December 98

Dec 6 - Punchline

The internet show is moving to Monday or Tuesday night so Sunday is going back to the regular showcase. Still not letting me up, but I get the impression it will be soon. Had a great conversation with a rather successful comedian who took me to task for not working at comedy enough. Basically he told me to forget all this emotional bullshit and either be comedian or don't. So I've decided that a comedian is what I am, so it's time to get serious. My goal is to go up five nights a week. This is going to be a little rough on my family, but they understand. So hopefully there will be alot more entries in the weeks to come. I will also be bringing back my goals page, and adding some of my non-standup writings. I am also talking with a new writer for clipart theatre so new episodes should be appearing soon.
 

Dec 7 - Research

With my decision to get serious again about my comedy career, I decided to reread Judy Carter's book. It's been a long time since I looked at it. It has some good exercises for molding your material into an act, and some very good advice for people who have trouble finding material for their acts, but most of what the book says about the business end of comedy should be ignored. The book was written during the comedy boom and reflects the way things worked then. Things are very different now.
 

Dec 8 - Luggage Store

Because of the power outage there was no show. This hurt because I was really up for this show. Most nights if a show doesn't go off I can roll with it, but I had built this show up in my mind as the one that would get my renewed enthusiasm on track. Ah well, One World Cafe is Friday.
 

Dec 9 - Another No Show

Another coffee house show bites the dust. These places come and go, but after the no show last night it was disappointing.
 

Dec 13 - Sleepless night

So I was wide awake most of the night trying to figure all this out. What was holding me back. Things just keep getting in the way. I do comedy for a while, and get pretty good at it, then stop and lose all I built up. Looking back at this journal I see it happen over and over again. An interesting parallel emerges in my mind. This is the same pattern of behavior I had when I first started getting close to my wife. As the relationship became more serious I kept backing away. Fortunately my desire to be with her overcame my commitment and intimacy problems. But this is what is happening with me and comedy. As an amateur comedian I have complete freedom. I don't have to go to shows if I don't want to. I can do whatever material I want. If it bombs I can still come back next week and do the show again. As I move towards professional comedy, these freedoms all go away. They are replaced by the greater rewards of having a real audience, and a chance at the fame that something deep inside me tells me that I need. For the first time I have to admit to a fear of failure. I've always told myself that it will be OK if I fail as long as I try. But now I see that I've avoided really trying so that I wont have the chance to fail. Learning this about myself I see that I have a lot of work ahead of me, but at least I know my obstacles more clearly.
 

Dec 15 - Sidewalk Show

When they described this show to me, I assumed it would be like doing comedy on the sidewalk in Iowa City. WRONG! In Iowa City I was on the sidewalk with the crowd, this show I'm behind a plate glass window. I can't hear anything. I can see people smiling, and some laughing, and crazy street people shouting things, but can't hear any of it. I can't even hear my own voice. Despite all this though it was a great show. The crowd had an energy you can only get in a street show. A weird combination of comedians, shoppers and homeless. My set went OK. The reworked Willie Brown joke worked very well so that's what I closed with. The lack of crowd noise made me nervous and I fidgeted with the mike stand alot.
 

Dec 17 - No Show

If you are going to cancel a show, please tell people. This show was listed in three newspapers and this web site. It hurts our fan base when people come to advertised shows that aren't happening. Things worked out OK for me though. I got all dressed up in my tux for the show. After talking to the bartender about the lack of show, I was heading out of the bar and had an encounter with three very drunk me, which has given me a very funny routine.
 

Dec 18 - One World Cafe

Good set tonight. I wrote a bunch of funny short bits this week and most of them worked very well on stage. The drunk guys story got some very good laughs.
 

Dec 19 - Java N More

A good set. I re-ordered some of the bits and the set flowed very well. The "computer is down" bit got no laughs for the third time in a row. Sometimes I think things are funny even when no one else does. I've got to learn to let go of these. The drunk guys story did not go over well. I haven't figured out why yet. Maybe just because it immediately followed the computer bit.

Dec 22 - Luggage Store

It was cold! I did a good set. Some of the material wasn't as funny as I expected. The three drunk guys limo story bombed again. I think this bit is only funny to non-comedians.
 

Dec 26 - Rehearsal

Yes rehearsal! Actually sort of a rehearsal/rewrite session. Another comedian told me how he reads through all his old material at least once a week. This keeps it fresh in his mind, so that when the opportunity arises to use it, he doesn't have to stand there and reconstruct the routine in his head before proceeding. I'm going to try this and see how it works for me. One interesting side effect of doing this, it reminded me that I have well over an hour of material. Not all of it killer stuff, but it's a good body of work. It has convinced me that I could easily do a good 20 minute set at any venue.
 

Dec 26 - Java N More

No show. What do expect for a coffee house show the day after Christmas? It was just me, one other comedian and the owner who wanted to go home early. The other comedian kept joking that he was a loser for coming out to do comedy the day after Christmas. At least at first it seemed like a joke. The more he said it, the more I believed it, and the more I think he believed it. Then I realized that I do this too. I make jokes about the crappy places I play, and how the audience doesn't like me, and I shouldn't make these jokes because I might start believing them.
 

Dec 26 - Mock Cafe

Thanks to Lisa for putting together a wonderful bunch of food and beverage for the Mock's Holiday party. Had a good set. The audience was small but very attentive. I worked the room better than I have in the past. I managed to deliver at least one punchline to nearly everyone in the audience. Lots of eye contact. Still disjointed, but some last minute changes were responsible for that. I combined three planned sets into one. I was planning on doing three shows tonight; Java N More, The Mock Cafe and Java Source. Java N More didn't happen, and there some people I wanted to watch at the 10PM show at the Mock so I decided to skip Java Source. The rehearsal rewrite session paid off. With the whole body of my material fresh in my mind I had alot of confidence in what I was saying. I need to get better at ordering how the material comes out of my head, but that will come as a adjust to this new method.
 

Dec 29 - Luggage Store

Another pretty ragged set. I got some good laughs, but it was disjointed. I had no time to prepare, but my energy was good. I listen to my Midnight Oil CD just before I left work. That got me pumped up. I'll have to remember that one. That some heavy metal tapes in the car to listen to before shows.
 
I read a nice article today, written by a comedian, about the comedy comeback that is queietly taking place. It will never be like it was, but that's a good thing. No one really wants the fast-food style comedy clubs to come back. Mostly what this guy was talking about was how the next generation of what he called "super comics" needs to take charge. This struck a cord with me. Or is it chord? I think I've been going easy on myself goal-wise. Like the man said, "be a comedian or don't." I have all these stepping-stone goals, but I think it's time to start looking past those. Not ignoring them, but just going for broke. It's time to either succeed or fail.