Ask Darren: “I timed your winning speech and it was 7:52. How come you were not disqualified?”

The speech contest is a timed event. Contestants are given five to seven minutes, with a leeway of thirty seconds. Anyone who goes over 7:30 is usually disqualified. In my case, however, there was a timing light malfunction. The contest rules state that if there is a malfunction the contestant will get thirty extra seconds. I was just eight seconds away from losing. The red light did not go on when it was supposed to. I grew up, so to speak, in the comedy club atmosphere. When you go over time in that world, you are done and you’ll never be invited back to that club again. I was going by the red light; when I saw it go on I wrapped up my speech. If you watch the end of my speech you can see that I knew the timing was close, so I ended abruptly. I don’t know if you are spiritual or not, but I’m convinced there was an angel or two in the room that day.