Comedy For Confidence

I’ve spent the last 10 years enjoying the Cornish comedy scene, doing monthly slots and going on a voyage of discovery.

Then earlier this year I stumbled on Masterclass then Billy Connolly’s course on BBC Maestro.

This course can rekindle all instincts about stand-up comedy

I watched this and found many things I’d thought about comedy from when I started in the late 1700s. Well, 2007. With hindsight, I realised where I’d gone off track, lost confidence, hit a block or been misdirected.

As an improviser, I had been told people either laughed at you or with you. Not according to Billy Connolly. People laugh or don’t. Today it seems people clap, which isn’t necessarily laughing.

In 2010, I was told to make a 5 minute set, to perform each time. I learned something but also lost my way abit.

One thing I did as a teenager was telling stories for laughs. Then during my degree I wrote satirical stories about the college I attended and its people. When my mum died, people stopped laughing at my quirks and took me seriously, so getting through the loss of someone could be benefited through comedy. Remembering the funny things they did. A cat accidentally video calling from Texas. That happened at my dad’s funeral.

Since I started doing stand-up, I’ve watched other comedians, asked around for tips and feedback, none of these gave me a step-by-step route to follow. The keys to a liberating stand-up set has some common factors for everyone, but what they do with it will be personal to them.

There is no period of time it will take different people to find their funny bone but potentially anyone could bring laughs to life.

Falmouth Comedy Floor news

Here’s the new comedy night am starting in Falmouth.

Creating new material for comedy

Have volunteered to Stand Up if You Dare for Comic Relief. The lady from BBC Cornwall asked me for a joke and realised my newest topical one was too racy for the occasion. I should have done my Scilly Walks one.  Here’s about getting a set together that I feel confident to do for this event. 

Click link for my giving page

When I lived in London, I would do stand up once a week, once a month or less. After work I would eat, change my clothes, grab a newspaper and head off feeling anxious and nervous.  The newspaper would provide inspiration for a set made up on the spot. On the upside, lines would come out on the spur of the moment, usually in response to the audience. On the downside, not many people had digested that day’s news yet.

Creating a Routine

Like many people I like a routine (not comedy routine here) and to be able to give something all my attention. Unfortunately, the cost of living in London required all my attention. Even trying to make comedy out of getting by was difficult, even though it occupied my mind all the time.  However, the seeds of ideas were stocking themselves up in my mind. You might well find that when you’re going through hard times, your mind is building quite a library of useful thoughts to use at a later date.

Having an Audience

I think the environment you are doing comedy in makes a massive difference to your enjoyment of the art. In London, many people who went to see new comedians were aspiring comedians or other people performing that night. The few extra people were friends of one of the acts.

This is a tough audience to perform to as many acts are thinking about what they are going to do, not focusing on whoever is on stage, and the response you get from other acts is measured. They might compliment a joke, ask you how you felt to compare notes with how they look and feel on stage, hint subtly at not liking your set or even mentioning anything about your act at all.

Responses

None of these responses are very natural. For the non-stand-up performing majority of the population, someone who performs stand up seems like the bravest person they know. They want you to do well as they would want you to support them if they wanted to tell a joke.

Playing the Unfunny Comedian for a comedy sketch

Therefore, I have found since I have lived in Falmouth and have enough to live on, that I have been thinking about comedy material quite a lot. I have been able to try different approaches, such as writing comedy as prose and reading it out. This gave me quite a confidence boost as I could write my ideas out in full. The piece I wrote on doing my tax return was the result of a writing workshop, in which I got to read out and improve the piece 3 times.

The significance of that is that all the how-to books about writing and many other arts approaches don’t mention the development period of any work. We react to anything put on show or presented to us, even with a work in progress disclaimer, as if it is the finished piece. We don’t, generally as human beings, have a very compassionate range of reactions for our artist friends wanting to give us a sneak preview of their work.

London Circuit

Many comedians on the London circuit today perform a few times a week, sometimes they even ‘double up’ and perform at two different venues in one night. This creates quite an imbalance for those who couldn’t afford the expenditure this required, or the distraction from seeking the finance for the expenditure in the first place.  These acts would often polish an act by performing the same material over time and again. This is a good approach of course.  It means ideas and their delivery can be spoken with confidence, which will illicit the best possible response.

All that said, it is with delight that I found friends in Falmouth were interested in comedy ideas. Not having performed themselves, they were keen to listen, respond and add to my ideas or come up with jokes of their own, which I can try out for them in front of an audience.  There seems to be a hidden comedian inside most people and it is truly satisfying to help someone bring out their inner comedian.

Comedy writing can give you many different benefits. There are many reasons for this.

