There are lots of opinions on comedy courses (what, comedians, opinionated?? Never!!!) and these vary but for me today was about helping people to create a set from ideas they have generated and avoid the rookie errors of too many words or talking too fast or trying to be edgy and offensive.
I had prepared my teachings many months ago and had acquired the assistance of Jed Salisbury to teach the course, in all honesty I just like having Jef around in case anyone makes a Star Wars or wrestling reference that goes over my head.
Coming out of the course I had a really upsetting realisation that my material that I have been tightening up for 4 years ready to be a solid club comic, because I'm fucking ambitious, is dreadful.
It's terrible! Every other night I go out on stage and amble through musings about what my dad said and how funny a thing I over heard in a bar was and isn't my grandad quirky with his dementia and steadily decreasing ability to be alive.
It's utter rhinoceros shit! Big steamy piles of it all over the audiences geraniums, and yet so often they laugh, they laugh at this ridiculous thing that's just dribbled out of my face into their ears.
This isn't a Ratner moment, I'm not talking you into coming along to one of my shows expecting me to be stood behind a mic banging saucepans together with my nob out singing I am Henry the 8th and expecting encores.
The thing that struck me the most was that in the 4 years I've been doing this I have improved massively, I'm actually pretty decent at this, in fact I'm way better than my material and that has got to change!
So I can either get worse! Or write better, which I realised leaving my own course today I could do, if I just worked a little harder on the horrible part of stand up (well driving home from the arse end of Norwich on a Wednesday night when every cone in the world is out on the roads and every junction you need is closed diverting you past a town that if you break down in with almost definitely have a guy that demands you squark like a pig boy is the most horrible part but second most horrible part does not have the same impact) I could actually be 20 miles further down the comedy road than I am.
So having taught a course today I can confirm you can't teach funny but you sure a shit can teach writing and inspire and make improvement to the stuff that you are saying week in week out.
I'm looking forward to writing 5 hours worth of new stuff to eventually be able to unveil a new 10 mins of actual quality comedy, who knows, maybe one day I'll actually be bloody hilarious, for now I'll take not bad performer with some distinctly average jokes!!
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