I performed a pretty solid set Wednesday night at Mark Ridley’s Comedy Castle in Royal Oak, and for the first time, I met Mark Ridley. He stopped me as I was walking back to my seat. I didn’t recognize who he was at first, because I had only seen older pictures of him. The exchange went something like this:

“Jim?” extends hand

“Yeah.” shakes hand

“Mark Ridley.”

shakes hand even harder “Oh man, hey, it’s nice to meet you. Thank you for having me.”

“You did a good job. You have a great voice.”

beaming “Thank you so much, I’m glad you liked it. I hope to see you again soon!”

“You will.”

That’s the boost of confidence I needed. My creative juices have been coming up dry and I’ve been really down on myself lately, but hearing that from Mark Ridley really gave me a push in the right direction.