I often open my set with the joke about feeling older than dirt. Usually its just to acknowledge to my audience that I know, they know, Im middle aged. Tuesday I attended a mind altering comedy show. Chicks and Giggles is a monthly show now at the Raga on E. 6th Between 1st and A. It is held on the first Tuesday of the month... If you havent been you should. I saw Michelle Maclay, Ophira Eisenberg, Giulia Rozzi, Claudia Cogan, Correne Kristiansen, Christina McGrath, Carolyn Castiglia,and Michelle Buteau
The reason I consider this a blog worthy topic is that I saw a different kind of comedy. Now I feel older than ever... I need a comedy face lift. These women comedians were on to something very new. The style and format of their sets were about having a comedic voice and spirit....the jokes emerged from there. Many new comics including myself approach comedy like this. I want to be a comic....I need to HAVE Jokes I need to DO Shows then I will BE a COMIC. These women do it differently. They are BEing Comics. They are DOing Shows and they HAVE Great Jokes. The comedy comes through them ... they are what is funny the material is a reflection of them and their own funny sprits. Part of their ability to do that is TALENT plus the sets are longer and the atmosphere is supportive and nurtures this brand of comedy. It was fresher and smarter than most of the comedy I have seen in a long time.
I am doing the show this January and feel like burning my marble note book. I seldom have the time to be more anecdotal due to the fact that I am newer to comedy and am grateful for sets over 5 minutes. I need to regroup and think about getting in touch with the source of my own inner funny....... then get up on stage and let my material I have written flow from that place. I can do this ...I started with improv, that could help. I don't know if this is making any sense. Lately many comics on this blog page have talked about where they get their inspiration from. I think for me its getting very in touch with my point of view and putting it like a spotlight on what is interesting to me. Most of the time when I see a great comic it is not the one great joke that I remember....what sticks with me most is that persons just a funny bastard...... When I think God is he or she really funny I remember THEM and want to see them again because THEY are what cracks me up... and I know there is more where that came from and I cant wait to see it. Hummmmmmmmmm Am I overthinking this guys? Or is a case of which came first the chicken or the egg??.... what do you guys think???
Comments are below
Oh a good excuse to stop working on my research paper, thanks Robin!
Posted on 11/11/2004 at 01:12 PM by Scott Beaton
I get what you're saying, I think anyway. I feel like that sometimes that I am not truly tapped into the funny that I am capable off. Maybe I am not comfortable enough on stage yet, maybe I don't have the confidence in myself yet, but for whatever reason my funny feels contrived, but maybe thats because I know how much writing went into it. All of my stuff is stuff from the heart but at the same time I don't think I've found my comic voice and I can't wait to get there. Sometimes I look at my jokes as a way to keep going and get on stage until I find that voice, like waiting tables till you hit it big. I know that they aren't the best but it is the best for where I am at now. And sometimes I get lucky and I write something that I really do feel is reflective of the funny I know I am truly capable of. They say that the greats are themselves on stage just times ten. But in order to magnify yourself like that you really have to know you and define your comic sense and I think that takes time. I can't wait until I can write 5 minutes that all 5 minutes seems right like it all has the same voice to it, my voice. Like I said I have jokes now that I feel reflect my personality while others just keep me on stage until I get more of the great ones. I think it is like anything that once you do it long enough it will just click, things will come more natural. I think that if anyone sticks around long enough to get to that point than they can make it. I know what you mean about the comedy coming through them, I think the same thing sometimes and I just go "Damn I want that". But I know that "that" will only come with time and work. So in the meantime I'll keep getting on stage at open mics and shit hole bars and writing every random thought I have down on napkins and notebooks. And maybe one day I'll get find that comic voice inside me, and like you described, people will leave my set not remembering specifics just knowing that I am ony funny fucker. See you at the stres factory!
Im glad some one got it???
Posted on 11/12/2004 at 02:40 AM by Robin Fox
Correct... I guess what I was driving home was the girls were funny first.. at the core of who they are.. all the jokes and fun sprang forth from there. I think that this Voice is only developed with time and hard work. I dont know if it really matters...maybe its just another small piece in the big puzzle. The more I know the more I know I need to know more.
yup....
Posted on 01/14/2005 at 02:19 PM by Stacy Yannetty
Hey I enjoy your blog ! The vacation one is gold. Anyway, you hit the nail on the head. Sometimes its not necessarily the material, its the person, and I think we comics are like salesman. We're selling our personalities, which is not easy to do, but its our personalities that make us likable and make the whole thing easier, but there still has to be great jokes with the whole package. I don't know how long you've been doing comedy, but everybody I know says and I believe this to be true, that it takes about four years to get to the beginning of that; knowing who you are on stage. Whew, that's a long time. But, like any art, its a process, and the process is what's interesting, not just the end result. But I think from what you wrote you are intuitively getting it; the spotlight thing about what's interesting to you, that's it ! You got it girl.
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