• Comedy takes place in the present. Think of how you would tell a film synopsis. It is in the present tense, which gives something an up to date and contemporary feel, even if the story is set in the past.
• Conversation keeps light and cheerful.
• Brainstorming and collective mind thinking takes place.
• Any moans or whinges raised in this dynamic can spark someone off to create some comedy about it.  This can help you see the funny side of something that was troubling you.
• Comedy has a defined structure such as the rule of 3, however it allows for an endless range of imagination to be used. You can write song words to well known tunes, do improvisation (using games), write sketches, give actors a chance to act them out, do stand-up comedy in a wide range of styles from a character through to one-liners.

 Only Fools and Horses

Whatever people say is good about Only Fools and Horses, the script is laden with jokes. Set up joke, set up joke. Do the characters come from the jokes or the jokes from the characters? Maybe at the  beginning, much like when you start writing a song, it could be either. The characters are the music and the jokes are the lyrics.

 

To conclude, if comedy is what you want to do, here’s what I’ve found in experience:

Be able to focus on your comedy.

To not give yourself or let anyone else give you a by when.

To find somewhere to live which doesn’t you exist only to get by.

To be free to be bored sometimes.

To find friends who enjoy comedy and ask to run your ideas past them.

To identify people who are positive, respond with what works and doesn’t work and who enjoy talking about comedy and comedians.

Famous Comics’ Friends Once Cringed Too

When I hear people talking about comedians – now famous – they saw at the beginning of their careers, it is usually to say how bad they were.

it would be my life’s campaign to start a movement for everybody and anybody to have a go at whatever art activity they like. I was rubbish at ballet, but enjoyed the exercise. I wasn’t ever going to be in Swan Lake but in a class of 5 year olds, does it matter? This constant dis-acknowledgement was the start of my stage fright which has taken ages to battle against.

The myth about born talent has a lot to answer for. As Malcolm Gladwell says in Outliers, it takes 10,000 hours to get good at something. Is it any surprise that people who have had a book published or got onto the first rung of their ascent towards success often thank the people around them for their support and patience?

 
In Outliers, Gladwell also writes about the circumstances, timing and opportunities that were behind people such as Bill Gates that allowed them to become the moguls they are today.

 
Stephen King has written one of those few truthful, not patronising how-to books On Writing in which he talks about being very poor at the beginning, doing 2 exhausting jobs, but he had a life companion, his wife, who read his drafts and even took one out of the bin and told him it was worth carrying on with.

 
Comedy

Isn’t it well known that Eddie Izzard, Miranda Hart and Jimmy Carr, among others, battled away for years before they hit the big time? Comedy, like painting, dancing, making music and acting, takes practice, commitment and would be easier with constructive encouragement.

 
Non-artists often don’t relate to the learning process that a new artist is taking to hone their craft. After a disappointing gig at the start of my foray into stand-up comedy, there was a pointed silence from my friends after my gig, as if I would have done the world more good not to have done it.

 
We can also not thank the academic world. We are educated through a system that works on rote-memorisation, study and theory and competing for the best grades. It is humiliating to show a not very good piece of work to someone, especially to someone who doesn’t do any artwork themselves. We could just say ‘I don’t like it.’ Fair enough. Practicing a craft is not about everyone liking every piece of work you do. It is about learning through trial and error, like learning to ride a bike or drive a car.

Direct Feedback

Stand-up comedy has some bonuses. When you perform in front of an audience, they either laugh or they don’t. Maybe some people laugh at some things and others chuckle or say (as in that classic quote from last year’s Edinburgh Festival) ‘that’s funny.’

What have we done to ourselves in England? Being creative is a basic part of being human. If I want to be judged, I’ll go on Britain’s Got Talent. This is why I don’t like competitions. I found the Gong Show great fun as the audience are reacting freely and without inhibition. that seems natural to me. However, being marked and judged on a work-in-progress stops the creative process.

So if you are watching a friend or family member start out in one of the arts, don’t expect them to be brilliant as none of the performers you would pay to see were at that stage either.

If there is something you like about what they do, tell them. If there’s something you don’t like, tell them too, but whatever you do, don’t get embarrassed. They are getting up there. That is nothing to be embarrassed about. That is something to be proud of. If you give them honest, responsive feedback, and quit telling them to keep taking the pills or not give up the day job, you may get a big, public thank you one day. One you’ll never forget.

Dysfunctionality

It is blatant British dysfunctionality that dictates people to be artistically suppressed and then judge other people. I’ve given up reading the film critics as they are academic experts at an art they haven’t succeeded, or maybe even tried, themselves. It is a type of off-loading.

I was doing a painting last year in Margate when a guy in a scruffy t-shirt and grade 1 shaved head came past, looked and shook his head at my mid-way painting in disapproval. How dare he? It came out alright but I could have done without that sinking feeling of having disappointed someone by getting my paint brushes out.
As a theatre critic, I said what worked or didn’t work about the acting, writing, direction, scenery, story etc but as an entity, and however bad, each play was enjoyable and worth seeing, if only to admire the magic of people working together.

