Although my main source of entertainment hosting is trivia, I also dabble in a bunch of other on-mic stuff like standup comedy, wedding officiating, and even Bingo. Yep, the same Bingo associated with blue hairs and town halls, but mine's way more fun and includes variations like One Hit Wonder Bingo, where I play a song and you listen to see if you know it then mark it off on your card. After 5 songs, the entire place will be singing along to something like Laffy Taffy, and it's sheer greatness.
My newest Bingo location is Hangar 24, a huge brewery next to an airport in Redlands, CA. This place pulls in some of the nicest clientele, and they love their beers at 6:30pm on a Tuesday, let me tell ya.
My first night there in February (the brewery got referred to me from Last Name Brewing at a big yearly beer festival they do called Brews and Bros) I met a bunch of really nice folks, including these two older guys who were paired up playing at a barrel-top table nearby. I kept referencing my hometown of Chicago, and more distinctly, my actual hometown of Crestwood, IL when one of them piped in and said he lived at 116th and Pulaski in Alsip, IL, just one town over!
What are the odds of that? This guy ended up being out with his friend on a cycling trip of some kind and the other guy was from Joliet, minutes from where my aunt lives. To be a good 60 miles outside LA at this brewery and still feel like I'm doing a show at The Barrel of Laughs Comedy Club at 103rd and Central in Oak Lawn, IL where I started doing comedy in 2006, it was mystical.
I'm looking forward to a ton of new friends and memories at this venue in the near future and for a long time to come. Certain places just have that immediate familial feel, and Hangar 24 is oozing good times.
