Dudes and Dudettes,
I haven't felt the need to blog twice in one week in some. After all, this is a blog about the stand up comedy scene and me trying to crack it, if nothing happens, why write? But this week has re-sparked what was a dwindling impetus to carry on.
First of all, I made the journey to the workshop on Tuesday and was pretty pleased to see there was only about 5-10 people there. I've decided I enjoy it a lot more when it isn't too busy. Plus the couple of people that always seem to get up weren't there so it was nice to see some new guys try stuff out. However the best thing about the workshop was the fact that I learned that The Exford Hotel, in the city, hosts an open mic night EVERY SINGLE NIGHT throughout the comedy festival. And, to make it even better, you don't need to book your spot weeks in advance. You can just rock up and hopefully get on. I thought I had done my last gig in Australia. Man, was I wrong. One of the guys told me that last year he did sixteen gigs at The Exford during the festival. That's twice as many gigs in three weeks than I've done in four months. So if I can do maybe five there, I will see that as a success. I have heard though, that it's a seriously tough crowd and you'll find out if you really have what it takes once you've gigged there during the festival. I even heard a guy got stabbed there last year. I don't mind a bit of heckling but I think a stabbing is a bit overboard. I'll have to remember my stab vest.
And the bestest best thing to come from the workshop, was that someone pulled a no-show for their gig and I managed to blag myself a spot. Like I said, I didn't think I would have another gig in Australia so I hadn't so much as looked at my set in the last two or three weeks. I felt really under prepared but also really motivated because I wanted it to go better than my last pitiful attempt at M.I.B. I spent about an hour back stage reading through my notes and watching recordings of previous performances to try and get it to sink in. And I just about achieved it.
It wasn't my best gig. I still believe my best gig was the last time I did Syn. But this one was infitately better than M.I.B. I got some pretty good laughs considering the size of the audience so I was happy. This was also the first gig I feel I can learn something positive from. For instance, I now know my set needs tightening up for a start. There are points where I try and keep the audience's laughter ticking over with some chuckle worthy lines, but they just don't seem to be getting even a chuckle. I think it's time I cut some of them out and replaced them with proper jokes.
Also, less importantly, this gig means I have performed at The Comic's Lounge, M.I.B, Syn Bar, Monastery on Church, and now, Blah Blah Comedy Club. Not a bad haul considering 6 months ago I had no intention of doing this.
And finally, earlier this afternoon I purchased tickets to see Ava Vidal's show on Tuesday night. I'm looking forward to seeing it because she's very funny from what I've seen so far. But, more interestingly, while I was buying the tickets the manager of the venue asked if I liked comedy. I said "Yes, funny you should ask while I'm currently purchasing tickets to see a comedy show, I do". He went on to explain that two other comedians were doing shows at the venue and were doing preview shows tonight (31.03.11), that hadn't sold out and the comedians want to do their previews in front of full audiences, so did I want some free tickets to see two shows tonight for absolutely nothing. "Fuck yes!" I said in a slightly more polite way. So for $35, I have two tickets to Ava Vidal on Tuesday, two tickets to Henning Wehn tonight at 7pm and two tickets to Ian Bagg tonight at 8.30pm. How good is that?!
So I'm going to have tonnes to report on next week. Hopefully all good news.
As much as I'd love to continue chatting, the show starts in 45 minutes and I am in desperate need of a shower so must go.
Lovely hearing from you again.
Sean
Thursday, March 31, 2011
Tuesday, March 29, 2011
Sunday, March 27, 2011
Departure Date Approaching.....
Ok, the title's a bit of a lie. I still haven't actually booked any flights to leave Melbourne yet so I have no idea when my departure date is. I do, however need to be out of the country by the 24th April due to my visa expiring, so it's not a complete lie.
I also feel the need to apologise for not keeping this blog totally up to date over the last few weeks. It has basically been a combination of my internet playing silly buggers with me and me not actually having attended any form of stand up in the last 10 days or so.
I didn't even go to the workshop on Tuesday as I flew out to Adelaide to see an old chum. Be honest though, who would've wanted to read another paragraph about another workshop anyway? There was a faint hint of me getting a last minute gig if I'd of gone but what can you do? I'll go this Tuesday and see how we go from there. And like I said, my internet decided to shit itself and I couldn't even do the lazy thing of putting a video on the blog. But all is sorted (for now) and thankfully we can continue our journey together.
So what have I been doing?
Good question. Thanks for asking. Well my 8 hour a week job picture framing has now been cut to 4 hours a week. Yes, it means the small amount of money I was earning has now been halved, but it does free up another four hours a week to stream old episodes of 30 Rock and Gavin and Stacey. Productive. I am a step closer to cracking New Zealand though. I have applied for my Working Holidy Visa and done some research into where I can find open mic nights in Auckland. It's a very small step, but a step closer none-the-less.
At the moment I have found a whopping two venues in Auckland that host open mic nights. I'm sure there are more but I will have to look into it further before drawing any conclusions.
I also attended the first AFL game of the season at the MCG on Thursday night. AFL is Aussie Rules Football for anyone who doesn't know. And man, that is one fucked up sport!