Rant over.

BEING RESIDENT COMPÈRE OF A COMEDY OPEN MIC

By Johnny Armstrong in The Comedy Collective · (Facebook)

(This note forms part of the HOW NOT TO DO STAND-UP series: https://www.facebook.com/groups/139773036092597/doc/355935384476360)

The primary objective of MCing is to get audience to return. No return, no show, no money, no stage time, no love, no respect.

The best advertisement for a gig is word of mouth. People who work in marketing will tell you that the most advertising can achieve is to get the prospect to try the product once: after that, it’s up to the product itself. Here, the product is the show. Put on a good show and get the audience to return.

Organising the line-up

 

• Don’t turn any acts away (unless they’re shit, in your opinion – and it will only be your opinon, but since you’re the boss, for tonight, your opinion is only one which counts). Whoever’s rocking up certainly spent longer travelling to the gig than they’re asking for on stage. So fucking what if the show ends 5mins later than planned? Do less material (you shouldn’t be doing any material anyway). If you’re really concerned about time, offer the walk on 3 mins or 1 min (if you give them only 1 min, you’re still a cunt, just not as big a cunt as you otherwise could be).

• Don’t organise the line-up with acts individually: get the acts to huddle and ask if anyone has to get away early.

• Don’t give newbies more than five minutes stage time. They could of course be brilliant, but they probably won’t be.

• Don’t put newbies on at the beginning or end of section.

• Don’t get an act who’s “trying out new material” to open the show. It’s most likely to bomb at the start of the show and set a nasty precedent.

• Don’t get a weak act, or one you haven’t seen before, to close the show or the first half. You’ll lose the audience or lose return audience if their lasting impression is that the show is shit.

• Don’t put an act, who has brought lots of friends to see the show, on in the first half. They’ll all leave during the interval otherwise.

• Don’t put on similar acts (one-liner comics for example) back-to-back. One will be better than the other and both will suffer from the comparison.

• Don’t allow an act who’s a “big laugher” to sit at the back of the room. I say, “don’t allow” – I mean “ask them nicely” to sit further forward. If they sit at the back laughing hard at what their friends are doing on stage, and the audience are aware that they’re an act too, the audience will grow to feel alienated, especially if the act on stage isn’t being tremendously funny. Ideally, the laugher should sit at the front, because as the saying goes, if you win the front row, you’ll win the room. It won’t matter then if the audience realise the acts know one another. Importantly, this laugher must be an act who understands comedy (there are plenty who don’t), i.e. they mustn’t be the type of dickhead who laughs at set-ups, thinking they’re punchlines, and they mustn’t be the type of vindictive son of a bitch who only laughs when someone fucks up. You know what I mean: you want a friendly act who loves comedy and enjoys a laugh.

• Don’t allow an act who’s a vindictive son-of-a-bitch who only laughs when someone fucks up to sit at the front.

Start of the gig

• Don’t do material. Stand-up comedy and compèring are two different activities. Entertaining the audience is the acts’ job. The acts are the furniture – the MC is the wallpaper. An MC’s job is to tie the room together, to turn a bunch of individuals into a united audience who laugh as with one voice, and to keep the night flowing smoothly. An MC who does material is basically an act doing several spots of self-determined length at the same gig. It’s “The [MC’s name] Show + Guests”. It’s self-indulgent and bad for the gig: bad for the audience and bad for the acts. It’s bad for you too because you’re not getting the proper response for your jokes. The audience is expecting you to banter with them, but instead they get your shitty fucking material.

• Don’t bring the energy down. It’ll make it tough for the acts and you’ll lose their respect. Even if you don’t respect the act, if you think about it, you’ll probably need their respect at some point.

• Don’t make the audience dislike you or they will dread you coming back on stage. And don’t scare off the audience by being a cunt.

• Don’t forget to tell the audience to switch off their mobiles and not to heckle the acts.

• Don’t ramble or go on and on and on and on….

Intervals

 

• Don’t have more than one interval. With the first interval, you’re likely to lose one or two audience members. With the second, you’re likely to lose the whole fucking rest.

• Don’t ever ask the audience if they want an interval. You’re supposed to be in charge, dickhead: make an executive decision.

• Don’t forget to let the audience know there is an interval coming one act in advance. By the end of the first half, people want to buy another drink, go for a cigarette, go to toilet and so on. If you let them know the end is in sight, they’ll be less anxious and for this reason the last act before the break usually does well. With a good last act of the first section, the audience is more likely to come back after the break.

