girls aren't funny

Lucas couldn’t say how long it’d been since he’d first stepped into the Book Nook – he just knew that it’d been too long. He was bored and teetering close to annoyed as he glared at the shelves, scooting from one section to the next with no hope of making a selection. Shoulders slumping, he closed the heavy, hardcover book in his hands and turned to the person nearest. “Can I get your opinion on this?” The question came out louder than he intended, breaking the peaceful spell of the shop. He forced an apologetic smile and asked, “Which do you think would be a better gift for a dude in his thirties: a book on sailing –” he showed off the nautical coffee table book that was full of glossy pictures– “or Medicare For Dummies?” Which, as he pointed it out on the shelf beside him, was even copyrighted by AARP. @slchat​

George instantly turned her head when she heard the question asking for her opinion, something she practically lived for. She was absolutely the type of person who tried to strike up conversation between every single shelf. “Hmm. I mean, does he like sailing? Or is it just like, you’re in your thirties, you should like sailing?” she asked with a laugh, tipping her head to one side as she glanced between the two books. “Hm. Honestly, I’d have to say Medicare, either way. But only if he likes humorous gifts and won’t be offended.”

His finger skims around the edge of the glass on the bar in front of him, honestly, he’d been nursing this drink longer than he normally did, the ice melting into the whiskey, essentially ruining it. His attention raises as he hears George speak, as though she’s just burst his bubble. “Hey—” he answers, chuckling softly to himself as his head shakes. “No, I haven’t been avoiding.” Kyle just hadn’t been in much of a comedy mood lately, which was probably a good thing because Luke had barely enough time to keep up with his own life, never mind supporting his best friends. “I’ve been working, a lot.” That wasn’t a lie, he’d been working extra hospital shifts to keep his mind busy, and his partner at the general practice had gone AWOL with his own stuff to deal with, meaning Luke was juggling a good third more patients. “Whens the next one? I’ll come.” Gesturing to the barstool besides him, he offers her another smile. “— and seeing as you’ve obviously missed me so much, I’ll get you a drink, what do you want?” 

George scrunched up her whole face, helping herself to the bar stool next to Luke. She guessed she was lucky, that a huge aspect of her job was the social side to it, though as an extrovert, that was what she needed. She couldn’t imagine wasting away behind a desk and not being able to go out and about. Though there was the whole uncertainty behind wanting be a comedian, et cetera, et cetera. But whatever. “Working too much? That’s a recipe for disaster,” she replied lightly, leaning against the bar with one elbow. “Not that I’m one to talk, I’d be doing multiple sets every night if I didn’t think people would get sick of me,” she joked. Her eyes shifted down to Lucian’s drink, raising up one eyebrow. “Looks like you’ll might have to get yourself one too, cause that one is quite sad. Gin & tonic, please, though. And in the area, my next scheduled thing is in about a week and a half. If you’ll be working less by then.” 

Looking up and hearing the strangers question, Logan couldn’t help but look at her in surprise at first. It wasn’t really the most usual question you were asked this late at night, especially if you didn’t know the other person. And did he really look this tired…? Obviously he did. “Yeah… yeah, I am!”, he finally replied, a little smile appearing on his lips as if he was hoping to be more convincing. Not that he really knew why he wasn’t being honest for once but by now it seemed like he was that used to saying that he was ok, that he didn’t even think about it anymore.

George paused, still a distance away, nodding her head slowly as she looked at him, before shrugging up one shoulder. She was extroverted to the point of insanity, or at least that’s what some of her friends said, and a bit of an empath, so, yeah. She worried about strangers she saw on the street. “Well, I’ll believe that if you want me to,” George said, flicking her lighter quickly before lighting her spliff and taking a long inhale. “But you may want to stop hanging out on dark streets,” she said, speaking around a long exhale. “I mean, not quite the image of someone who is fine.” 

Location: Cliff’s Edge Restaurant 

Time: 7 PM - 

Starter: Open @slchat​

“Can you pass me—” that thing? The rest of her sentence was assumed point being taken, she wasn’t angry, not at all. Just drunk. A little stumble into the person next to her and she was picking that object up before they could even see what she was going for, “You know that tree they have going has a vendetta? It’s cursed. I have proof. Wanna see?” 

“Woah there,” George said, reaching out to grab Sydney as she stumbled a little, catching her by the arm and steading her, making sure the blonde was on two feet before letting go. “How much did you have to drink before I got here?” she asked teasingly, one eyebrow arching up. “But yes. Yes, I very much want to see proof.” 