I would have to describe it as a mix of soccer, volleyball and rugby, played by men dressed as basketballers where two teams run around hitting the ball to each other with their hands or kicking it to each other, while trying to ultimately kick it through a set of posts to score some points. Everything else seems to be impossible to understand and, frankly, irrelevant in the outcome of a game.
I do think the Australians have missed a trick though. Why stop at just creating one new sport by combining three others? I think there are unlimited options to creating new sports from merging old ones if that's all it takes. What about Aussie Rules Cricket-Fishing-Darts. Where one team throws a fish toward the other teams stumps, the batting side have to hit the fish as far as possible with a bat to score runs, and instead of trying to catch the fish, the bowling team have to throw darts at it. If a dart sticks in the fish before it hits the ground, the batter is out.
Or what about Aussie Rules Powerpainteering. Where two teams go orienteering by power-walking through a forest with paintball guns. Each team can win by either reaching all of the orienteering points first, or by eliminating every member on the other team by shooting them as you see them. All the while remembering that it's instant disqualification if you ever break into a jog. Oh, and it might be funnier if it were a naked sport. Just a thought.
As you can see, I have way too much time on my hands at the moment and, frankly, I'm looking forward to getting somewhere new where my mind is stimulated beyond inventing new sports.
So my next update will be next week when I've attended a workshop. Again, there is a slim chance of getting a gig but don't hold your breath. Firstly because it's unlikely I'll get a gig but secondly because I might not blog until mid-week and that's a long time to hold your breath and there's a chance you would die. And that is something I don't want on my hands.
I'm not 100% sure but it can't be too long until Syn opens up again at a new location. When they shut they said they would find a new location within a couple of weeks so let's hope I can get a gig there before I leave.
Until next time, my friends, look after yourselves. And one another.
One World. One Love.
Sean
I also feel the need to apologise for not keeping this blog totally up to date over the last few weeks. It has basically been a combination of my internet playing silly buggers with me and me not actually having attended any form of stand up in the last 10 days or so.
I didn't even go to the workshop on Tuesday as I flew out to Adelaide to see an old chum. Be honest though, who would've wanted to read another paragraph about another workshop anyway? There was a faint hint of me getting a last minute gig if I'd of gone but what can you do? I'll go this Tuesday and see how we go from there. And like I said, my internet decided to shit itself and I couldn't even do the lazy thing of putting a video on the blog. But all is sorted (for now) and thankfully we can continue our journey together.
So what have I been doing?
Good question. Thanks for asking. Well my 8 hour a week job picture framing has now been cut to 4 hours a week. Yes, it means the small amount of money I was earning has now been halved, but it does free up another four hours a week to stream old episodes of 30 Rock and Gavin and Stacey. Productive. I am a step closer to cracking New Zealand though. I have applied for my Working Holidy Visa and done some research into where I can find open mic nights in Auckland. It's a very small step, but a step closer none-the-less.
At the moment I have found a whopping two venues in Auckland that host open mic nights. I'm sure there are more but I will have to look into it further before drawing any conclusions.
I also attended the first AFL game of the season at the MCG on Thursday night. AFL is Aussie Rules Football for anyone who doesn't know. And man, that is one fucked up sport!
I would have to describe it as a mix of soccer, volleyball and rugby, played by men dressed as basketballers where two teams run around hitting the ball to each other with their hands or kicking it to each other, while trying to ultimately kick it through a set of posts to score some points. Everything else seems to be impossible to understand and, frankly, irrelevant in the outcome of a game.
I do think the Australians have missed a trick though. Why stop at just creating one new sport by combining three others? I think there are unlimited options to creating new sports from merging old ones if that's all it takes. What about Aussie Rules Cricket-Fishing-Darts. Where one team throws a fish toward the other teams stumps, the batting side have to hit the fish as far as possible with a bat to score runs, and instead of trying to catch the fish, the bowling team have to throw darts at it. If a dart sticks in the fish before it hits the ground, the batter is out.
Or what about Aussie Rules Powerpainteering. Where two teams go orienteering by power-walking through a forest with paintball guns. Each team can win by either reaching all of the orienteering points first, or by eliminating every member on the other team by shooting them as you see them. All the while remembering that it's instant disqualification if you ever break into a jog. Oh, and it might be funnier if it were a naked sport. Just a thought.
As you can see, I have way too much time on my hands at the moment and, frankly, I'm looking forward to getting somewhere new where my mind is stimulated beyond inventing new sports.
So my next update will be next week when I've attended a workshop. Again, there is a slim chance of getting a gig but don't hold your breath. Firstly because it's unlikely I'll get a gig but secondly because I might not blog until mid-week and that's a long time to hold your breath and there's a chance you would die. And that is something I don't want on my hands.
I'm not 100% sure but it can't be too long until Syn opens up again at a new location. When they shut they said they would find a new location within a couple of weeks so let's hope I can get a gig there before I leave.
Until next time, my friends, look after yourselves. And one another.
One World. One Love.
Sean
Thursday, March 17, 2011
Are You Sitting Comfortably? Then I Shall Begin.......
Chaps,
Just to put the world at ease, I'm not giving up comedy. I still want to carry on despite suffering a few performance lows over the last few weeks. Surely that shows some sort of commitment? At the very least it shows balls.
