Cue the theme from Rocky!
It feels like the whole world is clapping and cheering for me. They won’t let me leave the stage! The audience keeps screaming and making noise and chanting “Ja-mie, Ja-mie!”
The emcee finally rushes up and grabs the microphone.
“Ladies and gentlemen, Jamie Grimm! Jamie Grimm, ladies and gentlemen!”
The cheering gets louder. The chanting swells. “Ja-mie, Ja-mie, Ja-mie.”
Now the three judges storm the stage. They’re carrying a trophy!
“Ladies and gentlemen,” says the head judge, “we’re not gonna waste your time announcing runners-up and all that monkey junk. The decision of the judges was unanimous. The winner, the comic moving on to the regionals, the funniest kid comic in all of New York State is… the one, the only… Jamie Grimm!”
I take the trophy, hug it once, and wave to everybody.
It feels unbelievably great. It’s a miracle. It’s magical.
For a total of, maybe, fifteen seconds.
