Comedians
I read a wonderful quote from Kurt Cobain not too long ago. It really has nothing to do with who said it, but it was one of those moments when it just makes sense to you all of a sudden : "Thank you for the tragedy, I needed it for my art." Much of art, whatever medium you choose, is really motivated by tragedy. Songs are written about broken hearts, paintings and drawings are created depicting innermost feelings and thoughts, and a variety of writings are dedicated to such illustrations. There is a lot of meaning in that little symbol of the yinyang, which is like those two classic masks depicting happiness and sadness as it applies to theater arts. Just as much is motivated by joy and happiness, to be sure, but most there is more to be found in the darker sides of life. Recently, I have become a tagalong for one new venue in which to display one's art, and it's usually a tragic one : comedy.
I have seen many people who think that they are funny. They always have their friends in stitches and are kind of "on" when they are put before a large group. Some try to go before the masses, and their efforts are not always met with as positive a reaction as they would like. It's ironic that something that was supposed to be funny and entertain the masses really isn't received as well as its original intentions. Instead of those glossy specials on cable TV channels or even a decent looking bar with a two drink minimum, often times the comic finds themselves in and out of dingy places with barely five people in the audience who only came in for the stiff drinks and cranked up AC in the summer. Most men (in particular) never matured in their level of humor past the junior high school age, and many of them, sorry to say, are not "funny guys". Just because you've always been a "funny guy" does not mean that you are going to deliver it to the masses as such. In fact, most are anything but "funny guys".
I have had some experiences with professional comics in the past. Once M and I went to an actual comedy club in the city, Hilarities, and saw a national act, Patrice O'Neal, after seeing him on YouTube. He would die of a diabetic brain hemorrhage about a year later, otherwise he would have been more of a phenomenon. Michael Ian Black came to the Grog Shop in 07 and again in 10, and yet again in 14. I had seen him in action before, and part of his act was to pull an audience member on stage and razz them. Usually the person is so paralyzed with fear being before a crowd that they stand there frozen and allow the comic to do and say whatever they want. I was determined to not just get into his act but not allow him to use me as an object of ridicule. And I did by sitting on the stage and waiting for him to notice that I was not in fact a regular audience member and I was to be in his act. Fortunately for me another audience member recorded it and posted it online, it's still available on MySpace and the only reason I ever visit the page anymore. When he returned a few years later, I returned to The Grog Shop once again and caught his attention when I took a photo of him on my phone and the flash went off. He saw me, after cursing the flash and then said "I know you, don't I?" I said "Yes you do." And I put myself in his routine again. When he was here a few weeks ago, of course I put myself in the front row and caught his attention. He saw me and smiled and called me by name. He announced to the crowd that I put myself in his routine twice, but not a third time. I said "But it's about you and me entertaining the masses, not just about me." But I let him have his moment. Hence the end of my buddy comedy career with Michael Ian Black, albeit locally.
I have considered what one must do in order to become a comic and came across some helpful, if not basic advice. Keep a notebook with you at all times in order to keep your notes and routine down, as well as recording reactions to each joke and moment. Buy some sort of book on how to write jokes (Duh!). Understand your on stage personality (be it angry, ironic, deadpan, etc.). Write jokes beforehand (Double duh!). Practice your act before the mirror or before at least one other person. Work on your confidence and delivery. Continue writing jokes in order to get better at writing jokes, rewrite your jokes, and, perhaps most importantly, find an open mic night at some venue in your city, practice there, and don't be afraid to fail. Helpful hints of course, but actually witnessing these things is another ballgame. One would assume most of this is not the most basic but helpful of materials for people in order to be a comic, but they failed to see the other factors that go along with it. After witnessing several of these open mic comedy nights in the last several weeks, I have some further suggestions to provide to these basics:
1) Getting high - Many begin their act by saying "I just got high a few minutes ago." I don't know whether or not this is true every time they announce it, as I am not close enough to smell any telltale odors or check the dilation of pupils. Does this harm or help the process? Don't know. Does it make you look cool? Well since I am older and many of those participating are in the early / mid twenties, I no longer think using substances, including alcohol, is cool. It is then, but it is no longer once you get past a certain age.
2) Social safety net - Hardly a new idea, but it's always a good idea to bring a social safety net with you. Even if it's someone as safe as a loving (or not so loving) boyfriend or girlfriend, who will laugh at something - ANYTHING - that you say. I would always try to support someone in such a venture. And since there is a drawing at the end to win the modest collection of door entry cash ($2 per head) from the jar lottery system, of course you vote for them.
3) Social graces - Replace the microphone in the stand, take your drink with you rather than leave the empty glass on stage, etc.