I am pretty much done in Australia though. I have no gigs booked at all at the moment, and I am unlikely to get one with the whole Festival malarkey going on soon. I wasn't even going to go to the workshop this week as I didn't really see a point. I've decided that while I'm still in Oz, I'll concentrate more on rugby and then get back into comedy when I get to New Zealand. I did go to the workshop though and I'm glad I did. I found out that the workshop and open mic night at the Comic's Lounge would be closing over the next 6 weeks as of this Tuesday (22.03.11), but Robbie G, the guy who runs the 'shop, is going to open the Blah Blah Comedy Club, which he runs, as an open mic venue on Tuesdays, to keep giving new comedians a crack at it while the Festival is on. Now, this bares pretty much no relevance to me at all, except for the fact for the fact that due to the move of location, some of the acts who were pencilled in to have a gig over the next 3 weeks might not be able to make it. And I am officially top of the "reserves" list in case there are any drop outs. So there is hope of one more gig in Melbourne yet.
Other than the workshop, I've been really lazy/unmotivated to see any comedy.
So, as promised, in place of tales of the Melbourne comedy scene, here's a tale from my past that is humorous for nearly everyone except me...........
When I was about 15 I discovered alcohol. But not in the "Sipping beer, in a pub garden, on a hot Summer's afternoon" way. More in a "Steal booze from your parents liquor cabinet and neck as much as you can, sat on a park bench, on a cold and wet November evening" kind of way. Me and my friends would all take something from home and meet up and get way too drunk than we should be. When I see kids do this now, I think they look like bell ends and I get slightly embarrassed that I used to be one of them.
One particular night though I managed to get obscenely drunk and ended up in hospital. It's pretty shameful but it happened so whatever. Obviously I don't remember much, and I think I was pissed for about 3 days straight. Trust me, it sounds more fun than it was. You can't imagine the hangover I had. Anyway, I woke up in the children's ward of my local hospital wondering where I was and why there was a mural of teddy bears dancing on a rainbow in front of me. My Dad explained what had happened, I had a good cry, a couple of even better vomits, then decided it was time for my hangover humpty. That's hangover "poo" for anyone who isn't aware.
I headed to the toilet, still drunk, wheeling along the drip drip bag that was attached to my arm. Sat down on the loo and started proceedings. I must of nodded off because the next thing I know the toilet door has been kicked down by a doctor and two nurses ready to resuscitate me. However I wasn't unconscious and in need of resuscitation, I was mid poo, trousers round my ankles, enjoying a much needed nap. What's more is the fact that they startled me so much that I fell off the seat and landed on the floor legs akimbo, bearing all to those in the room.
I was very embarrassed, being 15 years old and dealing with puberty, but also very impressed with the professionalism that the hospital staff showed by holding in their laughter.......for all of about 5 seconds. All in all not a great weekend for me. But I did learn, that fateful night, that there is no point trying to keep up with others when drinking if you are a lightweight. I now know that after a brandy snap and a couple of wine gums, I've hit my limit.
So that's that. Another week, another blog. Tune in next week for more embarrassing tales from my past and possibly other things that are more related to the purpose of this blog.
Over and out.
Sean
Just to put the world at ease, I'm not giving up comedy. I still want to carry on despite suffering a few performance lows over the last few weeks. Surely that shows some sort of commitment? At the very least it shows balls.
I am pretty much done in Australia though. I have no gigs booked at all at the moment, and I am unlikely to get one with the whole Festival malarkey going on soon. I wasn't even going to go to the workshop this week as I didn't really see a point. I've decided that while I'm still in Oz, I'll concentrate more on rugby and then get back into comedy when I get to New Zealand. I did go to the workshop though and I'm glad I did. I found out that the workshop and open mic night at the Comic's Lounge would be closing over the next 6 weeks as of this Tuesday (22.03.11), but Robbie G, the guy who runs the 'shop, is going to open the Blah Blah Comedy Club, which he runs, as an open mic venue on Tuesdays, to keep giving new comedians a crack at it while the Festival is on. Now, this bares pretty much no relevance to me at all, except for the fact for the fact that due to the move of location, some of the acts who were pencilled in to have a gig over the next 3 weeks might not be able to make it. And I am officially top of the "reserves" list in case there are any drop outs. So there is hope of one more gig in Melbourne yet.
Other than the workshop, I've been really lazy/unmotivated to see any comedy.
So, as promised, in place of tales of the Melbourne comedy scene, here's a tale from my past that is humorous for nearly everyone except me...........
When I was about 15 I discovered alcohol. But not in the "Sipping beer, in a pub garden, on a hot Summer's afternoon" way. More in a "Steal booze from your parents liquor cabinet and neck as much as you can, sat on a park bench, on a cold and wet November evening" kind of way. Me and my friends would all take something from home and meet up and get way too drunk than we should be. When I see kids do this now, I think they look like bell ends and I get slightly embarrassed that I used to be one of them.