Intros

 

• Don’t wrong foot the acts with insulting intros. The act may have come a long way for the gig; they’ve certainly given up a hefty part of their evening to sit in a pub with a bunch of strangers waiting to do their 5 minutes. Don’t ruin their gig – let them ruin it themselves.

• Don’t tell the audience what sort of comic it is you’re introducing. You may say the act’s a one-liner comedian, but the act might want to try doing something new, like telling an anecdote, singing a funny song, etc.

• Don’t suggest the act is similiar to a famous comedian. They probably won’t bear up under the comparison. Also, it’ll make them sound like they’re ripping off someone with more talent. For example, if you suggest a one-liner comic is like Tim Vine, it’ll sound like they’re stolen Tim Vine’s act.

• Don’t give over-the-top, fancy-pant introductions like “The one and only …. !” and “The fabulous …!”. These epithets don’t mean anything. The audience most likely won’t have a clue who it is you’re introducing unless it’s someone as famous as Jimmy Carr. Most punters haven’t even heard of the majority of professional headliners: acts like Micky Flanagan or Terry Alderton. That’s just how comedy is. You need to be honest with people because audiences will smell your bullshit.

• Don’t big-up acts who you know are going to be a bit shit or you’ll lose the audience’s trust.

• Don’t forget to introduce the last act as the last act, so that the audience doesn’t get nervous – it’s been ages since they had a drink, a cigarette, a wee, a poo, a wank, etc.

Outros

• Don’t criticise acts who were good: the audience will be on the act’s side and will think you’re a cunt.

• Don’t praise acts who were shit: the audience will realise you’re bullshitting and think you’re a cunt.

• Don’t be too harsh on the shit acts. You might feel the need to address the situation after coming on after five or perhaps ten minutes of death, but you’re essentially having a laugh at the act’s expense – they’re already hurting and maybe they blame you anyway for being a shit compère and ruining their gig.

• Don’t say “That act was good, eh?” because the other acts are listening and they all have egos the size of my dick.

Links

 

• Don’t try one-upping the last act by telling a similar joke from your material. This rule doesn’t apply to genuine off-the-cuff remarks.

• Don’t use the energy of the last act who was on to try your new material until it falls flat, after which you have to admit defeat and bring on the next act. If the acts are doing well, get the audience to keep the applause going and bring acts straight on.

Ending the gig

 

• Don’t, under any circumstances, do material after the last act has been on. You shouldn’t be doing material anyway, you silly fucker, but if you’re such a daft cunt that you wouldn’t heed that tiny, weeny bit of good advice, heed this now: never, ever do material after the last act has been on. At that point the audience just want to go home. If you start doing material again, they start to feel like they’re being held hostage and they won’t want to put themselves in that sort of situation again i.e. they won’t come back.

• Don’t forget to get the audience to clap all the acts at the end of the show so that the night ends with the sound of applause.

Open mic gig list – V1

By Simon Caine, James Beatty and 7 others in The Comedy Collective (Find it on Facebook).

Monday

Comedy at the College (page doesn’t open)

https://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=120669617850&v=info

Hungry Millers Comedy Lunchbag

https://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=104388916277190&v=info (This is a pro night, they don’t take on newbies)

Electric Big Ben

https://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=13549437657&v=info

Jester Jesters

https://www.facebook.com/pages/Jester-Jesters/154377271278936?sk=info

Blah Blah Comedy (2nd + 4th Monday of the month) (hasn’t been update since Feb 2012)

https://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=104361676291762

MissD’a Silver Hammer http://www.facebook.com/groups/165516100126339/

 

Tuesday

East Meets Jest – Covent Garden (closed but new link)

https://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=111907095488722 (closed)

https://www.facebook.com/groups/173543119433065/ (new link)

TNT Night at the Torriano’s

https://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=341746814250&v=info

Rocket Comedy Club (last Tuesday of every month) (nothing since November 2011) (This night no longer runs update 26th oct 2012)

https://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=64889740355&v=info

Positive Tuesday (monthly night) (nothing since November 2011)

https://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=161891117171495&ref=ts

Party Piece

https://www.facebook.com/pages/Party-Piece/190894877624438

Heart of Comedy (every other Tuesday) (looks inactive but can’t be sure)

https://www.facebook.com/pages/Heart-of-Comedy/114145811940297

The Covent Gag-Den (first tuesday of every month) (not taking anymore bookings until further notice)

http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=154931551214027

 

Wednesday

 

Laugh Laugh Face Face (Every other Wednesday on Stratham high street)

https://www.facebook.com/groups/201783636503742/

Pear Shaped Comedy

https://www.facebook.com/pages/Pear-Shaped-Comedy-Club/252156881518836

Jester Jesters (every other Wednesday)

https://www.facebook.com/pages/Jester-Jesters/154377271278936?sk=info

Havenly comedy night Ealing(only for comics with over 100 gigs

https://www.facebook.com/groups/107019676090831/

 

