Evaluating

Let me see. Nothing terribly out of the ordinary during the day. There was a semi-harried clean-up effort on the notice that the landlord was coming to visit. We even had to cut down the plant that had grown in from outside and was taking over the wall behind the TV. Alas, it is in a better place. Some other cleaning, some hanging, a nap, the usual.

I had a gig tonight at the 11th Street Lounge in Clarendon/Arlington. I arrived around 7:40 and was of course one of the first people there. People definitely know who I am now, which is good. I at last met the person in charge of the room with whom I'd been corresponding. He was nothing like the mental image I had in my head. We all migrated downstairs to the basement where the show is held. There were a couple people there trying comedy for their first time, so they brought their friends as is standard. Soon he will realize that his next shows will be in basements and mediocre restaurants with none of his friends. But it's nice for everyone, and it's a small room, so it looked full.

My set was OK. I feel like I've almost become consistent, which is good. Not consistently hilarious, which would be awesome, but consistent in that no show is really a huge hit or miss, just another day at the office. I imagine this is how it must be for all of the other guys, who do four minutes of old material, two minutes of new material, keep thirty seconds of that, and head home. So maybe I'm becoming more like a regular? That would be nice. Tonight also confirmed that the crowd has a huge impact on material. One comedian I'd heard many times before, who writes in a very Mitch Hedberg, one-liner, witty observation style, did much worse than usual. The crowd tonight wanted people who were loud and over the top. Not exactly my persona, but I tried to work with that. After my set I was given a card by the guy who runs the room that said "Talk slower" and "Pause for punches" on it. I shall make note of them.

I'll now respond to some answers/discussion of the things I've been talking about. One art-form that two people have said is magic. I agree the comparison works on many fronts. It is certainly not cultivated in schools or thought of as a legitimate career path. There are certainly stars, but there is no clear path to stardom. I take a few issues though. First, I think the stardom level is smaller. There are some magicians at the top, like Penn and Teller, David Blaine, Cris Angel, but I think you're hard pressed to hear people talking about a young, up and coming magician. Or maybe I hang out in the wrong crowd. The other issue is that I feel it's much easier to practice magic. You can do it in front of the mirror, for one, and see if the card in your other hand is visible. You can also test it on the same person multiple times, because they will tell you if it gets better. These two methods do not hold up for comedy as much.

The other answer I think I liked the best is from Blythe's lovely comment, which is movie-making. There are definitely star directors, as well as stars at all levels, those known in certain crowds. There is definitely no path to stardom, as the best director could make a movie and put it on youtube and no one would see it. It is not cultivated in schools a whole bunch, though I would argue more than comedy. That might just be because it sounds good for a school to brag about it's film class where everyone gets their own camcorder or what not. So, it works. The only issue I take is that, although it is hard to get started, I'm pretty sure many schools offer film studies/film making majors. So you can spend an undergraduate career honing your skills, as you can with many other visual arts. But for now movie-making gets the prize. And maybe we need to start pushing movie making in our schools. Just as comedy works on creativity, originality, writing, speaking, confidence, and many other things, film making would help with creativity as well, communication, working with others, editing, and other skills. So maybe teaching through unconventional methods is the answer to our educational problems. Take that Chicago Math!