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.
Stand Up Comedy Collective 