Today felt like the real start of my time on the DC comedy circuit. But first...Usual morning with TPIR and frosted mini wheats. I had a fairly productive afternoon, which I think is a good game plan for how my afternoons should go. I wrote a little bit and picked my stuff for tonight. Then I went through the jokes, went over how I wanted to perform them. Then I rehearsed for a while so I had the order, timing, and delivery as I wanted. I realized that I had a habit of saying "But, uhh..." between jokes, but after a self-motivational speech it seems to have gone away. I just needed to be more aware. I also played some piano and ran an errand. Whipped up some scrambled eggs for dinner. Then I headed out for my performance.
First, I really hate traffic circles. And not the New Jersey kinds, which have 3 highways clearly marked with no traffic lights. I'm talking about the DC kind, which have 7 streets coming in, an inside and an outside, poorly market streets, pedestrians all over the place. Whoever thought these were a good idea was wrong. Or designing for horse-drawn carriages. So after a few wrong turns I found my way there, arriving a tad late. I was worried about getting there on time, but when I got there at about 8:35 (for a supposedly 8:40 show), it was myself, the host, and 2 comics. He said we should go stand outside and encourage people to come inside. We made a half-hearted attempt, but it was difficult to convince people on the way home from CVS to just stop in for a two hour comedy show.
Eventually, a large number of people showed up to see Charlie, a comedian who was going for the first time. They became most of the audience, which was fine, as they were all twenty somethings with seemingly healthy appetites for alcohol. I went third. My performance was decent, probably a B performance. Some new stuff worked, some didn't. I think I have realized that there is a large correlation (and some causation, probably in both directions...some sort of differential equation) between how much laughter I cause and how much I enjoy my stage time. Which is good to know. I just need to have fun, and the laughs will come. The rest of the show had its ups and downs, everyone was decent at the worst, which was good.
The one thing I noticed tonight was the community of comics. People knew each other, recognized each other from other shows. They all know what's going on in the business, are aware that it's not the glamour that Comedy Central makes it out to be. But even with a crowd of 15 civilians and 10 comedians, there is plenty of fun to be had. So tonight was not quite that feeling of elation, but definitely one of that confident, content smile. Except for the traffic circles. I still hate them.
Saturday, July 11, 2009
Thursday, July 9, 2009
Touristing
I was a bit of a tourist today. After TPIR and Frosted Mini-Wheats, I wrote the earlier blog post. How meta, I'm blogging about my blogging. But still, I like what I said in that post, and hopefully I'll have some direction. Or something. Then Sam and I went to the American History Museum. We walked, a hefty 45 minute, 2.5 mile walk. Hadn't done that in a while. The museum was nice, we saw different things. Everything was arranged as a time-line of sorts, which was nifty. We saw the original ruby slippers from Wizard of Oz. Also the portrait of Stephen Colbert. Then we walked home where I finished my leftovers and hung out with people in the evening.
No responses from the four comedy related e-mails I sent yesterday, which is annoying. I just want to patronize their event, why won't they e-mail me? So I'm performing tomorrow, and then starting next week I'm just going to go to these things and see what is going on. And tomorrow I'll actually have to prepare for my show.
No responses from the four comedy related e-mails I sent yesterday, which is annoying. I just want to patronize their event, why won't they e-mail me? So I'm performing tomorrow, and then starting next week I'm just going to go to these things and see what is going on. And tomorrow I'll actually have to prepare for my show.
Inspiration
A blog post not at night or not about a performance? What the deuce? That's right loyal readers, I felt...inspired...so I'm going to write now.
When I tell people what I'm working on, I am often asked who my favorite comedians are and who I try to model myself after. Although one might expect the answer to be the same, the second group is actually a proper subset of the former. There are plenty of comedians I find funny that I could never be like. Mitch Hedberg comes to mind. His persona is a withdrawn, shy character, probably aided by his immense drug use and paranoia (am I making that up? I don't think so). He apparently did some shows with his eyes closed because of his stage fright. Another one is Demetri Martin, who gives a very unemotional, one-liner delivery. These comedians are both very funny, but their comedy is different then mine. Funny, but different.
After watching some of Comedy Central's stand up marathon this weekend, I think I've found the comedians whose style and delivery I am most similar to. Although I wish I could say I'm as funny as them, I am not, but I see the similarity in who I want to be comically and who they are.
The first is Nick Swardson. Let me present for discussion this joke, one of my favorite of his (the first part is fine, I'm referring to the milk part):
He's not really making a witty observation that no one has thought of (like this one from Demetri Martin: “The easiest time to add insult to injury is when you’re signing somebody’s cast.”) What Nick does is take a regular situation and just add a tiny bit of ridiculousness to make it funny. Of course he is stronger than his grandmother. That's not funny in and of itself (doesn't that phrase look ridiculous written out? Anyway...), but it has the potential for funny which Nick finds. I like that the situation he creates, while not true, is decently believable. I've listened to a fair number of comedians who try to make real situations funny but just lose the believability (My girlfriend told me to be more assertive. So I punched her in the face. Along those lines. Clearly not true. And not funny. But, I bet that would get a laugh in a lot of places.) Also important in this joke is the characters he creates. Real characters, but slightly exaggerated.
