Adam Lojewski’s stand-up comedy performance at the Black Grasshopper restaurant in Estevan on Nov. 17 represented a homecoming.
Lojewski a former Estevan resident now living in Regina, performed alongside his friends Josh Fleming and Shawn Koch – comedians that he has been with on stage before. Among those in the crowd at the restaurant were people he knew while living in Estevan.
While many in the audience were there to see Lojewski, Koch was the headlining entertainer.
The opportunity to perform in his hometown came after the manager of the Black Grasshopper approached Lojewski’s wife. From there, they arranged the show.
Performing at home was a great feeling.
“It’s always good when there’s people there you know,” Lojewski said.
He brought his A material for that night. When he is at smaller venues, they allow him to try out new things and see what works and what can be added to his set list.
But he also incorporated some local content into his jokes.
This isn’t the first time Lojewski has been able to try out his shtick in Estevan. When he was first starting out, he was able to perform at the Beefeater Plaza.
“It was a last-minute thing. Someone cancelled out on another friend of mine who was doing a Christmas party,” said Lojewski.
He would like to have more shows in Estevan in the future.
Lojewski has always been fond of stand-up comedy. When he watched it on television as a child, he said to himself that he would do it one day.
“I was always just amazed that … as opposed to a band, a guy can just stand there and keep you entertained for an hour just by talking. No music or anything involved. Just one guy, one microphone and that’s it.
“It’s something really enjoyable to watch for a lot of people. Just a guy standing there telling stories.”
But there weren’t options for to venture into stand-up when he was living in Estevan.
When he moved to Regina, he looked into the opportunities available, and started going to open microphone nights and meeting people.
“I made some really good friends doing comedy, and now we perform regularly in the city here, and then whenever you get the chance to do road gigs, you take them wherever you can.”
He was performing pretty regularly in the Regina area, at least once a week, but now that he has a daughter, and has less time on his hands, he’ll only have one or two shows a month.
“I’m hoping that once she’s a little bit older, I can get back into it a little more,” he said.
Keeping his show fresh is always a challenge. He has to think of new material and try to find out what works. The top stand-up comedians perform multiple times a night, and get
that opportunity to work on a new joke several times in a short time frame, and tweak it until it’s perfect.
“It takes a little bit longer to get a joke just to work, or a certain story how you want to tell it.”
Lojewski has also performed in locations in Winnipeg and Edmonton and elsewhere in the Prairies for open mic nights, and he once did a tour, opening for a comedian who had been on Conan O’Brien’s show.
