Thursday 10 February 2011

Clown v Comedian

So, I linked up my blog for peoples to read then didn't bother to write anything for a week. Good work, George.
I have a follower too (Hi Carly!). Just the one, I expected it to be one of my comedian chums but it wasn't. Although some of them said they did read some of it.

So that's nice.

Had a couple of stand up gigs since I last blogged. Tried a weird new opener with a monkey mask. Didn't I decide you couldn't open with anything surreal about a week ago? Well, I did. I forgot the rule about there being no rules. It has a couple of nice kickers in it so at least it's got some punch. It might be too awkward for a keeper though. Something to bust out for special occasions.

Also wrote a new gag about the film Black Swan that's a keeper. Adam Laughlin provided the coup de grace tagline.

Have done a little magic onstage. A woefully unprepared Chinese Sticks. (Although I did come up with one line for them which I'll be keeping). And tried out the ole turning a balloon into a bottle of buckfast trick again. Am working on a card effect based on an idea by Bill Abbott for the next pavilion.

Next week is chockful of performances with lots of children's shows and a few stand up gigs to boot.. Including a gig in Dublin and one as part of the Belfast Community Circus cabaret. I still haven't worked out exactly what I'll be doing for either but will probably stick to some old favourites to be on the safe side.

Matthew Collins (comedian and internet nerd on "Great unanswered questions", which is on next week with Johnny Vegas, looking forward to that) always tells me that my act is essentially children's entertainment for adults. Or maybe he tells me that it should be.

He's right to some degree. A lot of stuff that works for the kids show works for adults.

At my first ever stand-up gig I did no magic what-so-ever.
It was a pretty woeful set that tried to be cleverer than I am. I think I wanted to be Stewart Lee or Richard Herring. I'm not. Hosting an open mic night I see many people making the same mistake. Most people start stand up trying to write a set based on what they think a stand up act should be. One should forget about that and just write what you thinks funny. When you get good you can start making clever points or mess with the genre. You have to be great before you can get away with being purposely bad.

Anyhow, my point is, it's when I begun taking what I'd learned (or in some cases just lifting material as is) from my children's act my adult act started to slot into place.

When I started stand up it did feel like a whole new thing but the more I do it the more similarities I find between stand up and kids shows;

Technique, stage presence, timing, crowd control, sight gags, physical comedy, ad-libbing, audience interaction.

I should have had a huge headstart when I first performed at a comedy club but I felt just like everyone else;

Bloody scared and completely clueless.

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