Creative idiot

I seem to have started the year with moans and groans about my experiences in comedy, it was not my intention to grumble, the wankers of the industry are so few that allowing them to bother me is more my own insecurities showing than it is their twattiness!!
I do have one gripe this fortnight though, its just an issue with a promoter... why charge £6 in, sell 80 tickets totaling £480 then only pay £30 for a headliner and 2 other acts £20 meaning over £400 profit?? think about it and pay a little more, maybe even book a more experienced act as the budget that you have created yourself could make for an awesome night!

Anyway lets stay away from my gripes and talk about how much i'm enjoying this year so far. Comedy has always been something I have been a fan of but it was never something I thought I could do, I watch the young comedians I gig with and see so many wonderful talented people, people who have such wonderful creative minds and can twist the world to tell a story that 'normal' people would miss. I am in awe of some of these comedians, how they can make a room sit up and listen, bring an audience to life. I don't view myself as one of them, I view myself as an outsider trying to break this comedy lark, trying to learn every thing I can from those of differing experiences.

I like to see how the new acts doing their 1st or 4th or 8th gig try piece things together much like I did when I was at that many gigs. If any of them ask me for assistance finding gigs I'm more than happy to help, why not. never know when I may need their help either.

I love watching experienced acts make this art from look easy and if I can pick their brains for tips, advice or criticism of what i'm trying to do. Some respond some don't its all fine. I just feel the same awe of all acts that create something wonderful and bring laughter. I don't mind if the laughter comes from a place where there is no life lesson as much as it fascinates me when someones comedy makes me think differently. I like comedy that does not make victims of anyone, comedy that can be from the heart of the person delivering it and we are laughing with them and not at someone. It's hard for me to view myself as anything other than a slobering northern idiot who wants to be funny on purpose because of all those times being funny by accident made me want to self harm!

For me the writing process is not particularly skilled (no shit, Jim... you mean that flat cap joke was created by a formula that no one else could come up with????)
I'm trying to write in a way that no one else could write, comedy that comes from things in my life and no one can say they had that exact experience but everyone can relate to what I'm saying. I want to kind of work my audiences mate persona too with a nice mix of accessible jokes and references to everyday things.

Now I start with an idea, I write the narrative of the idea without any intentional jokes, then I go over it and try place as many jokes and word plays and side stories or afterthoughts as possible. I may take the comedy rule book out and go looking for things I can call back to or turn into rule of 3, maybe anthropomorphism can pop in somewhere or stick in some misdirection... it all stinks of schooled comedy but for every 20 mins I write only 2 mins are any good and then the writing transfers to the stage where things can be tweaked, twisted or changed in order to suit.
i sometimes write in the voice of comedians I like then alter what I have written to my voice. The best example of this was when I wrote a while back about buying a sofa, this was written in Rhod Gilbert voice and altered to suit me, you can still see the influence from the Welsh mirth maker but it also is very much Jim Bayes. I also write with my Yorkshire accent in mind, the plan to bring together some stereotypes of being a Yorkshireman from a small place like Otley with some normality that anyone with any accent could do.

I have challenged myself to write an hour show, I took this to Hull comedy festival in November and realised it was not even nearly good enough, I have gone back to the drawing board and have re written parts and added bits too making this hopefully a much tighter show for when I present it again on Feb 7th and 8th for James Hardy.  

I want to have a solid 20 after all of this is done and maybe even a strong 30 mins so I can pick up more and more paid work because as nice as it is to be getting the paid work I am I still wish to be more bookable. My solid 3 that I currently have is a good foundation!!!

I have been careful to write into my opening few minutes several types of joke so I can try gauge an audience. I open with a cheesy joke, have a slightly filthy one, a visual joke, a wordplay and a self depreciation one with a new joke that requires a bit of thought too. I have found starting this way helpful for me to see who laughs at what. I also have had to really work on talking slower and enunciating better.

I feel relaxed now almost every time I go up on stage, not that I am convinced I will do well but that if I don't its not something I should worry about, I will be at 2 years since I started next month so I am still very new and don't need to rush (hearing that Norman Lovett, Frank Skinner and John Bishop were all 32 when they started, same as I makes me feel comfortable too even if comedy has become much more difficult)

Writing with others is the best way to write I find too, the things you miss that others can give you are sometimes so obvious you become blind to them. a group of around 3 works best and just chatting with a Dictaphone is the most fluid way but everyone is different.
I mean I say all this but to be fair I write loads and then just look at it and decide its all shite, set fire to my pen, feed the paper to a dog and when the dog shits it out it is somehow better!!!

I have been enjoying the creative process this month as much as the performing side in reality, and this is why I know I would love to do this as a full time job some day. Another reason I want to do this as a job are nights like last Saturday at Pazaz in Hull. I have stopped using this blog to talk about individual gigs but Saturday needs special mention after a great week of gigs including opening Thursday in Manc, doubling Friday in York at 2 lovely gigs then having a nice gig in Winsford Sunday. Saturday was electric though, I was MCing and it was a strong line up in the new act sense. I started out a touch ropey myself but Nick Clarke (remember fingerless nick from earlier blogs) opened strongly with new material too. The night just got better and better as each act came up and knocked it out the park and my rapport with the audience grew to the point I felt I could have said anything and they would have laughed, they were really in the mood to have a good time!! I also enjoyed watching everyone else as Theresa Farlow, Martin Smith, Andy Woolston, Maxine Jones, Frasco Fools and headliner Steve Rimmer each brought the house down in particular the fools with one woman nearly passing out from laughing so much at them! Billy Lowther captured this night in photo's too. It was just such great fun being involved in this I wish all gigs were this much fun.

I have a busy 2 weeks coming up, I may have plenty more on the creative side of things to discuss next time, or maybe I will be back to being a winy little boy!! either way I am looking forward to things more than ever