The second I would like to emulate is Brian Regan. He has a similar style, but it is certainly different. I present for discussion this joke (the first part about the books):
First, it's great how people are already laughing before the joke actually happens. Reading a book is not really a joke, strictly. But it's funny because of the slight amount of exaggeration he adds. His reading of the synopsis, also not a joke. Well, at least the first part, when you can certainly believe he is just recounting what is written. He is also echoing sentiments that I think everyone at one point has had. Who writes these books?! I know I've pondered that. He just has a more hilarious take on it that I do.
And what's great about both of these jokes, and these comedians in general? It's all clean material. No swearing, no illicit material. No stupid relationship humor, no ridiculous yelling or shouting (cough Dane Cook cough). It's just funny because it's applicable to everyone and everyone can laugh at it. There is not a hint of inappropriateness.
So, there you go. That's who I want to be like. And so I shall try...
When I tell people what I'm working on, I am often asked who my favorite comedians are and who I try to model myself after. Although one might expect the answer to be the same, the second group is actually a proper subset of the former. There are plenty of comedians I find funny that I could never be like. Mitch Hedberg comes to mind. His persona is a withdrawn, shy character, probably aided by his immense drug use and paranoia (am I making that up? I don't think so). He apparently did some shows with his eyes closed because of his stage fright. Another one is Demetri Martin, who gives a very unemotional, one-liner delivery. These comedians are both very funny, but their comedy is different then mine. Funny, but different.
After watching some of Comedy Central's stand up marathon this weekend, I think I've found the comedians whose style and delivery I am most similar to. Although I wish I could say I'm as funny as them, I am not, but I see the similarity in who I want to be comically and who they are.
The first is Nick Swardson. Let me present for discussion this joke, one of my favorite of his (the first part is fine, I'm referring to the milk part):
| Jokes.com | ||||
| Nick Swardson - Strongest Boy in the World | ||||
| ||||
He's not really making a witty observation that no one has thought of (like this one from Demetri Martin: “The easiest time to add insult to injury is when you’re signing somebody’s cast.”) What Nick does is take a regular situation and just add a tiny bit of ridiculousness to make it funny. Of course he is stronger than his grandmother. That's not funny in and of itself (doesn't that phrase look ridiculous written out? Anyway...), but it has the potential for funny which Nick finds. I like that the situation he creates, while not true, is decently believable. I've listened to a fair number of comedians who try to make real situations funny but just lose the believability (My girlfriend told me to be more assertive. So I punched her in the face. Along those lines. Clearly not true. And not funny. But, I bet that would get a laugh in a lot of places.) Also important in this joke is the characters he creates. Real characters, but slightly exaggerated.
The second I would like to emulate is Brian Regan. He has a similar style, but it is certainly different. I present for discussion this joke (the first part about the books):
| Jokes.com | ||||
| Brian Regan - Baby Books | ||||
| ||||
First, it's great how people are already laughing before the joke actually happens. Reading a book is not really a joke, strictly. But it's funny because of the slight amount of exaggeration he adds. His reading of the synopsis, also not a joke. Well, at least the first part, when you can certainly believe he is just recounting what is written. He is also echoing sentiments that I think everyone at one point has had. Who writes these books?! I know I've pondered that. He just has a more hilarious take on it that I do.
And what's great about both of these jokes, and these comedians in general? It's all clean material. No swearing, no illicit material. No stupid relationship humor, no ridiculous yelling or shouting (cough Dane Cook cough). It's just funny because it's applicable to everyone and everyone can laugh at it. There is not a hint of inappropriateness.
So, there you go. That's who I want to be like. And so I shall try...
Wednesday, July 8, 2009
Planning
The usual morning/early afternoon, with TPIR and a nice sandwich for lunch. I've made an executive decision: all roles hitherto played by lettuce in my food related activities will henceforth be taken over by spinach. It is a much more delicious choice. I played some piano in the afternoon, some more complicated passages utilizing both hands. I enjoy it, I can sense myself getting better. I won't be a virtuoso, but I'm definitely progressing. Dinner was leftovers from last night, which were still pretty delicious.
The comedy work I did today was setting up for the rest of the summer. It's a tad meta, I know, but it needs to get done. I finished sending some e-mails that I had not done when I was in New York, inquiring about open-mics and other shows, about scheduling and sign-ups and frequency. I scouted the venues, looking for reviews and how succesful the mikes are, seeing what neighborhoods they were in, things like that. I'm stilling waiting for some responses, but it looks like, starting next week, I should be performing (in some way...some open-mics hardly count...) every other Monday, every Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday, every other Friday, and variably on Saturday. That'll average to about 4 performances a week, which I think is reasonable but not ridiculous. Hopefully if I set them ahead of time, either officially or not, I'll force myself to go even when watching the Phillies is a more immediately appealing option.
