6 weeks of endless but also fun of writing and performing leads to this.
I been neglecting this blog for quite a while now, thats because I been kind of occupied for the last few weeks. Yes, standup comics might look easy but it is hard work I promise you!
First thing. Started a new job this week as a consultant for a consultancy firm. Its very different being a consultant: First time in my life that I have a work laptop, Blackberry, Business card and have to wear a suit. Ended up having a client thats at Epsom which is just outside the M25 but only like 40 mins train from Waterloo. The other client is in the city but I only go there maybe 4-5 times a day.
I am not sure if this consultant lifestyle is for me: Going from one client to another working on 2 different system simultaneously yet never really felt you are really settled down. Whats worst is that I am really their lead consultant on the software. In theory they needed a guru who can pick things up. I am hardly a guru and theres alot of things that I have to “play around” and figure it out. We will see how this pans out, its only week 1 of work after all. Still the last time I felt this unsettled was back in uni when I did a subject I am not confident about – I ended up dropping the subject, lets hope it won’t be the same.
And than we have it….
6 weeks, 20 strangers with one thing in mind – to be a standup comedy and this is the end of the ride.
Over the 6 weeks we learnt all the tricks with comedy: how to generate material, how to deliver it, how to handle the mic and tips on how to interact with the audience. We began the course with writing a simple thank you list. It slowly evolved into a fully fledged 5 min standup routine. Over the course, 20 strangers meetup on a regular basis to bounced ideas off each other, to meet up and “fucked around” with each other with acting games and impros. They gave feedback to each other’s material and performance without of any fear of being judged. They experiment with emotion exaggeration, played performance games like minister question time and writing games.
The group was split into over 2 nights. I was on the second night but I went to the first night to support the first group. It was an awesome night indeed! Its fun to watch someone like Anthea whos got an entertaining story to tell how her divorced father now lives with her mum and her boyfriend (yeah, its pretty weird), or Marc on ruthless march towards the Edinburgh festival show on a bet he made, or Kathleen who has a Wikipedia page longer than any people and her material how she longed for her boyfriend whos a prick….. these are just to name a few. All of them works from a different angle and all of them are funny in their own ways. I left as soon as the performance finished as I didn’t took the following day off work and can’t hang around for too long.
Took an hour off work early to the Walkabout in Covent Garden. Ironicly I will begin my standup career in a Walkabout! The week before the showcase I emailed a few people to come and see the show, I ended up having a crowd of 17 people to come and cheer for me with good 13 of them from the Guardian. unfortunately with so many friends you have around you (including the guys on the course) it can be a distraction to your preparation.
After we did our sound check, most of us ended up leaving the Walkabout to “walk around” Covent Garden to concentrate on our material before the show. I think there are quite a few blabbing idiots walking around Covent Garden talking to themselves, having said that theres always a few of those nutcase that prowl the streets of London. Hmmm…… Maybe they all Standup comedians!!
As the night started, our course leader/compere warms the crowd and prepare them for the comic virgins to strut their stuff on. Its quite nerve wrecking to be within the crowd watching your fellow comics gets laugh/heckles/silence from the crowd than it is on stage. Cause once you on stage the night is so bright that you can’t actually see anything or anyone beyond the first row. Its kind of a strange zone to be in: You are being watched by everyone but yet you felt that you are th lucky one to have space around you in the room. You know people are watching you but you dunno how many.
So when it comes to my turn to do my stuff, I just decided that “fucked it! best defense is a good offense! There will be no half measure tonight!” I threw caution to the wind, I did my best to engage the audience. Watching so many funny vs unfunny comedians I learnt that its not just the gags and jokes have to be good, you also need confidence in the joke and be able to project your personality to the rest of the audience. You needed to be able to own the room!!
So 6 weeks of hardwork comes to this one night. I have recorded it on video so I can share the moment with you all. I have alot of fun that night, the 5 mins sure flew by quick!! And as quick as it started and its all over!
Its a shame that this is end of the course. The good time that we had over the last 6 weeks come to end. I felt sad and a sense of emptiness the following day. I get my Tuesday and Wednesday night back, but I rather have something to look forward to than have a free week nights to watch TV!!!
The saving grace is that the course is the start rather than an end to a journey. Sure the course has ended but we our career as standup comedians has just begun! For those who will keep going we already have a social network of comedians who can share our experience and bounce ideas across each other.
Keep an eye on these pages……. There are more to come!!
