Day 346 (20) - InCorporated Comedy

I performed stand-up at a corporate show (for P&G) today, and it’s amazing how different it was from a normal gig.  I had the pleasure of working with Rajiv Satyal (the Funny Indian) and he says that corporate shows are the hardest to do.  I can see why.

The thing about corporate comedy is that people are often afraid to laugh (it also doesn’t help that it was in the middle of the afternoon, after a long meeting, and before any alcohol).  They’re afraid because they’re not sure if it’s OK for them to.  It’s kind of like how a room full of white people will look to the one black guy in the room to see if they can laugh at a racist joke - except for here the audience is looking at their upper management.

But despite what my preambling might suggest, the show actually went pretty well.  I did about 10 minutes - a mix of normal stuff and P&G specific material - and was solid the whole way through.  I could have been more polished, but overall was very happy.  What was bizarre was where I got the biggest laughs - it was all on the more ad-libbed stuff and always on the stuff that was specific to P&G.  And I guess in a way it makes sense, as the P&G stuff was more relateable and everyone was thinking about it, but how do you enjoy an off-hand comment about Casual Fridays over an Alphabet story?

Rajiv followed after me (or rather I opened for Rajiv - the first way I said it made it seem like I was the “big act”), and did pretty well as well, which was swell if you couldn’t tell.  The toughest part about a corporate show is knowing how to walk the line of appropriateness, or even finding wear that line is, and Rajiv was able to pull it off.

Overall it was a good day, and another milestone passed - a corporate stand-up comedy gig.  Let’s hope to having more in the future.

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Day 339 (27) - Don’t Be Judgin’ Me

I performed stand-up in what will likely be my last public show of 2007 (I say public because I’m doing a private event next week).  It was good to get back on stage after a month-long hiatus; it’s always a challenge to try to get back into the flow of performing.  What I didn’t realize about the open-mic was that it was actually a judged-competition - something I wasn’t aware of when I decided to do 2 minutes of still “in-progress” bits and a minute of entirely new material.

I’m not entirely sure how I placed (it wasn’t in the Top 3), but I did receive my scores.  Overall I thought I did a decent job, started off strong, got a little shaky in the middle, but the new jokes went great and I ended strong.  According to the judges I did average to slightly above average.  It’s always great to receive feedback about a performance, (in addition to the feedback of laughter, or lack there of, that you have in each performance) but it sucks when the only feedback is a number.  And the weird thing is that each of the judges rated me differently.  One judge thought I was a 2 in Originality (the scale was 1 to 5, 5 being the best), while others thought I was 4.

Unfortunately I didn’t have the opportunity to talk with judges afterwards, as I’m always curious as to why I received what score.  And it’s not out of pettiness, or belief that I was better than other people who rated higher (comedy is subjective, what one person thinks is better might be worse to someone else, plus I understand that I might be a little biased), I just want to know how I can improve.  If I’m a 2 in Originality, what didn’t seem original?  Jokes about my voice, why Michigan sucks, the Alphabet Acronym?

All in all (where did this phrase come from?), I had a good time tonight, did decent, and received some feedback about my performance.  I would have loved to learn more details, and thought that I should’ve done a little better, but in the end, it’s all about stage time and doing the best you can.

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Day 236 (130) - Cincy Brew Ha Ha

Just got back from the Cincy Brew Ha Ha Comedy Festival (it wasn’t quite done, my ankle is just killing me), and it turned out to be a pretty sweet success.  By the time I was leaving there were around 2,000 people scattered around the 3 stages, food booths, and area in general - so congrats to Cincinnati.

Unfortunately that was not the case for my stand-up performance at 5pm, when people hadn’t even got off work yet and the temperature was in the triple digits.  I instead performed for about 10 people, most of whom were the family members of the comedian after me, and thanks to some technical difficulties, didn’t even get a chance to do my full 15 minutes (meaning the record is still at 12).  It’s all good though, because I get to at least say I was part of the event.

The improv set faired much better.  We actually combined our show with the Boss Players, and improv group out of Columbus, OH, and just did a smash-up of games for an hour.  We had a pretty good crowd and had some good laughs, a fun time indeed.

I think the coolest part was just hanging out with all the comedians.  I got a chance to meet Josh Sneed for the first time, and Heywood Banks, as well as re-connect with some other funny comedians I’ve met before.

