I won't lie, I didn't go to the workshop last week. To cut a long story short I had to move from one backpacker share house to another one in a different suburb and packing up all the crap you've accumalated over the last 4 or 5 months and lumping it on trains, trams and taxis really takes it out of you. So basically I was lazy and decided an early night was in order.
What I thought I'd talk about instead, is how the process works of getting gigs and the sort of acts you can expect to see if you ever attend an "open mic" night at a comedy club. Essentially it's easy. A bit too easy really. Because it's open mic, there aren't any auditions. Nor do you have to check with anyone that what you want to say in front of an audience is the kind of thing people will want to hear. Now, I can only speak from my personal perspective but this is what happens - you go to the open mic night and hunt down the guy responsible for recruiting the comics. You tell him you would like a gig. He tells you when the next available slot is. It's done. I told you it was easy.
I also told you it was a bit too easy, and this is why. Because there is no screening process, literally anyone can have a go. Which is awesome, don't get me wrong, if I had to prove myself worthy and audition I would of never got into it. However there are some acts that are an acquired tastes. They aren't bad or offensive or anything (actually some are, but I'm not here to bitch), but when I think of stand up I think of Billy Connelly, Lee Evans and Peter Kay who do observational comedy in it's funniest form. Some of the guys doing open mic seem to hide behind a built up character. I'm not talking about the kind of characters Kenny Everitt or the Little Britain guys created, I'm talking about Jesus Hitler III and an Italian guy called Tony, who, from what I can see, is a rip off of the guy that did that old song "Shadappa Ya Face". There's also a guy that for his entire routine pretends to be his mum (seriously). These guys have got some dynamite jokes and are really funny people, but the acts don't really work for me.
I'm not trying to be mean. I'm just trying to paint a picture of the kinds of people I will be following on from when I finally do my first gig. At least I'm hoping it will be one of these guys and not one of the really talented comics they also have there that never fail to make me chuckle when I watch them. In which case maybe there is a successful Melbournian comedian writing a blog about how much he or she is hoping to follow on from the ginger guy that makes inappropriate vagina jokes.
Well that's kind of it for another blogging session. I just wanted to let you know how easy it is to get into. If you've ever thought about it but not executed the idea because you thought it would be difficult, you're wrong, do it. And also, I wanted to explain that even if you don't have a conventional stand up act, don't let that stop you. I would actually say that there are more "non standard" acts than "standard" ones.
I'm not sure whether the workshop is on tomorrow or not, so I'll have to check. If it is, I might have some hilarious stories to tell you next time. If not, I'll probably just rant on about some of my other observations. Either way......
I'll speak to you later all you stand up lovers and wannabees,
Sean
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