I am already too tired again. Yesterday seems like a lifetime ago. Tomorrow is an absurd thought. I feel drained.
Yesterday, I did too much - or almost too much. The Roman show yesterday was okay - there were flashes of good stuff, but no momentum. The one today was awful. The audience started off in a very warm and supportive manner, but by the end most of them looked relieved to leave. I felt like I sucked the air out of the room. For most of the time my words meant nothing, even to me. My mouth felt like a letterbox flapping and clattering away every time I tried to force some more contrived material through it. I couldn't say the word "adopted" even. I could feel my face contorting and straining to find fluency. Every so often I broke off and tried to find a new angle. Nothing worked. Even worse, I overran by 10 minutes. At the end, an American guy came up to me and pointed out the one bit he did like - never a good sign.
"I liked your bit on defecation."
"Decimation?"
"Oh right! Ha ha."
He was right. The show was pretty much a defecation. I don't mind an audience not laughing because they're interested, but when they just look bored...you know you're responsible for the shit part of their day. When I was at the fringe aged 22, we saw a guy who bored us for an hour and I remember thinking "Why the hell would you do a show that's boring? Why would you put something on that people don't find funny?" I remember us not laughing at something - I think it was a not very good joke about a phone going off in a cinema - and him getting visibly annoyed that we didn't laugh, snapping "It's a dichotomy!" He also angrily said "I've done all the big venues, but they don't treat you right." That was 10 years ago. I wonder if someone will remember my back-pedalling during a bad show. It's a bit mortifying to consider. I suppose that it's best not to know! I don't remember his name. Most failure is ultimately anonymous. That's a blessing.
I don't want to blame everything on being tired. I did a show last night called "Hate n Live." I did a lot of shouting. It was cathartic and I thought I did quite well, but the promoter said: "Sorry, they were a bit flat. They were like that last night, until this one guy came along and did really well." Translation: Sorry, the audience weren't great, but if you'd been better, they would have been. I'm not too precious about it. I did another spot during the day. I opened a free new act showcase. I was quite good and just doing some MCing for 5 minutes, then I did a story from my show and, as I have no idea how long it is, I massively overran - also it wasn't funny out of context and I was rushing through it when I realised how long it was taking me. I sacrificed funny for more content! Pointless! Overly long and not funny. Bit of a theme developing here. I better finish up this blog post.
I am not going to my show tonight. I shouldn't be doing this on 5th August. It's not good. But I really need the sleep, I really need to rethink the Roman show so I can get through this festival. Outside the festival it works. Here, it doesn't. I need to find a way to change things so that I can do it everyday and get a good response. What I need to do before that, however, is to get some sleep.
I'm not worried so much about the content of the evening show. There's enough to make people laugh and I don't see any proper future for me in straight stand up (even though Better Off Ed is probably much funnier than the other show) - so I like to keep it as a side project.
I have had a bit of a wobble today. Usually I feel I know why I'm here, even if it's hard. This time I don't. I could have stayed in London and done the Camden Fringe. I've never really felt like this before and it's only the 5th! I'd better start to find a way to really enjoy performing again or there's no point me being here.
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Hack Watch:
Last year I did a show called "A Comprehensive History of the Roman Empire in under an hour with Jokes" in Bannerman's. I know I only got such a good venue because someone pulled out. It also explains why business for the show has been slower where I am now. This year, I note that the line up at the venue is pretty much the same minus me. I also notice that the guy who was on after me, and was always amazed at the audience numbers I got, is now doing a show called: "The Story of Medieval England From 1066 to 1485 at Roughly Nine Years and Two Jokes Per Minute Incorporating The Hundred Years War as a Football Match and of Course Scottish Independence" shortened to "Medieval Bollocks" on the board.
I WONDER where he got that idea from. Hmm?
Yesterday, I did too much - or almost too much. The Roman show yesterday was okay - there were flashes of good stuff, but no momentum. The one today was awful. The audience started off in a very warm and supportive manner, but by the end most of them looked relieved to leave. I felt like I sucked the air out of the room. For most of the time my words meant nothing, even to me. My mouth felt like a letterbox flapping and clattering away every time I tried to force some more contrived material through it. I couldn't say the word "adopted" even. I could feel my face contorting and straining to find fluency. Every so often I broke off and tried to find a new angle. Nothing worked. Even worse, I overran by 10 minutes. At the end, an American guy came up to me and pointed out the one bit he did like - never a good sign.
"I liked your bit on defecation."
"Decimation?"
"Oh right! Ha ha."
He was right. The show was pretty much a defecation. I don't mind an audience not laughing because they're interested, but when they just look bored...you know you're responsible for the shit part of their day. When I was at the fringe aged 22, we saw a guy who bored us for an hour and I remember thinking "Why the hell would you do a show that's boring? Why would you put something on that people don't find funny?" I remember us not laughing at something - I think it was a not very good joke about a phone going off in a cinema - and him getting visibly annoyed that we didn't laugh, snapping "It's a dichotomy!" He also angrily said "I've done all the big venues, but they don't treat you right." That was 10 years ago. I wonder if someone will remember my back-pedalling during a bad show. It's a bit mortifying to consider. I suppose that it's best not to know! I don't remember his name. Most failure is ultimately anonymous. That's a blessing.
I don't want to blame everything on being tired. I did a show last night called "Hate n Live." I did a lot of shouting. It was cathartic and I thought I did quite well, but the promoter said: "Sorry, they were a bit flat. They were like that last night, until this one guy came along and did really well." Translation: Sorry, the audience weren't great, but if you'd been better, they would have been. I'm not too precious about it. I did another spot during the day. I opened a free new act showcase. I was quite good and just doing some MCing for 5 minutes, then I did a story from my show and, as I have no idea how long it is, I massively overran - also it wasn't funny out of context and I was rushing through it when I realised how long it was taking me. I sacrificed funny for more content! Pointless! Overly long and not funny. Bit of a theme developing here. I better finish up this blog post.
I am not going to my show tonight. I shouldn't be doing this on 5th August. It's not good. But I really need the sleep, I really need to rethink the Roman show so I can get through this festival. Outside the festival it works. Here, it doesn't. I need to find a way to change things so that I can do it everyday and get a good response. What I need to do before that, however, is to get some sleep.
I'm not worried so much about the content of the evening show. There's enough to make people laugh and I don't see any proper future for me in straight stand up (even though Better Off Ed is probably much funnier than the other show) - so I like to keep it as a side project.
I have had a bit of a wobble today. Usually I feel I know why I'm here, even if it's hard. This time I don't. I could have stayed in London and done the Camden Fringe. I've never really felt like this before and it's only the 5th! I'd better start to find a way to really enjoy performing again or there's no point me being here.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Hack Watch:
Last year I did a show called "A Comprehensive History of the Roman Empire in under an hour with Jokes" in Bannerman's. I know I only got such a good venue because someone pulled out. It also explains why business for the show has been slower where I am now. This year, I note that the line up at the venue is pretty much the same minus me. I also notice that the guy who was on after me, and was always amazed at the audience numbers I got, is now doing a show called: "The Story of Medieval England From 1066 to 1485 at Roughly Nine Years and Two Jokes Per Minute Incorporating The Hundred Years War as a Football Match and of Course Scottish Independence" shortened to "Medieval Bollocks" on the board.I WONDER where he got that idea from. Hmm?
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