Between the past two weekends, it’s been a crazy time for comedy.  And just to add to the fun, I’ve been busy at work, caught a cold, and sprained my ankle.  My mom and a long time family friend came down to watch our improv show, and afterwards the friend asked how I could keep doing both work and comedy so much.  And really it just comes down to passion.

I’ve been enjoying my work at P&G a ton, and people have been happy with my progress.  I’ve had some opportunities to work in some comedy into the workplace, and overall my first year at the company was a blast.  Comedy continues to get better and present more opportunities.  I love the feeling of getting on stage and making people laugh, whether through improv or stand-up, and find it’s a great balance to the daily grind of work.

I realize that at some point I’m going to have to make a decision one way or the other, work or comedy, but for now I’m fine with all of my free-time being sucked up by both.  Though if things keep taking off for comedy, I may have to decide that sooner that I thought.

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Day 157 (209) - Se7en

Ahh, 7 shows in 7 days - not too shabby.  Tonight was the finals of the “Funniest Person in Cincinnati” at Go Bananas, and it was a lot of fun.  And even though I didn’t win, I did have fun.  I performed my set moderately well and a lot of great friends and family came out and showed their support (thank you everyone, you guys have been amazingly supportive).

So now that my week of stand-up is over, what next?  Well, us Smarty Pants guys have a family-friendly improv comedy show this weekend at the Newport Funny Bone (let me know if you’re interested in a buy 1 get 1 free ticket).

Additionally, I want to actually keep up with the whole stand-up thing.  Ever since I started, it seems like I’ve gone in spurts (perform every week or so for a month or two, and then take two to three months off).  I want to actually try to perform at a minimum once a month for the rest of the year.  That will help me work on new material and make sure I stay fresh like the prince of Bel Air.

And of course this blog is a big help with that.  With “A Play a Day in May” behind us, I can return to making “jokes and jokes and jokes - spaghetti, spaghetti, spaghetti” (thank you, Dave Chappelle).  So with that in mind, I leave you with a joke about laughing:

A group of hyienas have started a company and will begin publicly trading shares on Monday - which is quite ridiculous, they will be the laughing stocks of the entire market…

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Day 153 (213) - Shore Am Having Fun

Well 4 shows with Pauly Shore are now in the books, and it’s been a great experience so far (have 1 more show tomorrow (Sunday) at 7pm). My sets have done decently well, with tonight’s 10:15 crowd being the best so far.

For those of you wondering, Pauly’s a pretty nice guy and a solid stand-up comedian. He takes the time to do pictures and autographs after every show, which is something I’ve always respected in comedians/movie stars. And he does it until the last person is gone, which can take awhile considering he draws a good number of fans - most of which are obsessed with “Bio Dome” or something like that.

It must be tough for someone like Pauly to still be known for something he did 10+ years ago (imagine if you had to go through that, I’d be known as “Bowl-cut Boy” or something ridiculous like that). Without fail, in every set I’ve seen, people have to yell out “Weasel.” Granted some of that notoriety has helped opened some doors for him, but it’s also typecasted him in a certain light. I think he’s handled it pretty well, and uses it as a springboard into his act.

The Feature act, Tommy Tallarino, is also a great guy - very personable, willing to give advice, and is funny both on and off stage. He said something today that’s really stuck with me as far as comedy goes - “You’ve got to learn your act.” And that may not seem profound, but in the context of our conversation, it was like a light bulb going off in my head.

He’s not talking about just memorizing what it is you want to say, he’s talking about exploring the ins and outs of your on-stage persona, your material, your range as a comedian. Not only do you have to memorize your ideas, but you have learn the way that you should do it (sound fx? physical motions? long pauses?). Not only that, but you have to learn yourself. You have to find out what makes you unique, what makes you funny, and what makes you honest on stage. As Seinfeld said, “The whole object of comedy is to be yourself and the closer you get to that, the funnier you will be.”

So that great insight, plus what Pauly talked to me about understanding the roles of the MC vs. the Feature vs. the Headliner (i.e. that the MC should be more of a host than a comedian), has made for an amazingly educational stand-up weekend (and of course the stage time helped). Hopefully it will pan out and help me this coming Wednesday, when I battle it out for the title of “Funniest Person in Cincinnati” at Go Banana’s (show starts at 8pm, tickets are $5).

(Picture added 6/4/07):

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