4) Know when you're done - Watch the emcee and he'll let you know of your time. Don't push it for just that one more joke even if you are getting the best reactions possible out of the audience.
5) Stay for the duration of the evening - Going outside to smoke a cigarette, use the bathroom, order another drink at the bar is alright to do, but don't leave right after you're done. Stay for the others also performing just for the basic want/need to show the you are supportive of others. Some may be terrible, but some may be better than you are as well. You can learn by doing, you can learn by watching, you can learn a lot.
6) Accepting criticism - I come with my friend and offer my thoughts and feelings on how he did afterward, and he usually listens and, happy to say, makes an adjustment. Make it constructive not malicious.
With all of that being said, a review of the actual comic material is in order. And, sorry to say, it's pretty bad. Most of them revolve around typical fair be it bathroom humor, sex jokes, drug/alcohol references, and observational humor. Since I'm a woman I don't care much for bathroom humor, but every once in a blue moon a good fart joke can at least make me smile a bit. Sex jokes? Well, depending on the situation, it might be alright. Lord knows I have had my fair share of experiences in which to joke about, but ultimately whether or not the material is good or not, I have learned not to talk about such things with others. The same falls under the drug/alcohol jokes. Because no matter how much you do / do not do certain things, ultimately who really cares about it? No one really. It doesn't really make you look cool even though you think it does. As for observational humor, that seems to be a safe bet with most comics. Before there was the Jerry Seinfeld method of talking about nothing and realizing that you never actually truly knew another person before you saw them, in fact, do nothing, comics did it all the time with materials about other things (airlines, food, TV, etc.). Then once the Jerry Seinfeld method came along, not only was there a new emphasis on nothing but there was also a newfound want and need to keep comedy clean. It used to mean that one could be cursing liberally and making obscene gestures, but anyone can do that. Comedy can be clean, no question, but it also has to have underline filth about it. Filth is what is extreme in culture, what is testing limits. You get people's attention by being shocking, that's for sure, but when you make people laugh that's what gets the attention and makes others listen. In this venue, people aren't really doing it as they intend to do so.
Perhaps someday I will attempt this. If some twitchy, weird guy can stand up on stage and tell everyone about a son he has in Kentucky who he has never met be funny to others, can I also be so funny? Maybe. So perhaps I too will do this someday. I just need some materials to start on. As a teenager I think I wanted to be shocking, but as I age I think my performance career would take on a different turn. I'd like to see things smarter, like to see things that make you think, I'd like to see things that are witty. But that's too tall an order to ask for in this arena. This is, after all, where stoners come to be crazy and try to make something out of themselves. I'm not motivated to do so, and my friend J is no longer either. Another moment just as sad as it is funny.
I have seen many people who think that they are funny. They always have their friends in stitches and are kind of "on" when they are put before a large group. Some try to go before the masses, and their efforts are not always met with as positive a reaction as they would like. It's ironic that something that was supposed to be funny and entertain the masses really isn't received as well as its original intentions. Instead of those glossy specials on cable TV channels or even a decent looking bar with a two drink minimum, often times the comic finds themselves in and out of dingy places with barely five people in the audience who only came in for the stiff drinks and cranked up AC in the summer. Most men (in particular) never matured in their level of humor past the junior high school age, and many of them, sorry to say, are not "funny guys". Just because you've always been a "funny guy" does not mean that you are going to deliver it to the masses as such. In fact, most are anything but "funny guys".
I have had some experiences with professional comics in the past. Once M and I went to an actual comedy club in the city, Hilarities, and saw a national act, Patrice O'Neal, after seeing him on YouTube. He would die of a diabetic brain hemorrhage about a year later, otherwise he would have been more of a phenomenon. Michael Ian Black came to the Grog Shop in 07 and again in 10, and yet again in 14. I had seen him in action before, and part of his act was to pull an audience member on stage and razz them. Usually the person is so paralyzed with fear being before a crowd that they stand there frozen and allow the comic to do and say whatever they want. I was determined to not just get into his act but not allow him to use me as an object of ridicule. And I did by sitting on the stage and waiting for him to notice that I was not in fact a regular audience member and I was to be in his act. Fortunately for me another audience member recorded it and posted it online, it's still available on MySpace and the only reason I ever visit the page anymore. When he returned a few years later, I returned to The Grog Shop once again and caught his attention when I took a photo of him on my phone and the flash went off. He saw me, after cursing the flash and then said "I know you, don't I?" I said "Yes you do." And I put myself in his routine again. When he was here a few weeks ago, of course I put myself in the front row and caught his attention. He saw me and smiled and called me by name. He announced to the crowd that I put myself in his routine twice, but not a third time. I said "But it's about you and me entertaining the masses, not just about me." But I let him have his moment. Hence the end of my buddy comedy career with Michael Ian Black, albeit locally.
