My First Time ...Again #3

Thursday, Week 1:

The Brainwash Cafe

      

      "One must work out ones comedy muscle."  A world famous comedian shared that gem with me in a green room a while back. I am like a super retentive sponge when it comes to that type of elucidating comment. It seems logical and obvious once you hear it or read it, but until someone draws your attention to it, it might not pop into ones consciousness. I now have a new muscle to work out. My comedy muscle!

      In essence, the comment suggests that the more you practice the comedy craft and art of verbal ninjary, the better you become. This results in less extraneous cognitive load on your brain when you are performing. Thus, leaving your mind more free to improve your performance rather than waste energy on the basics. It has only been 2 days of slacking, but in this stand up comedy world, especially at this early stage, it's like hoping to be a competitive athlete and skipping daily training sessions. 

       Once again I found myself being brought to the famous 'Brainwash Cafe' by Chris and Tom. It was another wholesome experience. I truly cant get over how relaxed I feel on stage. It is a cafe/laundromat with some really cute waitresses. The crowd was as ethnically, economically and ideologically mixed as they come and most of the room were comics tonight. Of course the non-comics is where I aimed my set delivery. No point in flirting with a married woman, so to speak. Comics have analytical minds, and are usually thinking of their own set or analyzing the delivery of your material. So you can be as funny as hell and still not illicit the slightest grin. Knowing that...can keep you sane! 

        Tonight I found that how I held the mic in regard to its distance from my mouth etc. was completely automatic. When you first start getting on stage it is strange to hear your own voice and you can find yourself worrying about volume etc. With that small part of comedy on autopilot I stepped outside my bits/jokes again tonight as much as I could. 

        I have decided that every month I will try and do one perfect showcase set and then archive my material and start fresh. If I do that I may learn quicker by forcing myself to grow or die on stage.  It shouldn't be as difficult as it would've been last year when I would have lived and died by every set and clung to my material like glue. Fear stifles progression! 

        This new found 'fearlessness' (for want of a better word) is kind of awesome and empowering. I think it comes from living in that tent for a year and my other ridiculous adventures. I'm so comfortable with what I am and what I am not that other people's judgement of me is so irrelevant it is nutritive. My diverse and perverse myriad of life experiences to date have given me a personal sense of value that public humiliation cannot take away. 

         I do of course have to care to succeed, but only in respect to my joke delivery, humor and audience reading. NOT to what they think of me as an individual. This sounds obvious but I have seen comics struggle with esteem issues. Perhaps the fact that I can see a clear separation between my jokes and I is the real important thing here. Note to comics YOU ARE NOT YOUR MATERIAL OR A REFLECTION OF THE RESPONSE YOU GET!  But what do I know? I'm new here. I really hope this fearlessness feeling lasts! 

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My First Time...Again #1

First Comedy Open Mic in 1 1/2 years.

Week 1, Monday. Open Mic #1.

The Brainwash

San Francisco, California.

So it seems I want to be a comedian...

        I'm not going to lie to you guys and gals. I was more than a little nervous today. I met my two friends Tom and Chris ahead of time. They wanted me to get up and do 5 minutes of stand up comedy at an 'open mic.' I felt like I had nothing to say yet alone try and make people laugh. To me they are both so funny, so good and so polished that I feel until I get to their level of writing I should just wait. I've done about 10-15 open mics in my life and to be honest today I felt like I was starting completely fresh and from the beginning. In the business they say 'comedy is like a muscle you have to workout regularly at the mics.' I had not seen a gym in ages and had suffered comedy atrophy.

        Public speaking is considered one of man's greatest fears and to say you are also going to be funny while you're up there on stage too is like parking a combine harvester in a childrens' playground. VERY HARD to do and painful for all involved! Turning on being funny live,at a moments notice like flicking  a  switch is extremely hard to do.

         As the public we generally only see polished comedians on stage or television...By the time they make it in front of our eyes its usually after years of practice at 'open mics' where they undergo trial by fire every night. Many lose heart and leave the craft. It's so hard that the attrition rate in the business/art is SUPER high.  For some reason I believe I can beat the odds and make a living at it. 

                        Photo from my Instagram 'GLOWPUNK' of bridge on way to perform.

