James Inman Podcast Story About the San Francisco Comedy Competition

James Inman released a podcast with Doug Stanhope, Andy Andrist and Kristine Levine. Recorded live in St Louis, Doug tells a story of what happened to James Inman during the 1997 San Francisco Comedy Competition.

James Inman qualified for the Semifinals, but first he has to dash off to a gig in Washington state. He goes to a bar near the Greyhound terminal and has a few cocktails. He attempts to get on the bus, but the driver informs him he smells alcohol on his breath and will not allow him on the bus. Instead of doing something rational, like sober up and attempting to get on the next bus, James decides to go to the liquor store and buy alcohol, get absolutely wasted, then sleep it off in a park.

He walks into a liquor store, but they refuse to serve him because the policy is not to serve anyone who looks homeless and James Inman usually looks homeless. He waits outside of the liquor store like a kid under 21 and tries to convince someone to go in and buy him alcohol. He convinces someone to go in and buy him alcohol, but they take off with his money and he can’t catch them. So James ends up sleeping in a park sober.

That is until the San Francisco Police come by and wake him up. James thinks they are trying to hassle him, but to his surprise, they are warning him that someone is murdering homeless people sleeping in parks and to be aware he could be in danger.

According to producer Jon Fox, there’s a lot more to the story. The Semifinals starts at a casino. James puts money in a slot machine and hits a big payout twice! Now he has plenty of money. He used that winning streak to build on his momentum and ended up winning the 1997 San Francisco Comedy Competition. There’s plenty of stories about the Comedy Competition over the years. Sometimes the stories of what happens off-stage are more wild than the ones onstage.