Thursday

 

Freedom of the Fringe

https://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=23162425942&ref=ts

Bowled over comedy (every other Thursday) (nothing since January 2012)

https://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=108775712510049&v=info

book from – https://www.facebook.com/people/Johnny-Whelan/100000681464409?ref=search

Desperately seeking stagetime (first Thursday of every month) (nothing since November)

https://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=88600142903&v=info

Funny roundabout comedy (last Thursday of every month)

https://www.facebook.com/pages/The-Funny-Roundabout-Comedy-Club/107791562612908

Fee Fi Fo Funny (not sure on this one)

https://www.facebook.com/pages/Fee-Fi-Fo-Funny/167466599945104?sk=info

 

Friday

 

Charing Cross Comedy (every Friday) Tottenham Court Road

https://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=111354642241075&v=info (closed)

https://www.facebook.com/pages/Charing-Cross-Road-Comedy-at-The-Royal-George/333176410054752 (open)

The Big N comedy night Ealing (last friday of every month)https://www.facebook.com/groups/107019676090831/

 

Saturday

 

 

 

Sunday

 

Funny bones Comedy – monthly night (nothing since July 2011)

https://www.facebook.com/pages/Funny-Bones-Comedy/165604223460146

Funny Sundays -Chalk Farm @ Enterprise (just old events – nothing since March 2011)

http://www.timeout.com/london/comedy/event/42787/funny-sundays

http://en-gb.facebook.com/event.php?eid=104500152963286

 

Other

 

Theatre Open Mic Night – Guildford

http://www.guildford.gov.uk/article/5896/Theatre-Open-Mic-Night

 

The Hemingford Arms | Islington

https://www.facebook.com/hemingfordarms?sk=wall

 

Laughing Horse, Camden

http://www.laughinghorsecomedy.co.uk/comedy/performers.htm

 

Chuckle Club, West End

https://www.facebook.com/pages/Chuckle-Club/263948251068?sk=info

 

Five minutes of fame

https://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=47340762620&v=info

 

Comedy on the hill

https://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=29638126640&v=info

 

Chatback Comedy

https://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=234308117166&v=info

 

Comedy under construction

https://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=118364281517186&v=info

 

Oi Oi Comedy

https://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=5725706722&v=info

 

LLaugh Comedy Club

https://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=69131296104

 

House of Mirth

https://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=75863170353&v=info

 

Freedom of expression

https://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=5198084607

 

West End Comedy Club

https://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=61533836279&v=info

 

The Old Rope

https://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=2256450038

 

The Cavendish Arms

https://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=140441355966942&v=info

 

Big Cheese Comedy

https://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=140623575910&v=info

 

Brentwood Comedy Club

https://www.facebook.com/pages/Brentwood-Comedy-Club/299072186947?sk=info

 

Comedy Heat

https://www.facebook.com/comedyheat

 

Up the creek comedy

https://www.facebook.com/pages/Up-the-Creek-Comedy-Club/114541810568

 

Comedy Store London

https://www.facebook.com/pages/The-Comedy-Store-London/154010927893

 

Comedy Café London (which runs an open mic night)

https://www.facebook.com/ComedyCafeLondon

 

Comedy Back Rub

https://www.facebook.com/pages/Comedy-Back-Rub/139500886103979

 

The comedy tree

https://www.facebook.com/pages/The-Comedy-Tree/54006648500?sk=info

 

Laughter thought comedy

https://www.facebook.com/LaughterThought

 

Foolhardy comedy

https://www.facebook.com/FoolhardyComedy

 

Really lovely comedy

https://www.facebook.com/pages/Really-Lovely-Comedy/321673323370

 

Popcorn Comedy

https://www.facebook.com/PopcornComedy

 

The 99 club

https://www.facebook.com/The99Club

 

stand up comedy London

https://www.facebook.com/pages/Stand-Up-Comedy-in-London/78186778175

 

The ballroom at the Cavendish Arms

https://www.facebook.com/thecavendisharms

 

Find an open mic profile

https://www.facebook.com/Find.An.Open.Mic

 

Comedy Club house

https://www.facebook.com/comedyclubhouse

 

The kings head

https://www.facebook.com/pages/The-Kings-Head/110204423052

 

Downstairs at the kings head

http://www.downstairsatthekingshead.com/comedy%20details.htm

 

Stand up at the woodman

https://www.facebook.com/pages/Standup-at-The-Woodman/143636489014571

 

The black heart

https://www.facebook.com/pages/The-Black-Heart/171285436720

 

The invisible dot

https://www.facebook.com/pages/The-Invisible-Dot/69845567226?ref=ts

 