“Hey stranger,” George greeted, spotting Lucian in the crowded bar and making her way over to him. They knew each other from mutual friends, and it wasn’t all that rare for their circles to overlap. “It’s been awhile since I’ve seen you at a show. I hope you have some sort of excuse that doesn’t make me think you’ve been avoiding my sets.” 

“Tell me you haven’t already eaten, because I’m absolutely starving,” George greeted when she saw Orla, throwing her arms around her in a hug, blowing in with a flurry of activity as she so often did. “I know we said we were meeting up for drinks but I am hijacking it into drinks and food because the day got away from me and I just didn’t eat anything. I’m going to be a hangry bitch in .5 seconds. How about you, how was your day?” 

@slchat​

When Logan finally left his office, he was the last one once again. The last time he had actually left before everyone else, had probably been weeks ago, he couldn’t even remember. But as long as he hadn’t finished his work for the day, he knew he couldn’t just calm down at home anyway. And even when he finally got home, he sometimes still couldn’t stop thinking about his current case. Or his dad. Or anything else that crossed his mind. Something that had left him feeling pretty exhausted lately. Not that he’d admit that in front of anyone though. As his office wasn’t too far away from home, he could actually walk instead of using his car but instead of walking home right away, he leaned against a wall nearby to take a few deep breaths, hoping it would help him clear his mind for once. It wasn’t very long though, until he heard some other persons footsteps and turned his head in that direction.

George was an extrovert - obviously, being a comedian. Rarely a night passed that she wasn’t out with people, doing some sort of social activity, and that night was no exception. She had stepped out from the bar she was in, turning the corner so she wasn’t right in the plain sight of everyone, hoping to light up a spliff (more her style than drinking), when she noticed a male figure slumped against the wall. “Hey,” George called out, a friendly tone to her voice, not one to believe in stranger danger for the most part. “You doing ok?” 

One of the downfalls of living in LA was that the place could be packed. Dakota was in the middle of a traffic jam, and none of the cars had moved for over twenty minutes. They couldn’t help but notice the person that had come out of their car and looked like they were in a hurry to get somewhere, or to get away from here. Dakota had a motorcycle, and could likely get around the traffic jam but not without breaking a couple traffic laws; so, biting their lip a bit, they got off the bike and headed over to the person. “Hey, do you have somewhere to be? I think there’s an accident up ahead–it could be a while longer,” Dakota explained. “There’s a coffeehouse a block away if you want to grab some coffee and wait it out,” they offered as an alternate suggestion.

@slchat​

George let out a heavy sigh at the news, leaning against the open door of her car as she frowned. “I guess nothing important - either way I’ll have to call and reschedule it’s looking like,” she said, glancing at the motorcycle with envy on her face. “Motorcycles terrify me, but I’m assuming it’s a hell of a lot easier to get around this city with one. Let me figure out how to manuever my car out of here and I’m down for coffee. Or a shot.” 

Cora stood out in the rain without an umbrella as it came down in sheets, pounding against the pavement. She loved the feel of the rain against her skin, and it was a welcome change from the humid, hot weather. “Finally, right?” she made casual conversation to the person coming out of the coffeehouse. Going underneath shelter, she pressed a cigarette to her lips and scooped her coffee cup off the table where she’d set it. “As much as I love the sun, I’m ready for Autumn,” she mused, shrugging a shoulder as she lit the end of her cigarette. “You want one?” 

@slchat​

George paused on her way out of the coffeehouse, hovering in the awning. Of course now was when the skies decided to open up. “It’s not like LA to get so humid - I should’ve known that was a sign to carry an umbrella with me, but alas,” she replied when Cora came over from their table to stand under the shelter with her. “I’m good, you know that’s a terrible habit,” she murmured. George was a smoker, sure, but never of the cigarette variety, that’s for sure.

Tits, Clits, and Bong Hits. A cozy name for a cozy joint. A place he’d literally just installed a massive sign to the front of, and yet in the 4 months since he’d moved to Silver Lake his sense of direction had him unable to find it. He swore he hadn’t wandered off far. He made his way around some of the other nearby shops to provide a poster of the services his bar would be offering. A true sense of offense on his face when the little mom and pop shops refused to acknowledge his flier. It was almost as if they cared that he’d purchased the little space down the street that looked like it hadn’t been touched in years. Didn’t matter. He knew the good he’d be doing for the neighborhood. Unfortunately in his hurry to get the word out, he’d also managed to leave his phone behind in the shop, after having used it to get the sound system working. Which left him with one of two options. Continue on to get even more lost than he already was, or balls up and ask for directions. Ultimately he decided on the latter but at the very least he could be smooth about it. “Hi there! Do you have a minute? I was hoping you could help me find Tits?” He asked as casually as the day was young to the first person he could find walking down the street. “Fraid I’ve gotten myself a little turned around.”

