Wednesday, Week 2:
San Francisco, California.
Venue: 'The Flying Pig' Cafe
It's my second week of getting into stand up comedy so everything is still RUSSELL BRAND new. Today's open mic was at a cafe called 'The Flying Pig.' It's a strange little place to do comedy, but as valid an experience and exercise as any other open mic in the city and 100% worth a visit.
As a cafe it is great, with great service and great food, but as a place to hold an open mic it is tough for the comic. This is why it's good for developing! I believe all environments help a comic grow and learn the craft, and I will of course return, but it was not an easy place to illicit laughter...in my case at least.
The room is long and the tables are spread out. Thus, the compressed energy and intimacy which help spawn & draw out laughter were not readily available. I like to be able to see the whites of the audience's eyes, but in this instance I couldn't. That said plenty of comics did better than I did, and I am thankful for the opportunity to get on stage once again.
I went up feeling loose and I didn't do a single 'joke' for the first 3 minutes. It was jarring and hard to do...since instinctively I wanted to jump to the safety of my 'jokes' as the awkwardness grew. I tried to just 'riff and play' with the tension in the room and challenge the dexterity (or lack there of) of my mind. It worked to a certain extent...but it failed to a greater extent.
I tried out a riff about "stabbing the audience if they laughed," That seemed to work nicely and it is perhaps worthy of further investigation and extrapolation in the future. When I got down from the stage I could tell that some comics and clients thought it was a wasted exercise haha! But for me it was a box ticked and an interesting way to overcome a fear that I saw in myself and some other comics. The fear of not being able to go outside the lines of your writing or freestyle. Maybe I'm naive but I gave it a go despite the pain.
I may have done terribly comedically, but as a comedic strength and brain building exercise I think it might have been a good idea. It's a long road to comedic success, so better to experiment now while it's low stakes rather than later. Also,to paraphrase Tom Watson "If you wish to increase your success, you have to double your rate of failure." I'm taking this advice to the limit and trying to quadruple it. So I'm succeeding at this at least :)
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Frank
(GLOWPUNK)
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