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.
Stand Up Comedy Collective 