@slchat​

George paused at the seemingly friendly call, turning towards the voice, which she almost immediately regretted. The follow up caused one of her eyebrows to slowly raise up, her expression turning slightly disdainful. “Help you find what now?” she asked, keeping her tone pleasant and hoping maybe she had just misheard him. 

@george-emmanuel​

“Okay, all time greats bracket: Bill Hicks or George Carlin? I’ll get to Richard Pryor versus Eddie Murphy next, but this one first.” 

“Ok, that’s a really hard one. I think I’d probably say George Carlin, personally? I mean he really would get along with Gen Z with all of his shitting on the government. But there’s definitely an argument to be had on either side. And as a comedian I think you have to say Richard Pryor no matter what your opinions are on his comedy itself. ...Right?”

Place: Los Globos upstairs dancefloor Time: 12:49 a.m.

“Fuck! I haven’t heard this in soooo long!” Billie all but screamed into the crowded club, jumping and gyrating to the music. She held her Armageddon cocktail in one hand — balancing it badly, shimmying this way and that in the crowd. She bumped one person, then a second, nearly spilling her drink on them. “Fuck. Sorry.” But not really sorry. No cares, really. 

“No apologies necessary,” George hollered over the music to the girl who bumped her, even though half of their cocktails had ended up sloshed on the floor. “For a throwback this good, it’s practically required to get that into it,” she joked.

@slchat​

Downing the rest of his drinks, Rigs already knew that he’d immediately need another one to be able to endure this music and all those people in their stupid costumes any longer. If it wasn’t for the drinks and admittedly some pretty hot women around here, he wouldn’t have come in the first place. Or he already would have left by now. Heading to the bar instead, he waved at the barkeeper and placed is order, when he noticed someone looking at him. “You wanna tell me I should have worn one of those silly costumes like the rest of all those idiots in here, I have to tell you that unfortunately you’re not the first one and no, I still don’t care!”, he only stated in a dry voice, only turning his head in their direction when he finally had his drink in his hand.

“Woah, guilty conscience much?” George said, holding her hands up as she approached, unable to hold her laughter. She leaned against the bar when the bartender gave Rigs his drink, ordering her own before turning to him, amusement still evident on her face. “Come on, though. It’s a costume party! Who comes to a costume party without a costume?” 

clueless: tell us something about your school experience.

american pie: something stupid you did as a kid/teen.

101 dalmatians: a pet you had or wanted to have as a kid.

parent trap: a story about your family.

misery: name one of your first fandoms.

empire records: a song that reminds you of your childhood.

forrest gump: a historical event you remember vividly.

cry-baby: someone you crushed on as a kid/teen.

toy story: tell us about one of your childhood BFFs.

jumanji: a game/activity you used to be obsessed with.

twister: something that truly scared you as a child.

lion king: one of your childhood dreams for the future.

bride of chucky: a memorable childhood nightmare.

titanic: a sad/tragic event from your childhood.

home alone: a holiday that was extra special to you.

“Oh, I have nothing against improv. It’s super hard to do, I’ve tried, and respect to anyone who can. It’s just not my thing to watch, or a lot of stuff that’s labelled ‘Humor’ really. Like my mom would watch SNL every weekend, and I didn’t particularly find it funny, so I know my tastes don’t line up with a lot of people’s.” She paused, taking a breath, and laughed. “Sorry, I don’t know why I just went on that rant.”

“Ok, to be fair, SNL is kinda a hit or miss depending on who the writers are, in my opinion. It has good seasons and not, for sure,” George said, agreeing with her. “And I think typically it takes a bit for the new head writers to figure out what they’re doing, so it can always feel a bit off when someone new takes over.” 

Calliope chuckled and said, “I like how you said the thing about the specials as if I was ever planning to watch them. You really are a comedian, George.” She didn’t even know who those people were. Other than the big, famous ones, George was the only comedian Cal knew. “You know I’m not a big standup person. I go to your thingies because you’re funny and my friend and that’s it.”

George rolled her eyes, leaning back in her chair as she let out a sigh. “I know you weren’t planning on watching it, but that’s my whole point. You should watch them. I literally spent three hours laughing my ass off on my couch. I mean, did you watch Parks and Rec? Jean-Ralphio, aka Ben Schwartz. It’s truly a master class in improv,” she explained, her voice getting a little louder as she really got into her mini-rant. “I know, and I appreciate that, but as your friend, it’s really my duty to educate you in the art of comedy.”