The Trafalgar arms

https://www.facebook.com/pages/The-Trafalgar-Arms/102163054955

 

The giggle Inn club Watford.

https://www.facebook.com/pages/The-Giggle-Inn-Comedy-Club-Watford/118923831455930

 

ARCH 635

https://www.facebook.com/pages/ARCH-635/107584122651142

 

Laugh Lab comedy

https://www.facebook.com/The.Laugh.Lab?sk=info

 

Caversham Comedy club

https://www.facebook.com/pages/Caversham-Comedy-Club/129416743793700

 

Covent Garden Comedy Point

https://www.facebook.com/pages/The-Covent-Garden-Comedy-Point/144058775654944?sk=info

 

Comedy Bin

https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100000684772484

1st + 3rd Thursday of the Month Comedy Bin @ The Britannia –

http://www.thebritanniapub.co.uk/events/events.html

 

Brixton Laugh Riot!

http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=119283338115539

 

Leytonstone Laughter Zone

http://www.timeout.com/london/comedy/event/211065/leytonstone-laughter-zone

 

Crack Comedy

https://www.facebook.com/pages/Crack-Comedy/438290790303?sk=info

 

The Laughing Jaabs

https://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=145801922128069

 

The Laugh Out Loud Comedy Night

http://www.thelaughoutloudcomedynight.co.uk/open-mic-comedy/

https://www.facebook.com/laughoutloudcomedynight

Gauging Response After A Gig

Is it me or my imagination?

I can turn up at a venue having decided to wimp out of my slot and go up with a ‘who gives a damn’ attitude and afterwards I will be glad I did it. I like improvising. I don’t think I can gauge how good it is for the audience, but at least I don’t get so awkward that I suck the air out of the room.

Find it Difficult

Preparing new routines or chunks of material – anything longer than 2 lines – I find difficult though.

In the following events, I regress to a time when I felt extreme humiliation after the anticipation of performing in public and feeling incredibly wrong and pitied for doing it.

1. Learning a routine for the first time I perform it.

2. Writing a new skit for a routine, whether I’ve read it to someone or just written it. I can remember it but my inner editor is being so savage that I deliver it swimming in self doubt.

3. Being on late in the evening at a tough gig and thinking my material might tickle the audience and it doesn’t.

It is the same experience i get with job interviews. If I prepare solidly with answers for difficult questions such as ‘is there anything else you want to ask me?’ I do worse than if I went in not caring if they hire me or not.

Sun came out

That has only happened once, at a place in North London. When I went in, the wind was going 100mph, a tornado hit Kensal Green and during the interview the clouds parted and there was bright sunshine when I left, knowing I had a job I didn’t really want.

I was the kind of kid who wanted to read out loud and to be on stage but didn’t get chosen. I am dyspraxic and cannot read aloud well and, now I realise, I have to know stuff backwards to not have a mindblank if I feel a bit anxious.

Somehow, I need to write, learn and deliver material as if my world is not going to shatter if it doesn’t work, so I don’t regress, become awkward and suck the air out of the room. Afterwards it seems as if people avoid eye contact with me, and yesterday I realised it was because I was being so awkward, not because of my gig. I couldn’t hear the people who said they were laughing and didn’t believe the people who said they liked it.

Synapses

It all comes from having to push hard to be allowed to join in family sing songs and conversations in my childhood.  On various occasions I got missed over and finally, after much pleading, someone said ‘If you must, Soph, what have you got for us?’ and all my preparations would leave my head and I’d start very awkwardly before someone took over to save me before I could get going (usually after 3o seconds) leaving me humiliated and feeling like a huge disappointment.

I was being told I’d fail before I started and couldn’t come back from that. Good for my overcoming adversity now, but rather the carrot than the stick, for me thanks.

This feeling came with me to parties, to meet new people, to auditions, job interviews and visits me when I try to prepare and learn new material.

Conclusion – things that have worked for me – this might be helpful for Dyspraxic\ADHD\Aspergic comedians.

1. Try out new ideas in casual conversation or even if people ask for a sneak preview of my set.  For some comedians, it is the dreaded when someone says ‘oh, you’re a comedian then. Go on, tell us a joke,’ but because they don’t expect you to, I’ve found this a good way to try new ideas before doing them on stage.

2. Try the material in front of a friend. I’ve found my friends, comedians or not, usually make excellent suggestions and so improve my material before I try it on stage.

3. Not to get hung up about the order of the material when I learn it.

4. To write a list of the point of each joke on the back of my hand – this seems to work for me, when I can read my own handwriting. This certainly works better than having the whole delivery written on paper which doesn’t help me.

5. To write the material down from memory before the gig, more than once if possible, and put that piece of paper away.

6. Before leaving for gig, write routine out in full and read it – preferably in front of a mirror – as fast I can. Repeat a few times until it becomes easy to read at least at double talking speed.

