I went into last evening feeling good. I had worked hard to develop material and thought I had some good stuff. I had worked at scripting and shaping it using the "tools" we had been given in Week 4, and I had taken the challenge to build gangsta rap into the piece, no matter how odd that may sound and certainly felt.
I had also worked on some physical aspects of my clothing that I had worked in.
The first session was two previous students coming back, giving us some of their comedy and then answering questions. If I am honest I was slightly underwhelmed or maybe my expectations are too high. The two comedians were ladies, both having graduated from the school in 2008 or 2007, I don't recall. One was now making it semi-professionally, but had probably done around 1,000 unpaid gigs before she started making money, the other has done less having a day job "for the government", but now wants to lift her game.
In truth, to me, their routines were not that funny, but then for one reason or another they are not professionals after 5 years so maybe I am setting my standards too high. They were honest in their answers and there was a part of me thinking, "Thank goodness I don't aspire to me a comedian, but am taking the course for fun".
That said I don't want to be humiliated and do think I have some good material. I still thought so when we started the second session, ie we students standing up and getting critiqued by the tutor. I was feeling pretty good and thinking I had followed instructions, used what we had been given and stretched myself out of a comfort zone.
This week we were just seven; no girls this week. The tutor chose the running order so I got to see a few stand up before me. I don't know if this was good or bad.
I felt they were less prepared than I was, and they were picked up on that, but they were also picked up on lack of shading in the emotional content. There was good feedback about how to better present stuff, but I was left doing a mental rewrite. I was scoring elements out entirely and reordering the rest.
When I got up I went into my revised routine, but I had to leave out a load of what I had previously thought of as good gags. A couple of my pieces got a few of the group chuckling and smiling, but then I was stopped by the tutor.
Having first noticed I was "confident" on stage he started picking holes, albeit with suggestions how to improve things. My stuff was obviously not as good as I thought. In particualr I was told it was too presentation like, but I think that is the result of preparation, polishing and practice.
Fair enough we are there to learn so I sat down in thoughtful mode.
I found the evening got more difficult, as I then saw two other students get quite praised for doing some very average and I thought contrived and unoriginal stuff. This left me rather bemused and if I am honest a little angry.
Now I could try and rationalise and say the tutor felt they needed more building up thn knocking down, but at the end of the day I think I have to accept that standup is an art form in itself and that the tutor knows best even if I don't like it.
My plan now is to suck it up and try a different tack next week, taking onboard the comments made. That said I have decided to drop a couple of peices that make me uncomfortable and to prepare less with the hope that it does appear more spontaneous.
It obviosuly got to me as I was aware of waking during the night and my mind goind over it again, but then this morning I recalibrated expectations.
The comedians we all see on TV are, in footballing terms, the equivalent of Premiership players. The two ladies who performed for us last night are probbaly Conference players, while my fellow students and I are South Herts Sunday Pub league 2, and I am probably the stand in goalkeeper who was asked ot play half an hour before kick off!
Nothing on earth would get me on stage doing what you did. Re your initial comments on solid preparation, to be honest, a heavily pre-prepared formulaic script will probably come across as exactly that to an audience. My views don't count for much but if I was up there (and I am not), I would think of a couple of real-life situations I had experienced and exaggerate wildly: the Jaspar Carrot of the East. Keep it loose and allow yourself to go off on tangents so it sounds unscripted. Ronnie Corbett was a master of that type of humour. Although Barker was regarded as the more talented of the two, he always came across as scripted and unhappy ad-libbing. Corbett was the reverse. Try to suck in the audience, get them to empathise with you and feel that it could be them in the situation you describe. You may have already dumped it, but a 40 something man doing gangsta rap is going to be Richard and Judy toe-curlingly dreadful, unless its ironic nature is totally obvious. As for the others and their material, perhaps your Tutor sees the benefit of "playing safe" initially then building your Act into something more original and edgy as you get better. Perhaps he thinks you are getting ahead of yourself. Keep at it. I am sure it will be worthwhile. Eli.
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