One particular night though I managed to get obscenely drunk and ended up in hospital. It's pretty shameful but it happened so whatever. Obviously I don't remember much, and I think I was pissed for about 3 days straight. Trust me, it sounds more fun than it was. You can't imagine the hangover I had. Anyway, I woke up in the children's ward of my local hospital wondering where I was and why there was a mural of teddy bears dancing on a rainbow in front of me. My Dad explained what had happened, I had a good cry, a couple of even better vomits, then decided it was time for my hangover humpty. That's hangover "poo" for anyone who isn't aware.
I headed to the toilet, still drunk, wheeling along the drip drip bag that was attached to my arm. Sat down on the loo and started proceedings. I must of nodded off because the next thing I know the toilet door has been kicked down by a doctor and two nurses ready to resuscitate me. However I wasn't unconscious and in need of resuscitation, I was mid poo, trousers round my ankles, enjoying a much needed nap. What's more is the fact that they startled me so much that I fell off the seat and landed on the floor legs akimbo, bearing all to those in the room.
I was very embarrassed, being 15 years old and dealing with puberty, but also very impressed with the professionalism that the hospital staff showed by holding in their laughter.......for all of about 5 seconds. All in all not a great weekend for me. But I did learn, that fateful night, that there is no point trying to keep up with others when drinking if you are a lightweight. I now know that after a brandy snap and a couple of wine gums, I've hit my limit.
So that's that. Another week, another blog. Tune in next week for more embarrassing tales from my past and possibly other things that are more related to the purpose of this blog.
Over and out.
Sean
Tuesday, March 15, 2011
Friday, March 11, 2011
The Not-So-Grand-Finale, and Feeling Blue About Comedy.......
Dear All,
Once again I come to you from my tiny bedroom in my tiny flat. In case you were wondering, it's a rather nice day today. Which makes a change. I think Australia has the best PR agent on the planet because everyone, everywhere else, thinks it's all sun, sea, surf and sex. Since I've been here all I've seen is floods, rain, wind and hurricanes. Not to mention my first week in Melbourne when there was a hail storm in which the hail was so big it smashed car windscreens and tore tiles from the roofs of peoples homes.
Anyway...
I was supposed to "double penetrate Melbourne", as I put it, last Tuesday with two gigs in one night. After the success of last weeks gig, I was really looking forward to getting back to Syn to have another crack at it. I attended the workshop, as usual. To be honest there isn't much to note from that. There was no guest speaker so it was just people trying new stuff.
I was starving after that so bought myself a "small" box of chips from the fish and chip shop. I'd hate to see what a large is like if that was a small. It was huge. But I'm not one to throw money away so I made sure I kept eating until every last morsel had been devoured. Turns out that was a mistake because greasy chips mixed with Red Bull and a heavy dose of pre-stage nerves will leave you feeling rough as arseholes. Something that didn't go away until after I'd been on. So I got to M.I.B feeling a bit rough, but ready to nail my gig and get over to Syn to nail that one too.
However when I got to M.I.B, someone told me Syn had been suddenly and inexplicably shut down and the whole competition was not off. This annoyed me somewhat because I was actually looking forward to that gig, knowing full well that it would probably be my last gig in Australia due to the fact that most open mic nights are closed during the Comedy Festival. Double penetration had turned into basic missionary. And it doesn't get much more basic than Melbourne International Backpackers. I was second on stage, which was neither good nor bad, but it at least allowed me to get it over with. I think I managed to count 11 people in the audience before I went on. Three were drunks at the back by the bar, not listening, but talking very loudly. Three were German backpackers. And two were Swedish backpackers. The other three were people from the workshop who had come down to watch.
I wouldn't go as far as to say my gig was a disaster. But it was definitely a bit of a shit one to finish on. I don't think I heard a single titter of laughter. And if there was, it was drowned out by the talking and the people playing pool on the other side of the room. I didn't panic and freeze mid performance, which is good. But I did realise after that I'd omitted a huge chunk of my material. I think I subconsciously just wanted it to be over. There are of course positives to take from this. The fact I didn't panic and just walk off. The fact I have now gigged in what is widely known as Melbourne's most hostile comedy room. And the fact I have one more gig under my belt and valuable experience. But you can't help but have your confidence knocked a bit though when your last two gigs (let's not forget Thursdays fun and frolics) haven't been very good. And I'm a confidence performer. In whatever I do, I seem to feed from my good performances and happily quit if I decide I'm gash at something. Plus it's uber depressing to think that that is the gig the citizens of Australia, plus three Germans and two Swedish people, will remember me by.
So I have one workshop left to attend. After which I will beg for a spot at the Comic's Lounge to finish on a high. After that, the Melbourne open mic scene shuts down for two months. During which time I will be heading to New Zealand. I will definitely give it another bash in New Zealand. I need to keep trying out my stuff to discover if I'm any good or not. If I decide by the time I get home I'm a bit shit. There's no way I'll carry on doing it in front of my own people.
In the mean time, I haven't really thought about what I will post to keep the old blog ticking over. I'll keep posting videos for your viewing pleasure, and perhaps I'll just start writing some anecdotal material about my adventures. And if that dries up, I'll go old school and start spilling stories from my youth. Like when I had a doctor and two nurses frantically kick down a toilet door in a hospital to find me fast asleep on the bog mid-dump.
I hope you're enjoying the ramblings, if so, keep coming back.