7. On journey to gig, rabble through routine quickly in mind, getting to end before starting again. repeat all way to gig.

8. To go on early. If I go on late, I get so many new ideas, the routine gets scrambled in my head and my anticipation level goes too high and I miss the adrenalin rush at its peak to help me focus.

9. To start with material I am comfortable with and if the new routine doesn’t spring to mind, to think – I’ve got something new for my next gig and not do it.

10. a good idea can be scrapped because it wasn’t delivered well. Personally, I need to take the steps above to bring new material into my set.

Why Timid People Do Stand Up Comedy

As I wandered along towards a karaoke night, as someone who finds singing along with songs playing in my car difficult, this theory came up about being timid and doing stand up comedy. I thought I was an exhibitionist. I keep thinking I have sorted out the difference between nerves (fight or flight) and anxiety, but no I haven’t yet.

Have you heard the one about the shy comedian? You probably have heard it too many times to be surprised by it any more.

You’ve probably heard the one about the depressed comedian too.

If you don’t do comedy, you’ve probably been tempted to ask a comedian to tell you a joke on the spot, haven’t you?  This is why I think delivering a joke at a party in conversation is more scary then doing a ‘tight 5’ on stage in front of an audience that expects to be entertained.

A ‘Tight 5’

I knew what a ‘High 5’ was, so the first time I heard someone say ‘tight 5’ I was scared they meant fisting.

Boom boom crash.

Nerves are like a free high. I can see why people get addicted to adrenalin, whether from roller coasters, exercise or by performing. It seems that the people who most want those natural highs are the ones they make the biggest difference to, to help them feel more in control of themselves.

This is my theory on timid comedians, speaking from personal experience. For me, being timid is not being afraid to speak, it is just being afraid of how people perceive others and not wanting to be mis-perceived. This makes it really hard for me to relax and speak to people I don’t know. I have never learnt how to put on an act and so if people respond negatively to me, I take it straight to heart which I think people sense, which makes it worse.

Going back to the depressed comedian: Depression is linked (I read it somewhere) to a lack of endorphins, so the adrenalin rush that nerves give you before a comedy gig can balance that out and give you a feeling of sharpness and clarity. This feeling is a brief relief from the person’s normal feeling of despondency.

The best sketch I’ve heard about what happens when you tense up at a party and feel out of control is by Roisin Conaty, the 2010 winner of the Best Newcomer Award at the Edinburgh Festival. She delivered this scene with the movements and the conversation content that inevitably ended with the other person saying something like ‘I’m nipping to the loo, see you in a sec’.

Spoken language is wonderful for saying something that you know the other person knows exactly what you mean (through ‘memes’ – phrases like ‘is there anything else I can help you with?’ – or conventions) which allows you to say something very different to what you mean. I’m still trying to get this to work in my stand up material. Heaven forbid they call you on it.

The nerves I get before a stand up gig are a natural high and help me focus. I know they’ve kicked in when I want to bail out of the gig. Your mind can feel as if it is operating at its peek. The problem is to keep the momentum up as, once you feel safe, this sharpening effect diminishes, as with any drug.

Context Versus Content

I find most people take their hat off to anyone who gets up to do stand up comedy, so there is a level of acceptance and wanting the person to do well on stage. This isn’t the same when you ask a comedian to tell a joke at a party. The two contexts are very different from each other.

I took up stand up comedy to help me get over my fear of job interviews. It did work for getting jobs in the sector I was already working in, and it helped in the job of media sales itself.

As with stand up comedy, the job interviews that make me most nervous are the ones I do best at. However, to reduce anxiety, I need to prepare properly.  I need the nerves to kick start that fight or flight mechanism and the preparation to give me confidence.

Comedy is a Literary Art Form

Gender Collective

What happens when a member of the opposite sex recommends a book for you to read? Do you find, more often than not, that the book’s subject matter doesn’t appeal to you or do you find you share their interest in subject matter? I find there’s male subject matter I’m not interested in such as guns, body parts and the annoying little wifey at home.

There will be an equivalent of female subject matter that won’t interest me. Surely there’s a divide in subject matter that interests each gender in literature and in stand-up comedy.

In 2010, I entered the Funny Women stand up competition. I don’t tend to use gender specific subject matter in my material, but differences may be in the approach that a male or female comedian will use to create their material.

Winners

Later that year, 2010, I saw Russell Kane, winner of the Edinburgh Festival Award (whatever it’s called nowadays) and Best Newcomer Roisin Conaty.

I had seen Russell Kane the year before, in 2009, at the Edinburgh Festival when he was convinced I was a reviewer and referred to this constantly during his set. I really enjoyed this set, particularly the part about how Kane had effected his younger brother. This was an interesting and original approach to the subject of sibling rivalry, with Kane turning the knife on himself and blaming himself for his younger brother’s lesser fortunes in life.

