Comedy is not a world
where I thought my brain would survive, I mean that in the sense that to be a
comedian you must be intelligent, something that I do not class myself as
being.
There is debate(on the
comedy forums) about why one would become a comedian and what are his or her
goals or motivation, for me it was always simple because i am a fan of comedy
and as a shy often quiet person i wanted to find a way to be liked and be heard
that i would enjoy. My goals are as yet unclear in my own mind, i think i would
like to start by becoming funny, not just making my mates laugh but by knowing
how to pull humour from anywhere and tell a room full of strangers jokes or
stories that perpetuate laughter while the audience digest the words that i
have spoken.
This is all very narcissistic
but then that is what comedians are as they stand before a crowd essentially saying
i am the funniest person in this room you will now listen to me and me only as
i have a microphone!!
So what next when i
become funny, this is of course assuming i do become funny because if after a
year i do not then i will have to stop doing this, there is no point given the
rate i have been gigging in continuing if i am not funny in a years time as i
am clearly not progressing learning or going anywhere and being an eternal open
spotter would take up space for good young acts who will go somewhere.
But lets assume i do
become funny and there is talent, what do i want, tv gigs?, fame? Or the
opportunity to be paid for doing what is essentially my main hobby now? The
answer is i do not know, i would like to be paid one day to do this, maybe make
it my main job but at this stage i have no idea what my ambitions will do to
influence my decisions as the comedy ambitions have not fully formed.
So why am i rambling
about this now? this is not my usual blogging style, well its simple, tonight i
did a gig called cut up run by the HOWL team. It is my 3rd time at
cut up and im not even sure it can be called a gig? The idea with cut up is
that you don’t do your best 10 but
instead road test new material and i did this tonight with strange results.
I had earlier this
week had a mini breakdown, almost a meltdown as i reflected on my age and
achievements while noting that my Nephew Jamie’s 18th birthday made
me feel old for the 1st time in my life... not older but old!! So i
wrote down all the thoughts that came into my mind knowing that i could
confidently relay them at cut up and maybe formulate a set. Cut up’s safe
environment style allowed me to essentially rant my weeks findings in a more
personal set than i had ever before done.
The set was not
brilliant comedy but there were moments that made me think that i could make a
good set from this, the liberation i felt from being personal and the sense
that i am now learning how to write comedy properly allowing for my comedy
voice to begin forming are all testament to a night like cut up allowing my
personal comedy style to breath a little.
Tonight i took a small
step on the comedy moon but thanks to cut up it was a giant leap for Jim
Bayes........ yes i know that the lunar landing quote is cheesy but im sticking
with it.
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