Week 4 - the wind up to my Comedy Showcase

Last night was week 4 of 7, so now we are over half way through. Who knew that I loved Gangsta Rap?

The group shrank again this week, three missing and one returnee. That said there is a hardcore of six that have been there every week.

Last week's homework was to work on a list of loves and hates along with reasons why. The contention being that it is from these strong emotions that the best comedy comes from. I found it quite hard as I am a pretty tolerant even tempered man, but I had decided to push myself and go with the flow of the course.

One by one we stood in front of the group to "present", in standup fashion, our homework. It was interesting how hard a number of people found it to do. There is something of cultural reservation, to expressing love and hate. Certainly Mr Cee did not believe many of us, he did not feel the emotion.

I know I could have done better, but I think I did OK. I certainly had a couple of things in there that I would not have at the start if the course.

We then looked at the tools of standup comedy, set-ups and punch lines, observations, comparisons, similes, mimicking etc. I did feel old when I was the only one to appreciate the Jasper Carrott simile - "I had a curry last night. It was so hot that this morning my bottom felt like the opening credits to Bonanza."




Building on this was a little emotional improv. The idea being a class member stood up and was given a subject. They then had to take a love or hate stance and talk for a minute about their position on the subject, conveying that emotion to Mr Cee.

Subjects included Shakespeare, cruising and croquet. I got Gangsta Rap!

I started with a hate stance and was pulled up as unbelievable. I then decided to go with it and took an "I looooove Gangsta Rap" stance; me in my shirt, tue and suit trousers, extolling the freedom of being allowed to leave my gun on the table at any meeting and how the lyrics captured the real philosophy of the street. Frankly I spoke a load of b*ll*cks ( no change there I hear some say), but I did with some energy and passion and the ludicrous juxtaposition of my physical appearance and my verbal exposition had them all laughing, including Mr Cee.

So now I am tasked with building on Gangsta Rap for next week. I have no idea where to take it, but it was for this type of challenge and personal development I too, the course. I can't say I knew what to expect ( certainly not becoming a lover of Gangsta Rap) , but I am certainly not disappointed.

Tickets go on sale for our showcase next week, somewhere near Regents Park on the 22nd, so now it is getting serious. June looks like it will be a very interesting month.