I just want to say that I am so sick of my set I could barf. I do a set that is basically a decent set. In a good room it kills...but what wouldn't. In an average room and if I go on before the check spot I hold my own...I do a good set. In a small room late at night after 25 comics I don't bomb but it's hit and miss.
I did a show the other night at Sal's very late into the night. All that was left in the audience were stragglers and people too drunk to leave. I followed the brilliant Rodney Laney....Montreal, Comedy Central, all the good stuff. I did my best material and I just did ok.
Tonight I did a show at a church... I thought is was going to be at a firehouse for the past few weeks and found out differently yesterday. I knew this meant PG so I went threw my sets and picked out a few thing dropped out a few others. When I got to the church I was told no "F "word.... I assumed that included no "C" words either. I use the word cunt and cock sucker in a few of my bits. I take to the stage and I knew I had to replace a "Fuck you" with a "Bite Me". I get to the stage and I cant remember what the word I'm gonna use instead of Fuck . I start with my set and out of no where I jump 3 jokes ahead. Now I back track.. I do the "Bite me" joke ...it hits. I totally leave out my Trophy wife bit, by mistake. Now I'm moving on and thinking ..."Can I go back to it?" I am thinking ahead and performing and for a short second loose my place. This has not happened to me on stage in a long long time. I trudge along and now "I got them" there laughing at all of it. I decide its a really easy room. I am planning on doing 10 minutes I want to do longer... I could have gone on because I see its going really well. I think what to do what to do.... I cant remember what other clean stuff I have. All the time I'm worried about cursing... I curse an often don't know it. I have my censor on full blast in my head. I say the word "Bitch" on purpose then I pause and say "I'm going to Hell but you guys already know that.... I'm Jewish" Off the top of my head they love it. I figure okay riff Robin riff. I go on to say something about my brother who is married to an Italian girl.... I say yeah he's not Jewish anymore he's Italian.... I know this cause he calls it gravy not sauce anymore. THUD THUD THUD. Now that is a joke I never did on stage but in real life i.e.. supermarket lines, with friends at Dunkin Donuts it kills. I feel thrown, from the car. I finish up and end on a big note.
The woman who ran the room tells me I killed...Thanks ( you don't know good) The other comics all complement me. The ladies in the bathroom ask for my email. The woman who paid me says she loved me.
I don't know if I had PMS or I am just in my 3rd year phase of feeling...I WANT TO BE A REAL COMIC GOD DAM IT . I wasn't happy, I forgot 3-4 different tags. I left out 2 jokes. I talked to fast. I hate my material.
I think the real problem was I was doing well enough but I wasn't in my zone. I developed a nasty habit of doing the same set over and over because I feel every show (especially ones with over 150 people) I have to do my A set. By the way my A set is really only a B-. I am getting more shows for paying audiences and out of fear I stay in my safety zone. So what has changed???? I think this is it.. I have been doing less and less open mic's. I used to do 4 a week and sometimes 3 in one night. You can work the kinks out of a joke and become comfortable with your material when you do it often in a room where your doing it mostly for yourself. I got Lazy that's it in a nut shell. The second I had to adjust my set to fit a format of a Church I wasn't as good as I could have been. I thought I was prepared but at the end of the day I should have done more. Its getting cold and the mic's in the Village have gotten spread out. I used to do 3 shows on a Tuesday... now I can only do 2. The real road block has been getting weekend work. I don't feel good about being out Friday night and Saturday night and then doing a booked show during the week and then going out another 2 nights. My husband who I call Mr Wonderful in my act is just that wonderful... but I cant be out 6 nights a week.
In the beginning I would do my sets into a tape recorder over and over...at home. I would listen to the sets and see which way a joke sounded better. I have a friend who videos herself at home....doing her new material and watching them to see what works. I don't know. Maybe that's a way to go.
To those of you who are saying Robin you were probably great your being really hard on yourself I say YES!!! I have to be. If you think I did well here's the litnes test. The headliner was Rodney Laney the same comic I followed at Sal's the other night. He was awesome so funny and they loved him. I was in the back of the room after the show. Anyone who walked by shook his hand, hugged him stayed and chatted. Every now and then Id get a you were funny too. In the kitchen with smokers I got a few you were funny's. I don't expect to get the accolades of a headliner. I just think being able to truly assess what we have on stage is critical to getting better. I have so much more to learn.
