Was it good for you?
Topics on the day include belly button sex, the rules for playing nice with comedians, sharing the gory details of your first time, hitting a cold stage, feedback on Tony’s progress, and whether it’s really possible to truly be in stand-up for the art. Can I get nipple?
Comedian of the week – Dave Chappelle: Chappelle’s Show – The Series Collection
Email: brianmcomedy@gmail.com
Update – I emailed the manager of the Improv back and basically said “I don’t know if Curt got back to you about dates to come out to some shows, but here’s when I’ll be performing. Not trying to be a bother, cause I usually just go with the flow.” Something like that.
I also know another comic did the same thing, so I’m not the odd man out. And in fact, that guy tried to be more convincing by flashing his credits, something I made sure not to do (mostly because I don’t have any credits though, haha……sigh.)
She emailed back and thanked me for the dates and told me there was a show being put together for the 4 comedians she wants to scout. It will be on May 6th. I’m pumped. I’ll post my set once it happens.
Layman giving you jokes – You’re right. This is the worst. However, I once had an audience member give me an excellent tag. It blew me away. I think she thought I was being condescending with my reaction, and I literally said, “no, you don’t understand, this never happens.” It kills every time I use it. Weird.
I actually have a bit about laymen giving comics jokes. If you click on my name you can check it out. Its the second joke and starts at about 2:30.
The reason I bring it up is that I once did that joke at a show, then afterward made my way to the bar to get a beer. Some old redneck dudes at the bar told me they loved the joke, then said “here’s how the joke about the two black guys really goes,” and proceded to tell me a racist joke. I was like WTF? Did they not just hear me say that it sucks when people tell me racist jokes at a bar? I literally just talked about it into a microphone. Nothing will stop these people.
I just watched Larry King interview Sarah Silverman. Apparently Sarah was a bed-wetter until about 16. She said being an enuretic, pubescent, jewish girl who wet her sleeping bag every weekend at sleep-away camp was the most humiliating situation imaginable. After that, the possibility of bombing on stage was fairly trivial.
I found this interesting. I know you have discussed, several times, the rewards of doing comedy: a one man army amusing an entire crowd, the self gratification, affirmation, the passion, the craft, etc. that drives comics to do what they do. Further, I know you have discussed that most comics have pretty shitty pasts/lives: addictions, abuse, rough childhoods, etc.
Have you ever wondered if comics are drawn to comedy less because of the huge payoffs of the rewards and more because of the leniency of the risks? Compared to their pasts, the risks (not making much money, having to fight for every gig, bombing in front of a room full of strangers) are not only tolerable, but welcome?
Just thought it might lead to an interesting discussion.
That’s an awesome view point that I never really thought of Not A Comic. I meet tons of people who say they would love to do stand up if they could work up the nerve. Maybe that’s the deciding factor getting those of us who do over the hump. Sure it’s scary, but it beats sleeping in a closet til you’re 15!
On a side note, your vocabulary is way too advanced for this program. Please dumb it down in the future. Thanks!
at the risk of sounding corny, I gotta say I do perform stand-up for the love of comedy. As much bullshit as I’ve had to put up with since I started doing comedy, I’d rather do this than be surviving life at a 9-5 office job that brings me no satisfaction.
I can’t think of very many other jobs that can give you the satisfaction of knowing you pretty much lived your life on your own terms. There’s no supervisor you need to ask permission to if you want to take a vacation, and there’s no almighty boss that can fire you from stand-up. You might get banned from a club, but that doesn’t mean you can’t still work other places.
Nice as it would be, I don’t really even care about being on TV, getting rich, or being famous, as long as I earn enough to make a living. To paraphrase Patton Oswalt, some people start doing stand-up so they can get into movies, some people get into movies so they can keep doing stand-up. I’m not exactly tripping over scripts and movie role offers, but if I were to fall into one of the categories it’d be the latter.
If I were to live out the rest of my life, never getting famous, but knowing that what I did for a living was stand-up comedy, I’d die a happy man.
Of course, I’ve only been doing this for five years, so ask me again in another five. That’s if I haven’t killed myself yet.
I completely agree Carlos. I’m the same way. I’ve tried to act and I hate. I tried to write for other people and I hate it. The only thing I love to do is stand-up. BUT…This isn’t a career that lends itself to much success unless you factor something else into the equation, as Patton said in your quote above.
I wet the bed until I was 13, but the idea of stand-up being less frightening or intimidating by comparison never really factored into the equation.
Being funny is very empowering. Joy is such an infectious emotion, and knowing it’s YOU who is causing people you’ve never met to feel one of the most desirable emotions on Earth is probably what makes me gravitate toward wanting to do comedy. In short, it’s probably because I’m selfish and want people to feel good because of me. I want that validation.
So there’s always that reason, too.
I wet the bed now, but that’s because I’m an alcoholic.
I’m with Carlos and Brian as well. The comedy business can be a pain in the ass as it is. I can’t imagine going through the bullshit with an eye for something else. Sure, I’d love to sell a script, and I wouldn’t turn down the opportunity to write for a quality show or something, but using comedy to compete for brass rings in Hollywood doesn’t appeal to me.
I may have mentioned it before, but the one time I did a Sunday at the Comedy Store, a guy went up and said, “Hi, I’m Mike, and I’m actually not a comic, I’m an actor.” Then act like a comic for five minutes, asshole.
Backhanded compliment a fellow comedian gave me last night – “Great set man. I left for a bit, then walked back in and heard the audience dying with laughter. I was like ‘Damn, who’s on stage? Oh shit, it’s Bill Metzger!?!?’”
Wow. Thanks dude.
http://www.atom.com/funny_videos/3EFBFFFF01DEB845001700ECBA3D/
Check out my friend’s video. He’s competing for something, I don’t exactly know what.
I’m in stand-up because I like doing stand-up. I’ve actually tried to co-write some spec scripts with a buddy of mine, and it’s really validated my belief that my skill set in no way lends itself to anything BUT stand-up. I’m a terrible sitcom/sketch writer, a poor actor, and not the least bit artistic. For some reason, the only creative thing I can do that has found ANY success is stand-up.
I’d forgotten how much I miss the Chapelle Show.
Hmm, weird glitch going on. Looks like some repeat posts were added using other names. Either something wrong on our end or the parallel universes (that we all know exist) are colliding! Probably just a tech glitch.
I’d forgotten how much I miss the Chapelle Show.
I wet the stage.
Carlos I like your post about liking comedy, and it’s definitely interesting to think out loud about wtf is behind this odd behavior of ours. Trying to balance that with brian’s comment on the podcast about the bullshit that can be behind a comment like “I do it for the comedy.” what i’ve found for myself is that standup is an ongoing challenge that makes life more interesting. it’s cool to look forward to going up on stage, and it gives me a lens through which to think about life all week long– i.e. my brain is always spinning, why not have it spinning things through the standup voice or the idea of how something could manifest itself in a standup bit.
right now i’m kindof fascinated with the unlimited ways in which a thought can manifest itself in a standup act, and trying to find that ‘voice’ of mine that will ultimately end up being my delivery style, I guess. i’m convinced more and more that the fastest way to get there is to go up on stage as often as possible. i think i’m looking for the discovery that can happen in between performances, but also wanting to bust through that mental limitation that happens on stage, and be able to bridge the gap between what i imagine my performance will be and what my performance actually is, when the time comes.
chris