I have spent the last few days trying to take stock of where I am in life. Mind you, I’m not looking for any sort of revelation or epiphany; I’m just going over a checklist in my head. What have I achieved? Where am I going next? Etc…
Sometimes I need a moment to peer over what’s been done, and more importantly what needs to get done. It’s a good exercise. I recommend it. You’ll be amazed how much it helps in sorting priorities. I find that most people I know in the real world rarely take the time (or even seem to have the time…) to press the pause button.
I find this kind of mental sifting usually surfaces into my conscience when I’m at the point of complete exhaustion. This time is no different by any stretch. I don’t know why I insist on grinding myself into near oblivion. Perhaps there’s something I need to learn, but I wish I knew how to stop it once in a while. I guess it’s not too terribly different than zany other pattern people fall into, but I think it might be killing me. (Well not in the literal sense…)
I had not one but two shows last night. Both of them were sold out. (Not cause I was on the show… I wish… One day perhaps…) The club was totally packed to the gills. It was a strange Tuesday at Yuks. Normally it’s their amateur night, and there is very little expectation (See none…) to perform. Last night however was a special event. Jaime Kennedy was in town for a couple of quick concert series shows, and I got the call to be the middle act for him.
I was already wiped before the first show, but I managed to give it a decent go. I fuelled up on shitty bar coffee and popcorn, then leapt into action. (Well… I guess it was more of a “Sorta staggered into action” kinda thing… But I digress…). The changes I’ve made in cadence and delivery style are working well and the exhaustion just seemed to enhance them. They appear to give off a sense of agitated frustration, which lends well to my natural character.
The second show was far more fun for me. I managed to shake off the exhaustion and put the jets on. But even better than that, I got to totally railroad a heckler. She had no idea what had hit her. I’m sure she’s sitting at work today trying to figure out why she smells like smoke. (I suspect that crucifixion would have been less painful route for her.)
I lit her up six times. Each time I whacked her, the crowd roared louder, vaulting me to near godhood. That just made her more livid. If only she had been blessed with brains in addition to a trashy mouth. At one point she was trying to “call me out” it was really quite funny. I snapped her like a twig, and had a shit-eating grin on the whole time. I gotta say… It felt really good.
It’s been a great year of change for me. Stand up has changed for me. The wide-eyed enthusiasm I had when I started has mutated. For me now, it has become more about becoming a skilled practitioner of the craft. I love it more than ever, but I have become more focused. The detail involved is becoming more acute to me, and so then the fine-tuning has truly begun in earnest. I’m now more concerned about the nuances of Stand up, and less so about material. I now realize material is more of an anchor and not the whole damn boat like it used to be for me.
Watching Jaime Kennedy taught me a few things too. The first of which is this; ANYONE can do this job. Few do it well, but any schmo with a movie deal can eek out 40 minutes worth of material. (Which says to me that there might be a Gary Sinise concert special sooner than you might think…Imagine just how brilliantly unfunny that would be…)
Kennedy’s act was an exercise in patience. There were so many clumsy hacky things’ going on that it almost made me cry. (Insert Canadian beer jokes, and Dr, Phil impersonations here.) More importantly there was an almost total absence of finesse. (I wasn’t looking for scripting or even polish… but perhaps substance or at least a conscious train of thought.) It was more like watching someone playing the role of a comic in a movie. But then again he brought a documentary crew, so in a way I guess that hits the nail right on the head.
Once in a while he got off on a decent riff, but at no point did he ever look sure-footed. He just looked uncomfortable like an awkward teenager on a first date. Nothing he did stood out. If you were to ask me to recite a joke from his set, I would sadly be unable to. There was nothing that said to me “This man is a star!” It was mediocre at best.
His handler was a dude named Justin. He had an air of arrogance about him. (Gracious but arrogant at the same time…) He seemed to really enjoy name-dropping and generally being a bit of a dork. He kinda looked like a bobble head with good teeth. (He struck me as the kind of dude that doesn’t realize he’s the hired help…)
Anyway I need some sleep…
No comments:
Post a Comment