Big up yourself,
Sean
Once again I come to you from my tiny bedroom in my tiny flat. In case you were wondering, it's a rather nice day today. Which makes a change. I think Australia has the best PR agent on the planet because everyone, everywhere else, thinks it's all sun, sea, surf and sex. Since I've been here all I've seen is floods, rain, wind and hurricanes. Not to mention my first week in Melbourne when there was a hail storm in which the hail was so big it smashed car windscreens and tore tiles from the roofs of peoples homes.
Anyway...
I was supposed to "double penetrate Melbourne", as I put it, last Tuesday with two gigs in one night. After the success of last weeks gig, I was really looking forward to getting back to Syn to have another crack at it. I attended the workshop, as usual. To be honest there isn't much to note from that. There was no guest speaker so it was just people trying new stuff.
I was starving after that so bought myself a "small" box of chips from the fish and chip shop. I'd hate to see what a large is like if that was a small. It was huge. But I'm not one to throw money away so I made sure I kept eating until every last morsel had been devoured. Turns out that was a mistake because greasy chips mixed with Red Bull and a heavy dose of pre-stage nerves will leave you feeling rough as arseholes. Something that didn't go away until after I'd been on. So I got to M.I.B feeling a bit rough, but ready to nail my gig and get over to Syn to nail that one too.
However when I got to M.I.B, someone told me Syn had been suddenly and inexplicably shut down and the whole competition was not off. This annoyed me somewhat because I was actually looking forward to that gig, knowing full well that it would probably be my last gig in Australia due to the fact that most open mic nights are closed during the Comedy Festival. Double penetration had turned into basic missionary. And it doesn't get much more basic than Melbourne International Backpackers. I was second on stage, which was neither good nor bad, but it at least allowed me to get it over with. I think I managed to count 11 people in the audience before I went on. Three were drunks at the back by the bar, not listening, but talking very loudly. Three were German backpackers. And two were Swedish backpackers. The other three were people from the workshop who had come down to watch.
 |
| The bar at M.I.B. This is what the room looked like when I went on stage, except it was dark outside. I performed in front of the big TV screen against the back wall. |
I wouldn't go as far as to say my gig was a disaster. But it was definitely a bit of a shit one to finish on. I don't think I heard a single titter of laughter. And if there was, it was drowned out by the talking and the people playing pool on the other side of the room. I didn't panic and freeze mid performance, which is good. But I did realise after that I'd omitted a huge chunk of my material. I think I subconsciously just wanted it to be over. There are of course positives to take from this. The fact I didn't panic and just walk off. The fact I have now gigged in what is widely known as Melbourne's most hostile comedy room. And the fact I have one more gig under my belt and valuable experience. But you can't help but have your confidence knocked a bit though when your last two gigs (let's not forget Thursdays fun and frolics) haven't been very good. And I'm a confidence performer. In whatever I do, I seem to feed from my good performances and happily quit if I decide I'm gash at something. Plus it's uber depressing to think that that is the gig the citizens of Australia, plus three Germans and two Swedish people, will remember me by.
So I have one workshop left to attend. After which I will beg for a spot at the Comic's Lounge to finish on a high. After that, the Melbourne open mic scene shuts down for two months. During which time I will be heading to New Zealand. I will definitely give it another bash in New Zealand. I need to keep trying out my stuff to discover if I'm any good or not. If I decide by the time I get home I'm a bit shit. There's no way I'll carry on doing it in front of my own people.
In the mean time, I haven't really thought about what I will post to keep the old blog ticking over. I'll keep posting videos for your viewing pleasure, and perhaps I'll just start writing some anecdotal material about my adventures. And if that dries up, I'll go old school and start spilling stories from my youth. Like when I had a doctor and two nurses frantically kick down a toilet door in a hospital to find me fast asleep on the bog mid-dump.
I hope you're enjoying the ramblings, if so, keep coming back.
Big up yourself,
Sean
Tuesday, March 8, 2011
Sunday, March 6, 2011
Positives From A Wierd Gig.....
Rightio,
I know that sometimes I can blabber on about things that aren't in the slightest related to stand up comedy, comedians or even things that are not even remotely funny. But I enjoy it. It's like therapy for me. So here's another experience in my Australian adventure that made me chuckle. Bare with it because it's pretty dumb....
I was in a Woolworths store near my flat (Woolworths is the second biggest supermarket chain in Australia, like Sainsbury's in the UK). I was having a think about what delights I could put with my baked potato that I planned on having for lunch when suddenly I remembered how good ratatouille is with baked spud. Now this story is only funny because I'm assuming everyone knows what ratatouille is? And if you're not completely sure, have at least heard of it as a food product. Here's the lesson.... ratatouille is a variety of roasted vegetables such as courgette, tomato and onion in a tomato sauce. It's served in a lot of french dishes and is awesome with mozzarella and baked potato and you can usually buy a cheap canned version of it.