I have considered what one must do in order to become a comic and came across some helpful, if not basic advice. Keep a notebook with you at all times in order to keep your notes and routine down, as well as recording reactions to each joke and moment. Buy some sort of book on how to write jokes (Duh!). Understand your on stage personality (be it angry, ironic, deadpan, etc.). Write jokes beforehand (Double duh!). Practice your act before the mirror or before at least one other person. Work on your confidence and delivery. Continue writing jokes in order to get better at writing jokes, rewrite your jokes, and, perhaps most importantly, find an open mic night at some venue in your city, practice there, and don't be afraid to fail. Helpful hints of course, but actually witnessing these things is another ballgame. One would assume most of this is not the most basic but helpful of materials for people in order to be a comic, but they failed to see the other factors that go along with it. After witnessing several of these open mic comedy nights in the last several weeks, I have some further suggestions to provide to these basics:
1) Getting high - Many begin their act by saying "I just got high a few minutes ago." I don't know whether or not this is true every time they announce it, as I am not close enough to smell any telltale odors or check the dilation of pupils. Does this harm or help the process? Don't know. Does it make you look cool? Well since I am older and many of those participating are in the early / mid twenties, I no longer think using substances, including alcohol, is cool. It is then, but it is no longer once you get past a certain age.
2) Social safety net - Hardly a new idea, but it's always a good idea to bring a social safety net with you. Even if it's someone as safe as a loving (or not so loving) boyfriend or girlfriend, who will laugh at something - ANYTHING - that you say. I would always try to support someone in such a venture. And since there is a drawing at the end to win the modest collection of door entry cash ($2 per head) from the jar lottery system, of course you vote for them.
3) Social graces - Replace the microphone in the stand, take your drink with you rather than leave the empty glass on stage, etc.
4) Know when you're done - Watch the emcee and he'll let you know of your time. Don't push it for just that one more joke even if you are getting the best reactions possible out of the audience.
5) Stay for the duration of the evening - Going outside to smoke a cigarette, use the bathroom, order another drink at the bar is alright to do, but don't leave right after you're done. Stay for the others also performing just for the basic want/need to show the you are supportive of others. Some may be terrible, but some may be better than you are as well. You can learn by doing, you can learn by watching, you can learn a lot.
6) Accepting criticism - I come with my friend and offer my thoughts and feelings on how he did afterward, and he usually listens and, happy to say, makes an adjustment. Make it constructive not malicious.
With all of that being said, a review of the actual comic material is in order. And, sorry to say, it's pretty bad. Most of them revolve around typical fair be it bathroom humor, sex jokes, drug/alcohol references, and observational humor. Since I'm a woman I don't care much for bathroom humor, but every once in a blue moon a good fart joke can at least make me smile a bit. Sex jokes? Well, depending on the situation, it might be alright. Lord knows I have had my fair share of experiences in which to joke about, but ultimately whether or not the material is good or not, I have learned not to talk about such things with others. The same falls under the drug/alcohol jokes. Because no matter how much you do / do not do certain things, ultimately who really cares about it? No one really. It doesn't really make you look cool even though you think it does. As for observational humor, that seems to be a safe bet with most comics. Before there was the Jerry Seinfeld method of talking about nothing and realizing that you never actually truly knew another person before you saw them, in fact, do nothing, comics did it all the time with materials about other things (airlines, food, TV, etc.). Then once the Jerry Seinfeld method came along, not only was there a new emphasis on nothing but there was also a newfound want and need to keep comedy clean. It used to mean that one could be cursing liberally and making obscene gestures, but anyone can do that. Comedy can be clean, no question, but it also has to have underline filth about it. Filth is what is extreme in culture, what is testing limits. You get people's attention by being shocking, that's for sure, but when you make people laugh that's what gets the attention and makes others listen. In this venue, people aren't really doing it as they intend to do so.
Perhaps someday I will attempt this. If some twitchy, weird guy can stand up on stage and tell everyone about a son he has in Kentucky who he has never met be funny to others, can I also be so funny? Maybe. So perhaps I too will do this someday. I just need some materials to start on. As a teenager I think I wanted to be shocking, but as I age I think my performance career would take on a different turn. I'd like to see things smarter, like to see things that make you think, I'd like to see things that are witty. But that's too tall an order to ask for in this arena. This is, after all, where stoners come to be crazy and try to make something out of themselves. I'm not motivated to do so, and my friend J is no longer either. Another moment just as sad as it is funny.
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