As we stood in line to enter the club, my friend’s observation stopped me short. “You’ve been going to a lot more comedy shows than music concerts lately, haven’t you?” The question slapped me in the face like a cream pie. Earlier in the day, I’d been thinking the exact same thing. Was this some kind of bizarre mind-reading stunt? It was, in truth, an accurate assessment of my show-attending habits of late. The question is, why? It’s not as though music has taken a back seat in my life.

It seems there’s more interesting stuff available than ever before, between new releases, re-releases of old stuff and previously unknown artists receiving more exposure and interest thanks to the Web’s ease of communication. But many of those musical performers aren’t making touring treks. Or if they do, they’re playing arenas or even larger venues.

Often, the concerns of acts playing to crowds of that size are less about the subtleties of the music and more about finding something else on which they can slap their faces or band logo, thereby reaching a little deeper into your pocket. Certainly the comedians playing spaces like the former Holiday Inn, the Civic Center Theater and Block’s Brewery in Decatur - not to mention the Peoria Jukebox or Mason City Limits or Springfield’s Funny Bone - want to leave with some money in their pockets.

Some of them sell t-shirts, but compact discs are generally the vending item of choice. A handful have DVDs. In any case, they’re almost always sold directly by the performer, who will thank you for the purchase and sign the disc if you want. But the commerce isn’t the reason to attend (or, conversely, avoid) these shows. What I find myself seeking more and more is a performance where I don’t know what’s going to happen.