Originality

Now I know that the blog has been silent recently, but with a day job, a night job, and stand up…finding the time to write is very difficult.  For the four or five of you that this effects I am sorry that I have not been here to entertain you.  But I hope to have a slightly more regular schedule once we wrap up the Women in Comedy Festival this weekend.

I give you a short piece that I had written in my head as a just in case for the last open mic I did.  I can’t exactly explain why I wrote this, but those who know the situation will only have a deeper understanding of this.  I hope it’s entertaining/informative for others as well.

Originality:

I like to consider myself a student of comedy.  The amount of comedy I have listened to numbers in the several hundreds of hours.  The amount I’ve watched via video, DVD, or the internet equals that.  It has always frightened me when I got into comedy to think that maybe some of my ideas and premises would be lifted too closely from all of the masters of the art I had taken the time to listen and watch over the years.  There are certain works of comedy that I could recite almost verbatim and in fact I once as a lark mentioned to some friends of mine that I could probably go on tour as the worlds first ‘tribute comic’ I had some of these routines so cold.  But that is theft, pure and simple, theft. 

As I got deeper and deeper into comedy I realized that all of my past work could be used in a different way.  I could use it to know what paths to avoid.  That I could take my knowledge of other acts and use it as inspiration, not lifting anything from another comedian, but as I listen I get ideas about different bits that I can do.  That I can feel proud to stand on a stage and say that I came up with this.  This is an original comedy bit.  I can be proud because I didn’t take someone’s mannerisms or ideas and try to pass them off as my own.  I do comedy because I want people to hear me and my thoughts on a subject, not something that a much more famous comedian once said that is now filtered through someone else who might change a name here or there or a word or two and call it their own.  I do this because I want my material to make people laugh.  I do it to be original.

I go far beyond the call of duty to make sure that each bit remains original.  I have recently run into a comedian who I am proud to call a friend who had a bit that was very similar to mine.  The first thing I did was check in with him to see if he thought it was too close.  He didn’t, but if he had I would have dropped the bit.  I’m not trying to sound preachy here, but I believe that the most important part of being a stand-up comedian is the not the delivery style, writing style, or anything other than staying original and doing only material that you came up with.

This is it for my soapbox.  Back to some funny stuff next post.

Why Comedy?

Why Comedy?

My wife asked me a question the other day and I realized that I wasn’t exactly sure how to answer.  Her question was a very simple one, but required a level of complexity that I was not exactly ready to bring to the table.  The conversation went like this:

Alicia (my wife):  “Why Comedy?”

Me (me):  “Because I like to make people laugh.”

Alicia (still my wife):  “That’s it?”

Me (still me):  “Yup, I like to make people laugh.  I’ve always been kind of funny.”

That was the entire extent of my answer for this question.  That was it.  But as I think about it more, I realize that I didn’t even come close to scratching the surface of what that question means to me. 

Comedy to me has always been an outlet for my creativity.  I have very serious ADD and my brain runs so many laps a day that it is hard for me to focus on writing a book, or a script, or painting a picture, or anything that requires a lot of invested time.  I am having trouble even writing this blog post without thinking of other things I could do, but I will press on. 

*took a 3 hour break while writing this because I got a facebook message which caused me to look up something on wikipedia, which made me get caught in a wiki-hole (when you click on one link in wikipedia, say Rodney Dangerfield and by a series of other clicks and page views you look up a few hours later to see that you are now looking at the total number of deaths attributed to the black mamba)*

Anyways, comedy is a very important part of my life and keeps me grounded and focused on something that for at least the time being is extremely fun for me.  My answer from above does hold true.  I do like to make people laugh.  But as I continue in stand-up and run into the bad nights when no one laughs, I realized it means so much more.  I like to make me laugh and keep the real world at bay for a bit while I am doing it.  I think for a lot of comedians, at least some of the ones I have met along the way, this is one of the real reasons for doing comedy.  We all run into those bad nights where no one laughs, but at least we are up there giving the world a piece of us.  I don’t think the audience is necessarily an important part of the equation.  I think it is the fact that we are at least making a go of something that not a lot of people have the fire inside them to do.  We put ourselves on a silver platter to be ridiculed, destroyed, and torn apart by the world.  It’s that rush that drives me to continue.  Stand-up comedy is an extreme sport.. 

