Taking the Fun Out of It

Last Sunday I tried my hand at Standup comedy again.  Standup is something I've done a few times before, but have never been satisfied with and have never really given a solid effort to.  I've done sloppy, uncomitted, semi-improvised standup a couple times (with the results you'd expect).  I've also done an extended character based sketch as a standup act (also with the results you'd expect).

But since I've done it a few times and never walked away satisfied, standup has been something that has nagged me for a while.  As a result, I recently decided I was going to book myself a standup slot every couple of months until I put some solid effort into putting together an act and (hopefully) had a satisfying experience with it.

So last Sunday was my next attempt.  I'm happy to say that I was pretty satisfied with the results.  Barring some technical difficulties that in spite of making me extra nervous actually added to the experience, things pretty much went off without a hitch.  All but one of my bits hit with the audience.  Even though I must have been visibly nervous, I didn't pace.  Biggest surprise - I enjoyed doing it.

I learned a few interesting things putting the act together:

* I'm a storyteller, not a setup punchline guy.

* I'm more comfortable when the story is based on something true to life.

* In rehearsing the material, it clicked the most when I treated the material as if I was performing someone else's writing.  I worked on applying my own style in performance even though I wrote it.   Just writing in my own voice wasn't enough - it had to be taken further.

* Since most of my bits were extended stories with a low joke ratio I had to add some moments in the delivery throughout the story.

* While some of the jokes evolved as I memorized them, I also had to be careful in a number of cases to deliver the joke using the exact language I wrote.  Using what seemed like more natural language seemed to kill some of the jokes.

So against all odds I actually enjoyed doing standup for once.  And I've heard some decent feedback about the set as well.  I'm planning on trying it again and continuing to write.  It is another good outlet to keep my writing going.

Posted via web from bricomedy's posterous

I'm late to the game on this, but if you haven't yet seen Hard Left's
interactive YouTube series 'Hard Left and the Case of the Body-Shaped
Bag', make it happen right now. I love the Hard Left videos because
at this point in the game Taylor and Woo have a really consistent
style which lends itself really well to viral videos - loose, goofy,
appropriately self aware, and low tech. This video adds in Neil
Reynolds directing chops and higher concept, but still retains what I
dig about Hard Left. Plus, I was totally a choose your own adventure
fan back in the day (read: sheltered looser). Love seeing Boston
friends putting out such awesome work.

When you watch the video, make sure YouTube annotations are on. I
tried watching it first on my iPhone - didn't make a lick of sense.

Posted via email from bricomedy's posterous

Posted via email from bricomedy's posterous

Posted via email from bricomedy's posterous

I've got a really fun batch of shows in November that has me performing in a bunch of new and interesting configurations.  Come check out the newness: 

* Saturday November 14th @ 10 PM - Guesting with Improv Jones in Providence, RI

* Sunday November 15th @ 5:30 PM - Performing Standup as part of Comedy On Tap at the Burren in Somerville, MA

* Wednesday November 18th @ 9PM - Castle Bar Cage Match - featuring guests Bastards Inc.

* Friday November 20th @ 9:30 PM - Harold Night - my first show as a cast member of 'Maxitor'

Posted via web from bricomedy's posterous

My brother is a good dude who I've got a lot in common with. Comedy is one of those things. We've both been involved in some capacity since high school and we've performed together on and off for close to ten years now. It has been a realy fantastic experience to watch him grow as a performer.

One thing we hadn't done was a show that was just the two of us. This past July we rectified that with something called 'Brotherlyprov'. I recently had a chance to edit together a show from the run and it made me happy. I was pleased with the show, but more importantly I loved seeing the chemistry that Jeff and I had on stage and also loved the family moments that were sprinkled throughout. I'm really glad we had a chance to put this show on.

Hopefully you'll dig it as well:

Labels: brotherlyprov, improv