My 7th and 8th Open Mic. 'Comfort through Discomfort'
What a great day on the video and stand up comedy front. Well 'Epic,' by my standards.
I think it may have been in the preparation. I Slept well last night, was in bed before 10pm and got a great breakfast and lunch. Had breakfast in the hostel (USA HOSTELS) and then headed down to China town for lunch.
I've been sharing a room with a good French lad, but we were on different timings so I wasn't sleeping that well. But, yesterday he left, so I had the room completely to myself. Awesome.
So all morning I edited a video for the 'Glowpunk' youtube channel that I shot on Sunday for the Pride Parade in San Francisco. I'm straight but it was probably one of the coolest parties I have ever been to, and a learning and mind opening experience as well. Hopefully you will like the video. Here is the link.
So after editing all morning I walked the 45 minutes across town to the 'Amnesia' bar open mic, that my friend Chris Duncan was hosting for a friend in his absence. I was up 13th, and decided en route that I was going to try and freestyle and create tension in the room as much as possible. The room was giving little or no feedback as the room was mainly full of comics and poets. So instead of writing this off as a waste of time, I realized that no matter what I did I was going to bomb (fail). So i decided to just mess about and even went behind the curtain and put on some silly voices and mentioned some subject matters that I would never want to make part of my act. I also called out some one who was not listening and pointed out that "it was funny that creating tension was funny" and that got a laugh.
Also that "people cared as little about the comedy as the bar owner did about the decor" and that got a laugh. And, that it seemed "that the reaction of the audiance would be the same to the comedy that I made up on the spot as to the comedy I practiced en route" and that got a laugh. I also mentioned that to top it off there was "an alcoholic man dressed in a clown suit staring at me who was there to highlight the sadness of the situation."(it was another performer dressed as a clown -Dr. Dream( he is great)) And that got a laugh. So a few easy laughs and proof to me that highly personalized comedy is the way forward.
Now don't get me wrong, I kinda bombed, but I bombed on my terms and that was satisfying, a great lesson learned and a confidence builder. I remember Dave Chapelle mentioned that it was only when he got comfortable bombing that he became a better comedian, so I kind of tried it based on that. Strange to attempting to fail and winning. Fun times.
So after getting that set out of the way, I showed a stressed Chris Duncan his first appearance in a Glowpunk video I made and checked that he was cool about everything I showed in it. It was quite an honest take of him and he was 100% up for it. He is a clever fella, fearless and open to an admirable level, and as we have joked about on many occasions operating very close to a fatal mis interpretation. I expect great things for Chris Duncan as a result of his 'Highwire Act.' As I like to call it. Anyway, he approved his cameo and we edited the video a little in the car. Then we drove to the second Open Mic of the night. 'The Rock-it Room.'
We arrived at 'The Rock-it Room' and signed up . It was a super quiet night, so we went for a bite to eat across the road in the chinese take-away and then walked back over at our leisure. I smashed a can of red bull (which I have not done in years) and videoed a super high energy 5 min set that was terrible but again useful for my development. Also the wonderful asian guy running the room was a friend of mine and was nice and friendly and supportive. I guess someday I might let people see that video, but not 'til I feel I am better than that performance. To be honest, that shouldn't take too long.
Myself and Chris then hit a few bars (drank coke and water) and I sent a few rounds of water to some girls who were sitting across the bar from us, which surprisingly worked better than sending alcoholic drinks. haha! The power of originality and comedy I guess. That is the end of the blog for today... Feeling good and as you can see by the length of this entry, the red bull is still working.
Peace,
Glowpunk.
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