It was not meant for me - after my annandagsgig - would run the stand-up again until at Café Klaver 14 January. But during Thursday afternoon I got an offer from BigBenStandUp to jump into the evening - and I said yes. Partly because I need all the gigs and all the experience I can get, partly because I wanted to try some new ideas I had.
Those new ideas had nothing to do with my stuff to do. No, it was about my nervousness, or rather lack of it. When I appeared on Big Ben on Boxing Day, I was never really nervous - and when I do not get it so I never get that surge of adrenaline, the stuff that makes me get all warm inside me. And without the nervousness, it is very difficult to enjoy the moment on the stage and audience reactions. Fortunately, I got through this extragig an opportunity to test different ways to create more nervousness.
Through Facebook and Twitter, I had hours before the gig a lot of tips on how I would be more nervous. Once in place, I started to tell myself that I was nervous, a sort of auto-suggestion (hats off to old Mr. Coué!). Paced to and fro, drank lots of water, sat down and drummed me frantically on his knees, closed my eyes and leaned back to calm myself. Everything that I would lull myself into a false sense of nervousness. And it worked! I would behave as the first comic after the break and was really quivering nerves just before I went up. In addition, I had received the tip from a friend to try assuming the me a stage personality even before I get up - if it is just to pull himself to the shirt or something like that, but something I can do each time to turn. On the other hand, maybe not the whole ritual as Stefan Holm goes through before he is to jump high.
The audience on Thursday was a real party crowd - there was barely time to silence them. Many of the other comedians attracted large audiences to laugh, especially when it came to the more risque jokes. Personally, I have almost no such joke in my material, not very explicit in anyway, but I'm more of a softy comedian. After the last time on Big Ben, I was a little more prepared for what awaited me, and therefore could enjoy much more of the audience's laughter this time. I had to laugh at all my jokes, sometimes more, in others less. No giant tanning and no spontaneous applause, but the audience seemed to have fun for me. And I feel that the material is. I am quite satisfied that this is my level right now. I feel enormously privileged to have had such a great start in stand-up world, that I have been very warmly received by the club hosts and other comedians, and that I have now managed to get as many gigs booked in the spring. It's hard to be new - especially for someone like me who are not exactly a friend of the phrase "it may take time."
I try to learn from other comedians. Stage Presence, energy, timing, security - all those things are things I need to work on. Some of it will come automatically, the more gigs I carry out, other things do I need to hone in other ways.
The material that I ran on Big Ben, Thursday was the same as I had driven there on Boxing Day, plus I had added an extra one-liner that worked okay. So the one-liner is not removed until further notice. I will probably run this stand-up routine several times during the spring at various clubs. Maybe with some minor changes, but on the whole I am satisfied with the jokes. They match well with my stage persona as smart geek.
Now we need to start writing new jokes, like in other subjects than the jokes I already have. Next time I run on Big Ben (maybe at the end of January) I would like to run all new material. If nothing else, for that I will need to accumulate 20 minutes of material for my behavior at Club Jambalaya on O'Leary's in Old Town on 18 February.
See also my list of places where I run the stand-up . Over the next few weeks, I will add a lot more gigs, especially all the performances I will get in the spring of Komikazes different scenes (in that I will be with the stand-up gang Komikazepiloterna).