When you look at me, you know I can’t do a kick flip on a skateboard but I can flip a common conception around and make you laugh at it.  I can’t do a 360 spin and land a snowboard jump but I can do a 360 with my words and make you laugh at something that you wouldn’t necessarily think could be funny.  We (stand ups) are the X-Games competitors of the stage world.  We can just as easily land a joke as have it explode in our face and crumple to the ground wondering what went wrong.  And that single fact is what keeps me going.  It’s the excitement of not knowing what the next event will bring.  If I had the same conversation with my wife today as I did the other day, it may look like this:

Alicia (she’s still with me):  “Why comedy?”

Me (yup, you guessed it):  “It’s EXTREME!!!!!!!!!!”

Alicia:  “That’s it?”

Me:  “Oh, and I like to make people laugh”

Quick Hit

Hi All,

I figured I would give all 4 of you a quick view into some thoughts:

Some companies that should never sponsor certain things:

Nascar GPS devices
Outward Bound brought to you by Cheetos
Big Red for The Crips
Blue Cross, Blue Shield's Bloods
White Out's Klu Klux Klan
5-Hour Energy brings you the 6-Hour Endurance Race


LAST NIGHT:

Last night's set at the Gaff was the best I have had so far.  In looking at my past videos of performances, I realized that I had no energy at all and the crowd felt that.  So I figured that I should really boost myself to a new level and it showed.  Added two new jokes to the set and tagged at least 3 in a totally different way that worked out great.  Also realized what a nice feeling it is to roll into a club with 4 other comedians that you know are funny and working to make sure that everyone gets laughs.

Pulling out the Funny

Hi Everyone,

I am going to re-post a blog article that I wrote for my wife's blog about comedy.  I am actually proud of this post and want this new blog to start off with something good.  So, without further ado....

COMEDY INSPIRATION

(HOW A NEWS ARTICLE BECOMES A JOKE WHICH BECOMES A BIT)

I was asked to guest write today because someone has too much to do to keep in touch with you, her loyal fans.  I was given a few ideas on what to write, but I figured that I would use this time with you to give you an insight into some of the strange ways a stand-up comedian (me) finds inspiration, sometimes in the most mundane of places, and hopefully you will all find some way to use this info in your writing. 

What I am aiming to do is to take you on a brief journey into how I came up with a 72 second bit (yes I timed it) from a news article headline, without using any part of the headline.  You will all see a little window into my head, which I want to apologize in advance for the clutter.  I wasn’t expecting company today, so haven’t cleaned in a while. 

First though a quick introduction of the method and where I got it from:

I am currently attempting to be a stand-up comedian and taking classes at the ImprovBoston to help facilitate the dream.  It is amazingly difficult to be an effective stand-up comedian, not just from the performance standpoint, but joke writing in itself is a daunting task as well.  My instructor, the incredibly funny Dana Jay Bein (he would want the plug, trust me) has a different approach to the art of writing for stand-up that many comedians don’t follow.  The biggest takeaway from comedy writing standpoint that I found is that inspiration can be found anywhere, but if you don’t take the time to search for it you will never be successful.  In other words, set some time aside to write, even if it is just random thoughts or trying to make one-liners from news headlines and seeing what comes from there.  That is the process I will show you below.

THE HEADLINE (duhn, duhn, duhn):

“Millionaire Segway tycoon dies in cliff plunge on one of his own scooters”

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1315518/Segway-tycoon-Jimi-Heselden-dies-cliff-plunge-scooters.html

Now to be 100% fair, there is so much there that is funny.  I mean the Segway itself is ripe for comedy and has been used in many comedians’ bits.  But the fact that the owner of Segway died while riding a Segway opens up so many humorous thoughts (at least in my head).  Also note that he died in a “cliff plunge” while riding a Segway.  We all know what a Segway is, my first thought was who paved a road that ended in a cliff, Shel Silverstein? 

(Brief Segway) Interestingly my initial joke that I had thought up was that it was kind of like a Dr. Frankenstein situation, the creation rising to kill the creator.  But I did read the article a little further and found out that it wasn’t the creator of Segway but  the man who had bought it, so my joke had to change

Than my second thought was that if this was the man who had bought Segway, then he really loved the scooters.  So he died doing what he loved, riding a Segway.  This isn’t really necessarily funny, but my thoughts took me another way.

