The lack of new postings are down to one thing..... laziness. Plain and simple, I had shit to do so haven't been on to post a new, informative, intriguing, thought provoking and down right hilarious update to the Comedy Journey in over a week now.
I went to the workshop last Tuesday (18.01.11), and was actually a bit nervous. Probably as much as I was when I first attended the workshop. Having had my first gig on the previous Tuesday, and knowing that my audience was made up of some of the more established comedians from the area, I was hoping to get lots of feedback from them regarding my gig. I was more hoping someone to say "Wow, your gig was amazing, I've put in some calls and you've got a slot on Saturday Night Live and Ellen DeGeneres wants you on her show for an in-depth interview into your struggles to make it to the top". I was a bit disheartened when that never happened.
Obviously I didn't really expect that, but a few verbal pats on the back and some "well dones" would have been well received. I would have even settled for some constructive criticism, seeing as normally when we go into the "Who's had gigs" section, we talk for a good few minutes about each one, talking about how new material went down, what the audience was like, people who were there chip in with how they feel it went and each gig gets dissected and evaluated. I was hoping that would happen in my case so I have some direction of how to improve my one and only set.
The turn out to the workshop was pretty huge compared to usual. Tonnes of new people turned up (probably to make good on New Year Resolutions to try something new), there were also some faces I'd never seen before but who have returned after a break from comedy, but I was slightly annoyed that there didn't seem to be anyone I recognised there except the guy who runs it (Robbie G). Now, the reason I was annoyed is because these are the people that I was hoping would praise me for a job well done, but because they weren't there, all my hopes laid on the guy who runs the workshop to tell me how good I was (He saw my gig). When it was my turn to talk about how my gig went, I told them I think it went OK, but I have nothing to compare it to so only time would tell. This was the queue for the Rob to interrupt me and say "No way, that was a good gig, you were funny and you got plenty of laughs", but actually all he said was "That's fair, it was an easy audience, they were very responsive". How shit is THAT?! I thought it went really well, all things considered. I had people come up to me after the gig telling me so. So surely something better could have been said than that?
I'm not one to dwell on the past, so it hasn't shaken my confidence (or lack of). I still have at least two more gigs pencilled in, one of which is this Tuesday actually at the very impressive setting of Comic's Lounge in North Melbourne. I'm quite looking forward to this one because the room is so professional (lighting, seating arrangement, stage etc etc), although I'm 1,000,000% sure that this will make me more nervous on the night. I'm even going to take my camera and get people to take pictures and videos, which I'll try and put on here as and when I can. So anyway, like I said, it hasn't changed my enthusiasm but it did temporarily give me stage paralyis. By that I don't mean stage fright or anything, but I wanted to try some new material out to everyone and because of my "stage paralysis" (and partially my caution due to the new faces) I decided against it. Or to word it slightly more accurately, I pussied out. Onwards and upwards I suppose.
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| The venue for my next adventure |
That reminds me actually, I still have at least three more personal hurdles to jump which are worth a mention. I am yet to let my lovely girlfriend see me perform yet. I am slightly hesitant on account of how my rehearsal in front of her went, I believe "Why don't you try a parody?" were her exact words. But I will get her down to see me soon as I think she's had to put up with the workshops, rehearsals, constant scribbling of notes and, of course, a blog to write. She may as well get to see the end product. The next hurdle is having the confidence to perform in front of friends outside of the workshop. Nobody actually knows I do it so doing it in front of them will be tough first time around, another thing I will have to address as I get deeper into the whole thing. The last thing is, as already touched upon, I haven't told anybody about my venture into comedy. The reason I started it is because I'm on the other side of the world, where I have the comfort of being able to try new things without being judged or commented upon by the people whose judgements and opinions I care most about. So at some point soon (ish) I'm going to have to tell my family, friends, ex-workmates and team-mates from my rugby club that I now stand up in front of audiences in Melbourne and try to make them laugh, or snigger at least. How that will go down I have no idea!
So yeah, that's this weeks update. Stay tuned in for more ramblings from a man out of his depth.
Stay safe,
Sean
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