        We arrived early at "The Brainwash Cafe" in San Francisco and the first slot on the 'sign up sheet' was open. Sometimes you have to wait hours to get up so I thought this must be an omen. I knew if I could just force myself to write my name on the page now I would get up when my name was called. Like any innately driven male I tend not to run from a challenge and instead seek out glory.

        The fear was terrible and exhilarating at the same time. I plucked up the short term courage and gritted my teeth to sign my name. Knowing that in the near future (but just sufficiently later) I would pay the price for penning my name. Once my name was down I immeadiately began to try and get my 5 minutes of comedy together. I did so by writing/thinking and stressing with Tom and Chris who hit the mics 4/6 times a week.

        Since I was first on the list I was going to 'open the show' I had to try and be good enough to capture the crowd right off the bat.  I enjoy the idea of free flowing and forcing myself to come up with stuff in the moment...and that is more or less what I did. But I did have 2 or 3 'solidish'  jokes to dip back into when I got lost or scared.  

           Funny enough the 'brainwash' is a busy cafe with people ordering food and drink as you deliver your jokes/bits…It's environment is a strange, enigmatic  double edged sword. The atmosphere can destroy or relax a sensitive comedian depending on his/her disposition. Oh yeah, I now identify myself as 'a comedian.' An important step I have taken for my positive psychological development. Up until now I would feel myself unworthy of the prized title. But once you step to the mic like a gladiator of humor and 'rip it' I feel you deserve the title.

        Internally I adopted an 'I don't care' attitude. Externally, I presented a grateful to be in such a wonderful city  persona (truth based). The foreign accent definitely helped to break the tension and capture the audience's attention at first. However, I have to acknowledge the accent in San Francisco and let the audience adjust before I start joking around so it is as much of a hinderance as it is a benefit.

         I did an impression of a small minded Texan, and an African American from the Tenderloin. I had never done accents before on stage so it was a terrific feeling to actually pull it off. Especially because I'm a novice and haven't been on stage in ages. I did better than some, which matters very  little really.It is a long game and the only real competition is with yourself. I exited the brainwash cafe in San Francisco driven and determined to get as skilled as Tom and Chris. They are my inspiration right now! 

        

         I feel like the initial fear has been overcome, the key now is to get more creative, stay loose, and push the boundaries every time I rock the mic… I think!? All the media attention and media exposure in Ireland over living in the tent has allowed me to take myself less seriously and not feel like I live and die by every performance (Not that I take myself too seriously anyway.) I kind of see myself as like an art project of sorts. A bundle of potential that can be shaped for good or bad. Roll on next open mic. I fear it less already, now I just want to dominate this enigmatic comedy siren.

To be continued...

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How to be a funny man 7

       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.



             

RURFING

Here is the video of our 'Rurfing' If you can drop by the channel on youtube that would be great.

We can't stand up so it isn't surfing and we are not in a kayak so it is not kayaking. Hopefully someday soon more people will Realize that lying so close to the water with no paddle moving down stream with the current is worth a try. 

Myself, Paul Dwyer and Diarmaid Collins drove from Dublin to Galway the night before and stayed in a hostel called snoozles in Galway city centre. We stayed there for 2 nights. We planned and shot the video shots that we could the first day and then went to Roisin Dubh's for a few pints. 

As you can see the river Corrib in Galway was in Spate. It had been lashing rain all week and the river was flowing at great speed. We had rode the river before back in University, but it had been a little lower. We found that it was easy enough  to steer where you wanted to go. 

The closer we got to Wolfe Tone Bridge the larger the swells became. This Shot above is from the GoPro HD I had strapped to my head. You can See I am down in a trough and he is up almost on the crest. Creat crack. The adrenaline was pumping. Which led us to do it five times. Kayakers do this run all the time. But not that many do it when the river is this wild or high because it would be hard for them to get under the bridge in the sitting position. Thus allowing us to go down when the river is a little wilder :)

The final bridge . Wolfe Tone Bridge  had just enough room  under it for us to pass. 

On the far side of the bridge the standing  waves were bigger.. All the water was being forced through the narrow opening. We let the water drive us about 500 m down stream towards the sea near the mouth of the harbor and then calmly paddled out of the powerful  river current into the side.

Special thanks to Paul Dwyer who was chief camera man on the trip,

 and all the people who cheered us on and took photos as we flew under them on the bridge... Great bit of fun...

Peace 

Glowpunk.