I think its about levels. I was really good at my last level. Now I've gotten better at the same time I am performing with better comics and I am at the bottom looking up again. I feel like I'm starting all over again. I have been writing everyday for at least a half hour for a few weeks now. I cant wait to have something really great come out of the process. So far I have struck no gold. I sometimes feel that all I care about is this obsession to get funnier. I have to believe I will as long as I don't give up. My mantra is from Dr Phil (I'm Pathetic I know) Winners do what the losers wont. I hope its true.
Comments are below
Dr. Phil can do many things...but...
Posted on 11/19/2005 at 04:40 AM by Peter Greyy
Dr. Phil can't help you like material that you're sick of...
What's worse is...if you're sick of your material, it probably shows--maybe not consciously, but in a subconcious way...and that may be why your A-set isn't always getting A-level responses.
Phil would point out that you KNOW the things you need to do...you just aren't doing them. You're writing--but you're not taking that material to as many open mics as you had before...and you're feeling like you have to do your A-set in most every setting...
You KNOW what you need to do. You need to take that stuff you've been writing--even if it isn't the absolute flat-out perfect guaranteed-to-kill material that you wish it was--and you need to put it out there...to see what it does in front of an audience--an open mic audience, sure...but you need to get it off of the page and into your head.
You do that stuff in front of people...you hear what THEY find funny about it, maybe it leads you into new directions...maybe it just allows you to drop the parts that just aren't funny--but you get back into the process of building new material...material that you're not sick of...material that, at some point, you're going to be excited to try in front of weekend audiences...to replace some of the bits from your A-set that annoy you the most...
Allow yourself the excitement of WORKING on something--something that may or may not work right off the bat... Let the WORK be the goal--because if you want it to be perfect right out of the gate, you'll never allow yourself the chance to TRY something and SEE if it works... Chances are, if you need it to be perfect right from the start--you'll never do ANYTHING new.
Another thing...do you HAVE to run at your top speed at all times? No. Give your self the opportunity to catch your breath--to really take a look at what you're doing and how it's working out for you... It sounds like you need to recharge your batteries--and it might be that you're in need of a slightly new perspective, to rethink what you're doing...and what you want to do.
Just get out of your comfort zone (especially because it is making you uncomfortable)--and concentrate on the process of doing something that you DO want to do...and focus on the things that you CAN'T WAIT to get up on that stage and tell other people.
The things that interest you the most--are the things that you will share with the most passion...and that passion will translate on stage...and you will connect with others, perhaps in a way you haven't been connnecting lately...
If you hate your material...if you're tired of it...if it no longer interests you the way it once did...you need to set that material aside... Revisit it with fresh eyes and ears, perhaps...or pull it out when you absolutely need to do material that is time tested and true...but CONCENTRATE on FRESH, NEW and PERSONALLY INVOLVING ideas that make you excited for your chance to take 'em around the block for a spin (so all the neighbors can see...)
Oh, and put down the god damned fork. I don't know why, but Dr. Phil always seems to say that, doesn't he?
pg--seattle
Just what the Dr. Ordered.
Posted on 11/19/2005 at 08:16 AM by Robin Fox
Thanks Peter, I hear you. All the things your saying are just what I must do. I also need to be in the moment more. The real pitfall of last night was that I was consantly editing in my head and watching out to stay clean. I lost my focus and the only reason the set came off to the audience as a good set was that I am so well rehearsed that I was able to pull it off. I need a well rehersed clean set that I know just what Im doing down to the last line before hitting the stage. Then I can zig or zag but I will be able to be more in the moment.
As for burn out ... I am going on vacation this week for the first time in 2 years. Its with the kids so for this mom its not a total rest. I cant wait to get away.
I am MCing more and more lately and have developed on stage alot of one liners for that kind of job. That has been my writing focus before this past 3 weeks of writing everyday. I will one by one start to take the new material to the open mics and see how it looks coming out of my mouth instead of on paper. I thank you so much for all your imput. The work is in the doing.
Thanks for the stream of consciousness
Posted on 11/20/2005 at 04:53 PM by
It's nice to see a little female agony so well displayed. Keep up the good work.
Strong Stand Up is like Fine Wine...it can't be rushed.
Posted on 12/02/2005 at 10:11 PM by Luchia
I honestly don't read blogs but Robin I find you so interesting a comic, that I just had to stop by and check yours out. I can so identify with everything you're saying and trust me you aren't the only one who is hard on yourself--I beat myself up nightly LOL! But then I take a breath and remember that what we're doing is literally one of the most difficult things in the world to do and there are many aspects of it that just can not be rushed. No matter how talented the comic, it takes TIME a lot of TIME to totally tap into that talent. All we can do is enjoy the ride on the way.
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