Standing Up For Comedy

Standing Up For Comedy

It's after midnight and I'm walking home from the train station alone. I am not scared as the backstreets are empty, I'm familiar with them and I have a podcast playing to keep me occupied as I type this.

The occasional bout of rain and icy gust of wind is enough to keep the sensible people and serial killers indoors.

I'll be home soon enough though.

The Gig

6 hours ago, I was sitting to the side of the stage waiting for my name to be called by last night's host Lori Bell. She's a brilliant comedian in her own right, with her own character called "Granny Flaps".

I was introduced as the second act.

For the lack of practice and general preparation, I think I did quite well. I'd forgotten the word "bomb" while on stage and said "died on stage" instead which, in context, got a laugh.

For context: if a set (a comedian's time on stage) doesn't get a laugh it's called "bombing". I saw comedian largely bomb because he was telling set ups for jokes without any real punchline, but he got nervous laughter.

But he had more confidence on stage than I currently do, and I know that just standing on stage when a multitude of people never would, is a victory in and of itself.

Look at the image below. See the step?

The stage

That step is always on my mind when I get called up on stage because I don't want to trip over on the way up. Some comedians will run up the stage to generate energy and flow.

I prefer to be a bit more measured in my approach to the stage, but at the same time being timely as to not keep the host and the audience waiting too much.

Overall, I think that I did quite well on stage. I messed up a few jokes but went under my alloted time of 5 minutes, which is a good thing. Going over time is frowned upon.

There's often a red light that is used as a reminder to say there's 30 seconds to a minute left to finish up.

The Person Who Claps

In the comedy scene, I am known as someone who often claps instead of laughing. It's involuntary.

It's difficult to describe, but it's a way of acknowleding a joke to others might not have gotten. I make connections that other people don't, often the comedians themselves too!

But I also know that silence on the stage can feel like death to a performer.

During the night, several jokes were made at my expense. Apparently some of the other comedians felt that my enthusiasm for comedy was "excessive".

It wasn't, and I refuse to be censored by people trying to dampen my spirit. Chuckle.

The goal is for people to have fun and be inclusive, not divisive.

Anyway, afterwards to calm my post-show adrenaline, I went to Hungry Jack's (our equivalent of Burger King) and had a double whopper.

Double whopper

Probably not the most healthy option, but one of the few available at that time of night.

That's all from me today. There should be a podcast episode available soon if you want to hear my voice.
It will be uploaded here, but older episodes can be found by searching for Easy Like A Sunday Morn.

Thank you for reading and I'll catch up with you soon.

Shaidon

I am a real person and don't use AI in my posts. All photos and images are created by me unless otherwise indicated and sources supplied where applicable.
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