasonable. The crowd was ready for a good time - and Shaun did not disappoint them. Since there was a second show at 9 PM - the room cleared quickly and in 5 minutes we were back home.

I shot a few seconds of video with my phone to show you how close I sat to the stage and also show you how much it looked like watching comedy on HBO. Click on the main headline above to go to see Shaun's facebook page.