Anyway, I couldn't find it on the shelves so asked an employee if he knew where I'd find it. He explained he wasn't sure what it was so I described it and told him I planned to have it with jacket potato. He told me he'd ask and as he walked away turned to confirm "Ratatouille, yeah?", to which I nodded. He came back about 5 minutes later and said "I've asked both my manager and store manager, and they've only heard of the animated movie "Ratatouille", did you mean that?". I wasn't a smart arse and decided to bite my tongue but, honestly, how do these people even have the intelligence to drag themselves out of bed in the morning. It's not so much they don't know what ratatouille is, it's the fact that even after explaining what it was, he came back and asked me if I meant the animated movie. I felt like saying "Oh, yes, sorry, you're absolutely right. I am indeed looking for the animated movie "Ratatouille" to have on my baked potato". Jesus.
Rant over. Now onto business.
So I had a gig at the Monastery on Church, a venue I'd only been to once and hadn't performed at yet. I was actually much more nervous than usual because I knew there would be next to nobody watching, therefore was more susceptible to panicking because I wasn't getting any laughs. To his credit, Micah, the MC, told me not to worry and that it was a very relaxed room and a great place to try out loads of new material. He was bang on with that analysis.
I barely got any laughs, there were a lot of chuckles and smiling faces but no laughs. Plus I was the only comedian that did a five minute set. Everyone else had at least 15 minutes to get through. This made me feel like I really need to get my writing hat on and get some new good material. So in terms of the reaction my stuff got when I performed it, it wasn't great. But I was able to take a couple really good things away from this gig.
Firstly, I have found the ideal place to try lots of new material without feeling the need to perfect it to death in my flat before it's even seen the light of day. Something I've been guilty of recently. I can now write something down and perform it to an audience before I've decided it's crap. The second thing to take away is the fact that it's obviously really good to keep gigs ticking over and tweak your set here and there. When you don't do so well, it's easy to get caught up in having a bad gig. But the important thing to focus on is how well you performed regardless of audience. Such as - Did you deliver punchlines correctly?, Did you remember all of your set? Etc, Etc.
I definitely feel like it was a worthwhile journey getting there and banging out my material in preparation for other, bigger gigs.
One other quick thing. I received a call the other day from Dil, sounding terribly excited. He explained that he went to take a photo on his iPhone the other day and his handset went a bit spastic and claimed it was "Updating library", whatever that means? Anyway, after his phone had finished having an epileptic fit, the video he took of me performing at Syn last Tuesday suddenly appeared. Result. He's going to try and send it over to me or post it on Youtube for me to post on here as and when he can, but he's a busy guy, juggling the sexy world of accountancy with the ugly world of comedy, so it may not be until later on this week.
I don't really have much more to talk about, so I won't keep you. Hopefully you're enjoying the videos I'm putting up. I'll keep posting them in between "Real" posts as I find them. In fact I may post one I found the other day of Seth Rogan, of Knocked Up fame, doing stand up when he was 13! It's pretty raw and will never be a classic, but it's a great video that shows we all have to start somewhere.
Also, I will be double penetrating Melbourne this Tuesday with two gigs in one night. I'm on at M.I.B first, then I'm running over to Syn to perform there. I, personally, feel that rushing around like this and relying on people to keep to time will only end in disaster. But we'll see.
Lots of Love Chums,
Sean
I know that sometimes I can blabber on about things that aren't in the slightest related to stand up comedy, comedians or even things that are not even remotely funny. But I enjoy it. It's like therapy for me. So here's another experience in my Australian adventure that made me chuckle. Bare with it because it's pretty dumb....
I was in a Woolworths store near my flat (Woolworths is the second biggest supermarket chain in Australia, like Sainsbury's in the UK). I was having a think about what delights I could put with my baked potato that I planned on having for lunch when suddenly I remembered how good ratatouille is with baked spud. Now this story is only funny because I'm assuming everyone knows what ratatouille is? And if you're not completely sure, have at least heard of it as a food product. Here's the lesson.... ratatouille is a variety of roasted vegetables such as courgette, tomato and onion in a tomato sauce. It's served in a lot of french dishes and is awesome with mozzarella and baked potato and you can usually buy a cheap canned version of it.
Anyway, I couldn't find it on the shelves so asked an employee if he knew where I'd find it. He explained he wasn't sure what it was so I described it and told him I planned to have it with jacket potato. He told me he'd ask and as he walked away turned to confirm "Ratatouille, yeah?", to which I nodded. He came back about 5 minutes later and said "I've asked both my manager and store manager, and they've only heard of the animated movie "Ratatouille", did you mean that?". I wasn't a smart arse and decided to bite my tongue but, honestly, how do these people even have the intelligence to drag themselves out of bed in the morning. It's not so much they don't know what ratatouille is, it's the fact that even after explaining what it was, he came back and asked me if I meant the animated movie. I felt like saying "Oh, yes, sorry, you're absolutely right. I am indeed looking for the animated movie "Ratatouille" to have on my baked potato". Jesus.
Rant over. Now onto business.
So I had a gig at the Monastery on Church, a venue I'd only been to once and hadn't performed at yet. I was actually much more nervous than usual because I knew there would be next to nobody watching, therefore was more susceptible to panicking because I wasn't getting any laughs. To his credit, Micah, the MC, told me not to worry and that it was a very relaxed room and a great place to try out loads of new material. He was bang on with that analysis.