Tomorrow I'll prepare for my show on Friday.
The comedy work I did today was setting up for the rest of the summer. It's a tad meta, I know, but it needs to get done. I finished sending some e-mails that I had not done when I was in New York, inquiring about open-mics and other shows, about scheduling and sign-ups and frequency. I scouted the venues, looking for reviews and how succesful the mikes are, seeing what neighborhoods they were in, things like that. I'm stilling waiting for some responses, but it looks like, starting next week, I should be performing (in some way...some open-mics hardly count...) every other Monday, every Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday, every other Friday, and variably on Saturday. That'll average to about 4 performances a week, which I think is reasonable but not ridiculous. Hopefully if I set them ahead of time, either officially or not, I'll force myself to go even when watching the Phillies is a more immediately appealing option.
Tomorrow I'll prepare for my show on Friday.
Tuesday, July 7, 2009
Testing
This morning was off to a good start as I watched the highlights of the Phillies beating the Reds 22-1. Then it quickly soured when TPIR was replaced by a soap opera. Grumble. In the afternoon I lounged for a bit. Then I worked on my act a bit, writing and practicing. I also scanned the internet for some clips. I'm still shocked by how much the audience matters. I just did not find them funny. But I guess if others were laughing. I also feel like I am trying not to find them funny since the less funny they are the easier my task is. So, that might also be helping.
On the advice of the teacher at my school, I decided to get out tonight and perform as often as possible. So I went to the open-mic that I checked out a few weeks ago. Though I'll count it as a performance for my counting, it's not really something to come to. It's ridiculously low-key, so I'll use it to try out my new stuff. Even though most of my stuff is new, this is my really new stuff.
I got there a bit early - the place was less than packed. It started about half an hour late, which based on last time seems to be the norm as people trickle in. I get the feeling that the summer is slow for comedy. People are away, it's nice and light out later, people are content just hanging around. So yeah, not that many people there tonight. In the end I guess like 7 comedians and 5 non comedians. But that is the vibe I get from all open mics in general. It's just what everyone starting has to do.
My actual performance time went okay. I did all new stuff, but it's hard to get a sense of what works when only about 4 people are actively listening. So, yeah. But I did learn some things. Like that I should act as though there are 100 people there. If I don't I'll get in the habit of performing like it's in the corner of a room with four people. I also learned to memorize much more of my set. I definitely relied too much on my notes. I chatted with the emcee after the show, and he echoed my thoughts. He said that I should slow down and get off the notes, which I agree with. I also need to just be more confident, or at least come across as such. It's much easier to be confident and funny then not, even though some people pull off the withdrawn style. But I don't think that's what I should be aiming for, so I just need to get in the right mentality. He seemed positive about my stuff. I like how my jokes are coherent and tell a story. They are not random silly musings that end with "Shut up! I'll beat my kids if I want." Or something clearly inane like that. So, all in all, a decent night.
On the advice of the teacher at my school, I decided to get out tonight and perform as often as possible. So I went to the open-mic that I checked out a few weeks ago. Though I'll count it as a performance for my counting, it's not really something to come to. It's ridiculously low-key, so I'll use it to try out my new stuff. Even though most of my stuff is new, this is my really new stuff.
I got there a bit early - the place was less than packed. It started about half an hour late, which based on last time seems to be the norm as people trickle in. I get the feeling that the summer is slow for comedy. People are away, it's nice and light out later, people are content just hanging around. So yeah, not that many people there tonight. In the end I guess like 7 comedians and 5 non comedians. But that is the vibe I get from all open mics in general. It's just what everyone starting has to do.
My actual performance time went okay. I did all new stuff, but it's hard to get a sense of what works when only about 4 people are actively listening. So, yeah. But I did learn some things. Like that I should act as though there are 100 people there. If I don't I'll get in the habit of performing like it's in the corner of a room with four people. I also learned to memorize much more of my set. I definitely relied too much on my notes. I chatted with the emcee after the show, and he echoed my thoughts. He said that I should slow down and get off the notes, which I agree with. I also need to just be more confident, or at least come across as such. It's much easier to be confident and funny then not, even though some people pull off the withdrawn style. But I don't think that's what I should be aiming for, so I just need to get in the right mentality. He seemed positive about my stuff. I like how my jokes are coherent and tell a story. They are not random silly musings that end with "Shut up! I'll beat my kids if I want." Or something clearly inane like that. So, all in all, a decent night.
Performance the Fifth
My fifth performance will be this Friday. The info, in case anyone wants to come along:
Uptown Tavern
3433 Connecticut Avenue NW
Washington, DC 20008
8:30-10:30, I'll be doing about 6 minutes.
Uptown Tavern
3433 Connecticut Avenue NW
Washington, DC 20008
8:30-10:30, I'll be doing about 6 minutes.
Performance the Fourth
I had my fourth performance tonight at an open-mic in Arlington. I'll discuss it in detail in tonight's post. Again, mostly for my own devices.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)