THE INITIAL JOKE (ha, ha, ha):

The owner of Segway died when he drove a Segway off of a cliff on his estate.  This struck me as such an appropriately poetic way to die.  He died doing exactly what he loved to do, impacting the bottom of a steep cliff face at a high rate of speed.  It’s somewhat magical in that respect.

I thought this was a very funny way to restate the headline.  One of the main problems with the joke is the same reason that bad comedians scramble for material every time a new president is elected (especially when W’s two terms were up), the timeliness of the material.  When crafting a joke, I feel that you shouldn’t lock yourself into a particular time period or cultural reference, you want to try to open the joke up so that someone who wasn’t around can still find it funny.  Also some people may not get the reference you are trying to make.  Truly successful comedians appeal to all audiences and don’t necessarily carve out a specific niche.  That being said, it is okay to allow yourself to make cultural references, as long as that is not the key punchline in the joke (you will see what I mean later).

So from this headline I realized that the interesting and funny thought is “dying doing what you love.”  And is that ever true?  After some research to see if any comedian publicly had a bit based on that thought (another pain in the ass thing every comedian has to do).  I began crafting my thoughts towards that end. 

THE BIT (Now this is publicly mine, Bitches):

This may contain some slightly offensive material, and also gives some insight into my pathetic life.  READ AT YOUR OWN RISK. And please don’t judge me:

You hear a lot about these people who died “doing what they loved.”  Does this ever happen, do you think that a skydiver who’s parachute doesn’t open actually died doing what he loved.  No, he failed at doing what he loved.  Let’s just get it straight here.  I’m all for sentiment, but a racecar driver who dies in a high-speed race did not love crashing into a wall at a high rate of speed and having his body so mangled that it had to be a closed casket funeral.  You never hear anyone say “At least he died doing what he hated.” Like, “Well Uncle Jimmy hated getting hit by a bus while walking to work, at least he died doing what he hated”  And no one ever says, he hated cancer so much, I’m so glad he died from what he hated..

Also, I don’t ever want to die doing what I love, it would just be the most pathetic death scene to walk into.  It would be me, sitting on the couch, one hand on my crotch, the other clutching a video game controller, a half-eaten Table Talk chocolate pudding pie on the table, next to a copy of the Watchmen comic spread open to the part where Sally Jupiter and Night-Owl have sex.  I would just want to die doing something I hate at that point, like getting hit by a bus or walking…

As you can see, the inspiration behind that bit came from the initial headline in a very roundabout way.  Maybe it is just the way that my mind works, but I feel that as a writer (not just comedy), what inspires you doesn’t necessarily come from where you think it would and the end result doesn’t have to refer to the initial inspiration at all. 

I built a larger premise out from the initial joke as well, the fact of “Dying doing what you hate.”  This I feel is the real meat of the joke, and the truly original portion.  Taking something common and expounding on it is a great way for your comedy to stay relevant.

I do have a few cultural references in the bit, but they are not necessarily the crux of the joke, they are really flavor text to build a bigger picture of how pathetically geeky I am.  

I hope you enjoyed this brief look into the head of a struggling, awful, hack (oh my god, I can’t believe I wrote this) comedian, and that it will help your writing, even in a slight way.  Also, if anyone steals my bit, I will cut you….with a knife.  Just kidding…with a straight razor, because I keep it old school.

First Post of New Blog

Hi,

This is a new blog I am starting up to detail some of my travails of attempting to make a go of it in the world of stand-up comedy. Here you will find stories, musings, comedy, videos, and maybe if you look deep enough inside...hope. Because as I once told a friend, "If you can't find hope inside a blog titled Murder on the Oregon Trail, then where can you find it..." (that joke will mean something to only one person who may not read the blog in the first place, how's that for fan-service.)

I will be importing some of the stories from my old blog to here as I see fit. So some of you may see stories multiple times.

For those who don't know me a brief introduction. I began doing comedy 12 years ago for about a year and a half and got greatly discouraged. Recently, about 6 months ago, I started taking improv classes at ImprovBoston and became re-enamored with comedy. I started working at ImprovBoston in the role of tech director in September and took my first Stand-Up Class soon after. Hit my first Open Mic in 11 years and promptly bombed the room, with the noted exception of one extremely drunk man sitting at the front table who apparently loved everything I did and applauded throughout all of my punchlines. Not discouraged by this, I continued on...and you dear readers will hear more as I go along this journey.

Thanks for checking this out.

Josh