I barely got any laughs, there were a lot of chuckles and smiling faces but no laughs. Plus I was the only comedian that did a five minute set. Everyone else had at least 15 minutes to get through. This made me feel like I really need to get my writing hat on and get some new good material. So in terms of the reaction my stuff got when I performed it, it wasn't great. But I was able to take a couple really good things away from this gig.
Firstly, I have found the ideal place to try lots of new material without feeling the need to perfect it to death in my flat before it's even seen the light of day. Something I've been guilty of recently. I can now write something down and perform it to an audience before I've decided it's crap. The second thing to take away is the fact that it's obviously really good to keep gigs ticking over and tweak your set here and there. When you don't do so well, it's easy to get caught up in having a bad gig. But the important thing to focus on is how well you performed regardless of audience. Such as - Did you deliver punchlines correctly?, Did you remember all of your set? Etc, Etc.
I definitely feel like it was a worthwhile journey getting there and banging out my material in preparation for other, bigger gigs.
One other quick thing. I received a call the other day from Dil, sounding terribly excited. He explained that he went to take a photo on his iPhone the other day and his handset went a bit spastic and claimed it was "Updating library", whatever that means? Anyway, after his phone had finished having an epileptic fit, the video he took of me performing at Syn last Tuesday suddenly appeared. Result. He's going to try and send it over to me or post it on Youtube for me to post on here as and when he can, but he's a busy guy, juggling the sexy world of accountancy with the ugly world of comedy, so it may not be until later on this week.
I don't really have much more to talk about, so I won't keep you. Hopefully you're enjoying the videos I'm putting up. I'll keep posting them in between "Real" posts as I find them. In fact I may post one I found the other day of Seth Rogan, of Knocked Up fame, doing stand up when he was 13! It's pretty raw and will never be a classic, but it's a great video that shows we all have to start somewhere.
Also, I will be double penetrating Melbourne this Tuesday with two gigs in one night. I'm on at M.I.B first, then I'm running over to Syn to perform there. I, personally, feel that rushing around like this and relying on people to keep to time will only end in disaster. But we'll see.
Lots of Love Chums,
Sean
Saturday, March 5, 2011
Thursday, March 3, 2011
My Competitive Debut and the Video That Never Was....
G'day, Bonjour, Hola and Hello,
The weeks are passing very quickly and it's difficult to believe that in just a few weeks I will be leaving the land of Australia, where I popped my comedic cherry, and heading to New Zealand where I'm reliably informed that there is next to no comedy scene. Brilliant. On the plus side, if there is no comedy scene, I'm a shoe in for some kind of celebrity status. Perhaps I'll be New Zealand's only comedian. I will be able to walk down the street, making people laugh at will and be worshipped as some kind of handsome God. Or not, we'll see.
So, down to business. It's my first busy week as a comedian this week. I attended a workshop on Tuesday, I had a gig on Tuesday night, and I have another gig tonight, which you'll hear all about either tomorrow or over the weekend. There's not much point in me going over what happened at the workshop. I turned up a bit late, people tried new stuff on stage, I had a couple of beers. That about sums it up. Mr. Alabama, the guy I mentioned from a couple of weeks ago, was the guest speaker and he essentially repeated to everyone there, exactly what he'd said to me in private a few weeks previous. Which was basically don't use the C word and don't fuck female comedians, there will be plenty of girls to go round in the audience. His words, not mine.
After the workshop I headed for Syn Bar, feeling unprepared and ready to die on stage again. I think I'm the laziest person in the world and I can't even be bothered to read through my material to learn my lines. So after a two week break of no gigs, I had forgotten nearly all of my routine. I spent the entire tram ride into the city, and whatever time I had before going on stage, reading through my stuff to try and remember it and felt just about ready approximately 25 seconds before I was due on stage.
Syn has been running a comedy competition over the last few weeks in which the winner gets a number of prizes, the only one of which I can remember is an interview on a local radio station. So my gig was my first taste of competitive comedy. The winner of each heat goes through to the finals to find an overall winner. I was there last week and there was next to no-one watching, and the comics weren't of the highest standard so I was feeling optimistic that I had a chance. That optimism was obliterated within the first 5 minutes of being in the room when I saw not only the standard of the other acts, but the amount of support they had all brought with them. There must have been 30-40 people there, which is massive for Syn. I was up against people like Michael Connell who has years of experience and often travels around Victoria and the ACT gigging and MC-ing at open mic nights. I don't know if he gets paid but he can't be far off.
Dil offered to film me, which I accepted so I could watch it back to see where I had messed up. I'm not overly bothered about watching videos of myself, it seems a bit vain, but it is a good tool to measure where you are with your routine and where the laughs came from. However I have to say, I was very glad he did film it because I think I may just of had my best gig to date. I remembered all of my jokes, including the new ones and I delivered them just how I wanted to. The crowd responded really well and there were alot of people doing full-on belly laughs, something I hadn't experienced before. I think the acts before me must have lubricated their senses just enough to find me funny.
Nonetheless, I was very pleased with how it went and was even thinking I had a potential video to post on the blog for you guys to watch. Alas, it wasn't to be. Dil's iPhone decided it only wanted to film the first 7 seconds and decided to go on strike, leaving Dil unknowingly holding a phone at arms length throughout my 5 mintue set that wasn't actually doing anything.
