For the first time I tried my hand at standup comedy. All week I've been making notes, writing, writing, listening to comedians on Pandora, writing, watching standup specials on Netflix, and then writing some more. I'm not kidding when I say that standup comedy was consuming every minute of my waking life. Even as I tried falling asleep, my mind would wander off and explore some topic, finding something humorous about it until I thought "OH THAT'S GOOD" and causing me to pop up every five minutes to write it down before I forgot, because even if you think it's so funny there's no way you could forget it, well, often times you do. I'd keep doing this throughout the night, next thing I know it's 4 in the morning, I'm getting no sleep, and my abs are suddenly cut and defined from all the sitting up (I wish).
It all started about a month ago when my friend Daniel showed me his new business card. It said: ACTOR, WRITER, COMEDIAN...
I said, "Wow! You're a comedian Daniel?"
He said, "No, but I figure this will give me a reason to start!"
Then Ali told me she was going to give it a go as well, and maybe even try it out at a comedy club. Never in my life have I ever considered standup as a possibility. I thought, Well... Maybe I should try too. Why not? It's a challenge!
I loved the process, and I could see jokes working as I practiced with a microphone (remote) in my private studio (bedroom). Whenever I got stuck, I put on comedians that inspired me: Brian Regan, George Carlin, Mike Birbiglia, John Mulaney, Demetri Martin, and, of course, Ellen.
Ali and I planned on doing the 5-minute open mic on Wednesday at the New York Comedy Club. I was hesitant in reserving my place, worrying about my set. No! It's not ready! But how would I know unless I tried? So I wrote the e-mail to Brian Roth, one of the guys who runs the show requesting a spot, closed my eyes, and quickly hit "Send". There! Now I have to no matter what! See, Erin? That wasn't so bad!
(What have I done???)
(What have I done???)
The audience was made up of maybe 15 people or so, all of who were either a friend of mine and Ali's, or a fellow comedian going up on the mic. It's a good place to try out what works and what doesn't when you're you eventually cover a bigger/more crowded venue. With all the other comedians, it kind of felt like a standup jam sesh (joke sesh?), like we were all just listening to each others stuff. I enjoyed every one of them in some way for various reasons. It was funny, they kept commenting on how young we were since everyone appeared to be at least 26 and up. I wish I had taken photos... I can't believe I didn't take any! That's so unlike me! But I was nervous... I was shaking ever so slightly, I think I said "Uh" too much, and even after all that practice holding the mic-remote I completely forgot to take the microphone out of the stand! However, the pressure to be "funny" wasn't as present as I thought it would be, and once I got off the stage I was on such a high! Especially since the last time I performed anything on any kind of stage was the sketch comedy show at The Tank back in February.
Is it going to be my career? I can't say for sure. Would I do it again though? Absolutely! I got some laughs, and even if I hadn't I can always work on it and try again. Hey, another addition to the resumé, right? I figured I haven't written much about the reason I'm in this city in the first place, but I haven't been auditioning much. Come Fall, I promise to do this once I am really getting myself out there.
I have videos of both my set and Ali's, so I'll put them here once I can download them! I'm babysitting at the moment and writing this all on my phone. If you're at all interested in trying standup, check out Brian Roth's wonderfully informative blog at newyorkcomedy.wordpress.com!
Happy Thursday!
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