A male friend of mine came to this gig and didn’t seem to find Conaty very funny, while I was practically rolling in the aisles.

Well observed 

The part of Conaty’s set I found the funniest (a shared experience which I found very well observed) was one I related to: being at a party when our ‘inner creep’ kicks in and you find yourself boring another guest to tears with something particularly nerdy while pretending to be cool and having a good time. This was acted out with a hilarious sway from hip to hip with a finger click along to the Raggae music playing until the other person inevitably said ‘I’m going to the bar, back in a tic,’ which obviously meant ‘(hope not to) see yer!’.

Stand up Comedy gives the performer the unique chance to reveal quirks in human nature which the audience can relate to. However, how much do men and women share perspectives or experiences? Do we often, or not, share a point of view on things such as parties, jobs, being a sibling, romance etc?

Father Son Relationship

Kane’s 2010 set was predominantly about a father-son relationship, much of which I couldn’t relate to. He is still a very funny, but I preferred his previous set that had more coverage that I had experienced myself.

Do male comedians alienate their female performances? Michael McIntyre seems to stick to topics in his material which is non-specific, however I quickly found it lacked the element of surprise for me. I liked his ‘walking bus’ as in that he had applied pure imagination to a situation any commuter could relate to.

Edgy, Daring and Full of Surprsises

My favourite material is edgy, daring and full of surprises that make me think ‘oh, yes of course’ when the punchline arrives. In the case of Roisin Conaty, I was grateful that she made an experience I often have at parties sound so funny. After this, I never need feel so alone with my inner creep ever again, knowing that a bona fide award winning comedian had also been awkward at parties.

Maybe I can use my disastrous experiences at job interviews (the reason I stared stand up in the first place) for material. However, Miranda Hart has nailed this already in her solo self-named show, when she dreads the moment she will get up and start singing raucous karaoke numbers into her clenched fist.

My next blog will be about how to handle ‘hot potatoes’ in stand-up.

In Which I Confess my Comedy Sins

Top of My Mind

For the first time in a long while (since whiling away a long train journey with a 5 minute set to put together) I have had stand-up comedy at the top of my mind. As a result, old ideas that I couldn’t get a handle on have started to take shape, and I’ve been writing stuff down as  I imagine I would say it aloud.

Who’s the Daddy?

Who am I writing for? As Lenny Bruce famously said, ‘the audience is a genius.’ I still get very nervous doing stand-up comedy, which I took up to improve my chances in job interviews. When it’s not for a job I’m familiar with, I’m still failing at those too.

And Going Through to the Next Round is….

…Trust. Last Friday, I watched the Secret Policeman’s Ball and I didn’t really think any of the stand-up comedians worked particularly well. Even one of my favourites, Eddie Izzard, was hard to follow. When the comedian is trusting the audience to get what they are talking about, it works best.

My speaking and writing are both riddled with doubt that people will get it. There! I almost over explained that statement above and had to stop myself and think ‘they’ll know what ‘people will get it’ means, you ninny. Over explaining is something I do all the time.

Creeping In

I know the principles of how to ’empower’ the audience by attributing them with intelligence. If I put my mind to it, and think about it, I can catch myself confusing my message and see all sorts of manipulation, distrust, misplaced superiority and doubt that they will get it creeping in.

I remember a particularly funny performance by Stephen Carlin at the King’s Head in Crouch End. What jumped out at me about this performance was how Carlin stopped speaking as soon as the audience started laughing. He set up his fascination with snooker so well that just a reference to this would have everyone laughing.

Increasingly Nervous

Meanwhile, I find myself getting lost in a sea of words and becoming increasingly nervous about my ability to point my ideas across. Of course this has been also because I haven’t had my stand-up material at the top of my mind and, without it there, I never get my ideas ready. Not surprisingly, I feel unprepared and like I am cheating the audience and wasting their time.

It is very clever how one sense can cunningly disguise itself as its complete opposite, such as ‘superiority’ (this is too topical for them) disguises itself as nervousness and inadequacy. I get so distracted by thinking ‘I’m not good enough’ that I don’t see what my real problem is.

Stops Being A Problem

The minute you identify the real problem it then stops being a problem. The trick is not to internalise or analyse what you think is going on. I can make all sorts of excuses for myself: ‘I’ve had no time to prepare’, or, ‘I have trouble turning my visual thoughts into words’ or the slightly more revealing ‘this lot won’t be interested in my world.’

However, when I watch a successful comedian in action, if they are being genuine and confident, they can say anything that comes across as human and is delivered with confidence and it’ll work.

The worst sin is doubt but you must doubt that doubt is really doubt, if you see what I mean.