So after all of that, how did I actually get on in the competition I hear you ask. Well, thank you for asking. I didn't win. I did, however, come in at a not-to-shabby third place. Which I think is pretty good considering the opposition and I have done less than 10 gigs. I wasn't listening to who came in 1st and 2nd, I was too busy making my way to the bar to claim my free jug of beer for coming in the top three. I also get to participate in the "wildcard round", which is for anyone that didn't make it through, to have another go. So that's this Tuesday sorted. Stay tuned to see how that goes.
As mentioned, I have another gig tonight, which will essentially just serve as an exercise to keep my routine in my head and get valuable stage time. But I'll post information on how it goes. I will also be posting more Youtube clips I find that are funny. Most of them will be of stand up, but some will just be funny clips to entertain and amuse while you're desperately waiting for my next update.
So thank you for reading, why not tell your friends how amazingly funny this blog is? Word of mouth is the best advertising, and with three followers, I'm assuming you're not talking about my blog too much at the moment. Rude.
Peace Out
Sean
The weeks are passing very quickly and it's difficult to believe that in just a few weeks I will be leaving the land of Australia, where I popped my comedic cherry, and heading to New Zealand where I'm reliably informed that there is next to no comedy scene. Brilliant. On the plus side, if there is no comedy scene, I'm a shoe in for some kind of celebrity status. Perhaps I'll be New Zealand's only comedian. I will be able to walk down the street, making people laugh at will and be worshipped as some kind of handsome God. Or not, we'll see.
So, down to business. It's my first busy week as a comedian this week. I attended a workshop on Tuesday, I had a gig on Tuesday night, and I have another gig tonight, which you'll hear all about either tomorrow or over the weekend. There's not much point in me going over what happened at the workshop. I turned up a bit late, people tried new stuff on stage, I had a couple of beers. That about sums it up. Mr. Alabama, the guy I mentioned from a couple of weeks ago, was the guest speaker and he essentially repeated to everyone there, exactly what he'd said to me in private a few weeks previous. Which was basically don't use the C word and don't fuck female comedians, there will be plenty of girls to go round in the audience. His words, not mine.
After the workshop I headed for Syn Bar, feeling unprepared and ready to die on stage again. I think I'm the laziest person in the world and I can't even be bothered to read through my material to learn my lines. So after a two week break of no gigs, I had forgotten nearly all of my routine. I spent the entire tram ride into the city, and whatever time I had before going on stage, reading through my stuff to try and remember it and felt just about ready approximately 25 seconds before I was due on stage.
Syn has been running a comedy competition over the last few weeks in which the winner gets a number of prizes, the only one of which I can remember is an interview on a local radio station. So my gig was my first taste of competitive comedy. The winner of each heat goes through to the finals to find an overall winner. I was there last week and there was next to no-one watching, and the comics weren't of the highest standard so I was feeling optimistic that I had a chance. That optimism was obliterated within the first 5 minutes of being in the room when I saw not only the standard of the other acts, but the amount of support they had all brought with them. There must have been 30-40 people there, which is massive for Syn. I was up against people like Michael Connell who has years of experience and often travels around Victoria and the ACT gigging and MC-ing at open mic nights. I don't know if he gets paid but he can't be far off.
Dil offered to film me, which I accepted so I could watch it back to see where I had messed up. I'm not overly bothered about watching videos of myself, it seems a bit vain, but it is a good tool to measure where you are with your routine and where the laughs came from. However I have to say, I was very glad he did film it because I think I may just of had my best gig to date. I remembered all of my jokes, including the new ones and I delivered them just how I wanted to. The crowd responded really well and there were alot of people doing full-on belly laughs, something I hadn't experienced before. I think the acts before me must have lubricated their senses just enough to find me funny.
Nonetheless, I was very pleased with how it went and was even thinking I had a potential video to post on the blog for you guys to watch. Alas, it wasn't to be. Dil's iPhone decided it only wanted to film the first 7 seconds and decided to go on strike, leaving Dil unknowingly holding a phone at arms length throughout my 5 mintue set that wasn't actually doing anything.
So after all of that, how did I actually get on in the competition I hear you ask. Well, thank you for asking. I didn't win. I did, however, come in at a not-to-shabby third place. Which I think is pretty good considering the opposition and I have done less than 10 gigs. I wasn't listening to who came in 1st and 2nd, I was too busy making my way to the bar to claim my free jug of beer for coming in the top three. I also get to participate in the "wildcard round", which is for anyone that didn't make it through, to have another go. So that's this Tuesday sorted. Stay tuned to see how that goes.
As mentioned, I have another gig tonight, which will essentially just serve as an exercise to keep my routine in my head and get valuable stage time. But I'll post information on how it goes. I will also be posting more Youtube clips I find that are funny. Most of them will be of stand up, but some will just be funny clips to entertain and amuse while you're desperately waiting for my next update.
So thank you for reading, why not tell your friends how amazingly funny this blog is? Word of mouth is the best advertising, and with three followers, I'm assuming you're not talking about my blog too much at the moment. Rude.
Peace Out
Sean
Tuesday, March 1, 2011
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