Several weeks ago I was talking to a comic who is passed for late nights at the Comic Strip. The conversation was about the best way to improve as a comic. I didn't have much to say and was listening. Over the past 2 years I have gotten a lot of advice....most of it good, some conflicting. At the Strip the comic I was talking with said when asked which is better?? Going on the road or pounding it out in NY? He said with complete conviction.... The city. If you want to be a major force in comedy you need to be in the "Community". The road he went on to say makes you flabby... you can get away with stuff on stage out there that a NYC audience would never accept. The competition in NY keeps you sharp. Do I want to be a major force in comedy???? Or do I want to perform in rooms of paying customers now and get paid for the pleasure.....hummm? Maybe if I was passed at a major NY club it would be a different decision. I have also been told that the fastest way to get stronger is to MC. I MC ed this weekend outside of Philly this past weekend. This advice seems to be true. It's like jumping into the cold ocean like the Polar Bears (nutty people not the animal) do in the winter.....you run in cold. Its up to you and you alone to start the audiences engine. To say I was scared shittless is an understatement. Plus, I had the added stress of the owner/booker watching me. It was a 2 night gig. Friday I hopped on stage like I was about to get shot. I did 3 little bits of crowd work and ran straight to my material and did 8-10 minutes. I love the security of my set. My time tested .....reliable material....oh sweat safety net!!! And it worked! They liked my set. I introduced the next comic and did 3 min's more in between and that was that. The owner was very nice and had some nice things to say. Then she mentioned she'd like to see me play with the room more. Just have fun. I drove home to NJ...... I hadn't taped the night. I know its a really good tool. I am so unorganized it never works out. I don't have batteries or it jams or I don't turn it on. It didn't matter I remembered it all word for word. The next night, I wasn't scared. The surroundings were familiar and I just was in a better place. I did almost all crowd work.... I did very little of my material. In the entire night I might have done 6 minutes of jokes I walked in with. The room was just fun. I must have done something right. The owner was so happy with my set, she said that my sets the night before were good but...... she was really happy to see that I could play with the room too. She invited me back, later this month!!!!! I might not be part of the "Community" per se. But I'm not part of it anyway.Maybe Someday?? My community in NYC is compiled of comics who work mostly for compelments and scrounge for stage time. We pay to perform because we need to. I am proudly one of them. My goal for now is to get funnier. Stage time in front of a paying audience is right now the best route to this goal for now. I have so much to learn....and the stage is my classroom.
Comments are below
THE GOOD
Posted on 05/02/2005 at 01:01 PM by Charles s. Smith
new york city is good for us comics !
True
Posted on 05/02/2005 at 02:45 PM by Shaun Eli
You can be a total hack on the road and get laughs. But road work does give you the chance to experience different types of audiences. My new opening now is a one-line vocabulary joke that takes an audience about two seconds to get, and once a couple of people laugh, the rest of the group figures it out... and it builds. I'm not sure how this joke will work with a different audience. But I will have to learn.
I appreciate the comments
Posted on 05/02/2005 at 07:03 PM by Robin Fox
mostly ....because it meant you took the time to read the blog. Who really knows how many people read these things. If you look at the hit counter you cant go by that...just going to the blog page listings adds a hit to that. I dont know if the road can make you haky...or if hacky does better on the road. Like I said my goal is to just get funnier.
Word...
Posted on 05/03/2005 at 06:00 PM by Brian Baumley
Robin, I appreciate your wanting to get out and do more rooms outside of NYC. I'm at the same point. My excuse has been that "I don't have a good tape," but it will probably never be good enough, so I should probably just start sending the thing out and making a concerted effort to do stuff outside of NY, especially on weekends. We'll see where this takes me, but I'm looking forward to it. And you definitely can't discount how much more of an open mind you'll get by playing for different audiences and bringing that experience back to NY. We get stuck in a rut and start drinking the punch after a while. Punch is loaded with sugar which can cause just as much flab...
well said
Posted on 05/03/2005 at 06:00 PM by April Brucker
Robin, That is probably the most right on thing you have ever written. The stage is your clasroom. I have performed for Altzeimers patients who thought my puppets were real in Pittsburgh, dying children who talked about staying up too late with my puppets in Toronto, tourists in midtown, edgy but intellectual Jack Karouac reading crowds in the Village, and hip and edgy in Brooklyn as well as drunken burlesquers in the lower east side. Did they all laugh. Yes. Because my goal is to become funnier. THE STAGE IS MY CLASSROOM! IT SHOULD BE EVERY COMICS CLASSROOM
You go girl!
thanks for the feedback
Posted on 05/03/2005 at 06:37 PM by Robin Fox
I really do appreciate it. My "real world friends" just dont want to talk about this or much less hear it. And truly they dont know. I would rather be on a stage than just about anywhere else...that said. Instead of sitting home like a fat girl with pimples...(I was one so I know) waiting for the phone to ring on a weekend. I will find a stage with a paying audience. NY isnt putting me up all too often on the weekends. At this point its just once a month....so its the road.
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