Friday 20 July 2012

Im back!!.....for now.

So i had just seen 'The Dark Knight Rises' with my brother and a few friends and was energized and motivated to make the most of the rest of the day, i was in a great mood as i often am after coming out of an amazing film (albeit not perfect). I had to head into the city to see a friend but before i had left my brother mentioned that a mutual friend of ours had pulled out of the open mic cabaret night, at our local library/cultural centre and wasn't too happy about it.

As a big brother i could of just done the immature thing and laughed and walked away but no, almost without hesitating i said "that's not fair on you, i will get up on stage and do something as well". Two hours later in the city it suddenly hit "HOLY CRAP WHAT HAVE I DONE!!!!" and then it dawned upon me that i haven't done any stand up comedy since our local Fringe Festival (back in march) and i had basically no time to prepare. The Fringe performances were possibly the 2 worst (relatively) i have ever done so needless to say, the time between this realisation and the time that i got home was spent stressing, worrying and having horrible nightmare/flashbacks of those days in March (possibly slightly over dramatic ;) ).

I had been tempted to go back to open mic night comedy but that was a different venue, i had a couple of jokes written but hadn't prepared or rehearsed them at all, my heart was thumping louder then a bass guitar soloist at a packed out concert!! I rock up to the night and after practicing, memorising and editing on the way to the event i was feeling a little better and ready to rock the mic!

Now, it must be said that i thought all of my jokes were great material, i thought i was sure to get alot of laughs....oh how wrong i was! I had somehow subconsciously assumed that the crowd would be the same as that of the Comedy Club where i had performed many times before...i was soooooooooooooooooo wrong!!! The crowd was probably for the majority more suited to lawn bowls then my edgy, revolutionary style of comedy ;) ...i was in shock. I was editing my material until the very moment my name was called up and i nervously made my way up to the microphone.

I should point out that i thought my material was gold, absolute gold. The instant my opening line/joke didn't get a reaction i knew i was in trouble and had to work to get some laughs which i think i did get in the end. I didn't get the reaction from the crowd that i was hoping for but that was to be expected. I was nervous throughout the performance and it probably showed on some occasions. The biggest laughs were when i said  "Cmon people, this is comedy gold, give me something!". I barely made it through my last joke, one about Xena the Warrior princess (just imagine doing her high pitched and loud 'alalalalalalala' voice) but i got through it. I was highly critical of my performance but in the end i was proud i got up there and gave it a crack after so long out of the game.

ForeverConflicted

1 comment:

  1. Welcome back :D

    There was a stand-up thing Bowley hosted up in Golden Grove in May. Also not a usual comedy audience. Know your pain. It is hard when they are just rejecting you before you get on stage. "Come on funny man, make me laugh. You think you're so good, you're not funny"

    But it is the job of the comedian to be funny. If the crowd isn't laughing then we are not doing our job.

    ReplyDelete