Ben Bo's Comedy Journey - Riga, Latvia

While traveling around the Baltic region, the hierarchy of the countries begins to take shape. The countries that were most affected by the Soviet Union are the least wealthy, and it becomes noticeable the moment you get out of the train station. Riga, the largest city in Latvia, is a mélange of Soviet style decrepit buildings, classic Victorian structures that are still standing, and modern buildings being built amongst them to replace the dilapidated structures barely standing. While it has a tram and wide roadways, you notice that some streets are dirty and the country is worse off than some of its Baltic counterparts.

Upon our arrival we realized quickly that the area is full of what the locals call “Gypsies.” Apparently this is still considered a racist term and no one calls them this out loud but they whisper it to each other when they’re around. I didn’t think it was nice to call them that until I struck up a conversation with a girl at the station. I complimented her scarf and asked where she was from, she said Romania. I used the Romanian word for hello, “jefaje” (I don’t think that’s the correct spelling but I’m too lazy to look it up currently) and the girl became giddy and started happily speaking to me.

As soon as this happened another Romanian man in her party came over, pulled her away, and said something that sounded a lot like nigga in my direction. All of a sudden Gypsie didn’t feel like such a derogatory term. Later, when I saw their group headed towards the tram they began to point and laugh in my direction, yelling things I didn’t need to understand to know were insults. I almost considered yelling it at them, but like the actual spelling of jefaje, I couldn’t be bothered.

We arrived at the hotel, set our stuff down, and decided to head to the city center for some food and to get a lay of the land. Burt had a contact here who had organized the show and was planning to meet us in town for a bite and a drink. It was Saturday and the show was the next day so we figured we could hand out some stickers and flyers and get some people to the show.

When we arrived in town we wandered the old town of the city and its cobblestone walkways, old church buildings and other structures that looked as if they’d been there for hundreds of years. We met up with Burt’s contact who we will call “Ghost”. Ghost was a former comic who focused more on producing than performing these days. He had given up drinking and was now just focused on being a good stepfather and not getting hammered and angering his second wife. He showed us around town, and we got some food and wandered around town in search of a pub for another round.

As usual, once we hit the town the hijinks begin. The thing about being three niggas in Latvia is that it’s very uncommon, so you will get looks. When those three niggas are loud, brash, laughing, and willing to talk to anyone, the looks and the attention increase thrice. After a drink, Ghost had to head home but said he would see us tomorrow at the show. He was the contact that got us in touch with the venue. He said the head count for the show was looking good and he would be there early to help set up.

We walked around town and hit the bars, spent more time chatting to strangers on the street while rolling spliffs. (At this point it’s fair to mention that since being in Europe I have started smoking cigarettes and spliffs as the Europeans do. I’ve probably smoked more cigarettes in less than a month of being out here than I have the rest of my life combined). As usual we met ladies, some came and some went, some we kissed others we just danced and flirted with. We went to different clubs and bars, some Latvian and some American as we wandered about the city.

Around two or three a.m. I was smoking a spliff with Burt when a girl from the club we had just walked out of strolled over and was clearly interested in me, smiling and flirting and touching me, much to the chagrin of the guy she was with who kept trying to pull her away. But she kept throwing him off and coming back. Finally, she walked away and as Burt and I laughed about the encounter, two girls walked our way and also started laughing after having witnessed the whole encounter. We told them the same girl was dancing with me in the club as her boyfriend tried to pull her away and how she then followed us outside just for the same scenario to play out again.

The girls introduced themselves as Sami & Lira (again, names changed to protect identities). We struck up a conversation and chatted for a while before they said they were headed to another bar and asked if we wanted to go along. We agreed and as we were about to head out, Boss strolled up. He was fresh off pursuit of another girl and after an hour of effort and only getting a kiss, he was looking for greener pastures and decided to come along.

On our walk I stayed with Sami & Lira but Boss and Burt struck up conversations with two new girls whose names I don’t remember. We took them all to the new bar and danced for a bit. I started dancing with the girls while Burt talked to the new girls and Boss was off dancing with a girl he had met at the bar. While I danced with her friend, Sami & Lira said they were leaving. We exchanged contacts and invited them to the show, and they were off. Nothing really came of the encounter with the girls we stayed with at the bar besides banter and flirting. We stayed out until about six a.m. giving out stickers, talking shit, and laughing with the locals, hoping at least a few would come to the show.

The next day Ghost invited us for a bit of sightseeing and lunch at a spot he knew about near the venue for the show. Being too tired and hung over to show up for the sightseeing, I met Burt, Ghost, and his stepson for lunch at the venue around four in the afternoon. The food was traditionally Latvian and I learned about the area and some of the Latvian history. We then walked to the venue and after about an hour I had all the chairs set up, but the mic and music were still not working.

Burt became frustrated and left. Boss was nowhere to be found so I stayed and somehow got everything working by the time the show came around. Burt and Boss were completely MIA as people started to arrive. I messaged Burt and he said he would be back shortly but was frustrated and stressed about the whole setup situation. I should have seen it right there that maybe he would not be a good host for the show, but we had an order than was working thus far so I figured it would work here as well.

I started checking in the audience and of all the people we gave stickers to, only Sami & Lira showed up. Then I noticed that one random girl we had given a sticker to as we were leaving at six a.m. had shown up and brought along eight of her friends. Ghost had helped with FB ads so the room turned out to be quite full (we had 35 seats, and some guests were standing, estimated about 40-45 total). Boss showed up right around showtime, the room as good, the mic and music were good, the venue was show ready. Unfortunately the host was not.

Up until this point the order for the shows had gone Burt, Boss, then me headlining before we all jumped on stage and did 10-15 minutes of riffing, almost podcast style with the audience. This had worked because Burt was comfortable hosting in Barcelona (the city he was from) as well as Tallinn since he had done shows there before. But like the last show we had done in Tallinn, it became apparent to me that when conditions were not perfect, Burt was not hosting well. This show was no different.

Although the audience was packed, there were very little laughs to begin with. After his time hosting, Burt brought up Boss, who also got a few laughs but could not get the audience rolling and bailed off stage after eight minutes, just like he had done at the previous show in Tallinn. There, he only did seven minutes because the audience was light, and he thought they didn’t like him. I went on stage this time to a dead audience and did my best to get the audience back. I got some laughs but overall the hill was too large to climb. There was also one audience member who kept interrupting my jokes but only during the punchlines; to the point where I told him to get the fuck out, and he actually did. We did the three-man part and finished the show but neither us nor the audience felt great about it.

After the show, Sami & Lira stuck around, and Sami was open to getting a drink with us after. The city was pretty dead since it was a Sunday, but we found some spots and that were open and headed out. Lira had to leave, so it was just Sami with Burt, Boss, and myself. As the night progressed, we laughed and joked, made some sexual innuendos, and had a few drinks. We were inevitably drunk, and everyone was feeling tired and ready to go. Sami dropped us off at the hotel and as we were saying bye, Boss put Sami on the spot about taking one of us home with her. The situation was pretty funny and lasted way longer than it should have with Sami choosing none of us and going home alone (this will come back into play during Riga pt.2.)

Tired and disappointed by a bad show, we left Riga and decided we did not like it and would not come back here. Turns out Niggas in Paris has a much better ring to it that Neegas in Riga. We boarded the bus for the four-hour bus ride back to Tallinn where we had three shows booked the next week and we felt more at home with the locals, vowing we would never come back to Riga. Burt and Boss told the truth, but I would break that rule less than two weeks later.

Ben Bo is an Austin, Texas based comedian currently touring around Europe for three months. You can follow him on Instagram @BenBosunga