This spring I'll get into my worst stand-up project to date.
In spring 2011, I had the goal to succeed in entry-level contest Bungee Comedy - to make the audience laugh as much as possible in three minutes. Once I found what I wanted to make fun of it went, however, relatively easy to create the actual jokes. (With the professional help that pointed out in which direction I should move clean humor wise.) And most of the material that I used were things I had created several intensive weeks already in November 2010. It was rather difficult to get security on the stage. When I appeared in the qualification round and the finals - where I came second - so, it was a very grateful audience. They expected maybe not a lot of us newbies.
Last fall, I set up my first one-man show. Actually a little mad regime - one-man show is something you usually set up only after you been at it a few years as a comedian and amassed both materials and experience. But for me it worked so well right at this time. And the risk of failure with a one-man show is not huge. Is it just because enough fine material so you can go home with the audience - they've come that they are interested to see just me. The lesson was that the show became a personal talk and longer stories that attracted laughter, rather than the constructed punchline jokes.
During all this time, just over a year, I have also performed up 50 times on comedy clubs. Mainly rookie clubs where it's free (or cheap) entry and where the new in the industry have the opportunity to stage times and where they are established will to test new material. A few pay clubs, I have also appeared on and then it is always sticking to the safest materials. Sometimes it's working for me and sometimes it has been like that. Occasionally, I have managed very well. Someone correct total bombing, I have not suffered, even if it is dödjobbigt in such minutes when I fail to make the audience laugh.
Actually, I could put that halvårsmål to just get better at what I already do, ie to increase the level of laughter when I'm performing on the rookie clubs. But for me it will be a challenge for boring, so I'll probably fail it. I want my goal is to work impregnable from the level I'm at now. So I have to aim really high.
The best you can be in stand-up world is the headliner. When the headliner appearing on pay clubs so you drive often up to 45 minutes. 4-6 laughs per minute should be able to get the headliner. Or in other figures: for about one third of the time the audience should be started to laugh. I certainly did not aim to be the headliner at this time. Not in six months.
The next best is support comedians. It's the comedian on a pay club that runs between the act of perhaps 20 minutes. Or is förkomiker to headliners show. All variants are, of course, but roughly, it's like that. Then of course many comedians that switches all the time and sometimes run as headliner and sometimes as support. And at some clubs you can be the headliner or support, even if it does not work as the others.
My goal this spring is to create a stand-up material and an appearance that is good enough for me to act in support comics on a pay club. Whether I get those gigs in the future is not part of a great spring goal, I'm just trying to make it into a possible future.
Even if I drove an hour-long show last fall so it does not mean automatically that I have 20 minutes fun club material. No, the show was just an hour long so that I could build up a picture of myself for fifteen minutes and then spend three quarters given to demolish it. And remember that time found their audience to me. Now I have to be so funny that I can maintain the kind of audience at any time, even those who do not like geeky IQ joke.
In principle, the fact that I now have to start over. I have to find a great casual style that works professionally. The following things should I change in the spring:
- Running more recognition humor. Substances that everyone will recognize themselves in. But with my little geeky twist on it, so I retain my individuality.
- Using your body more. So far I have mainly stood vevat with your right arm. But humor is not just words, it's so much visual impact as well.
- Use more facial expressions. Facial expression to date has mostly consisted of my regular expressions, but I have rarely used it to portray other people.
- Engineering situations and to perceive other people (with the body, facial expressions and distorted voices). So far I have mostly worked with the classical approach with the setup and punch line. It is time that I create a little longer stories.
- On the whole, working with more long stories (type 3-6 minutes long), where the fun is not just punchlines, but my comments on topic. Instead of having a punchline where the last words in a sentence changes the meaning of the sentence as a whole, so I create situations where the comment is contrary to the situation. Previously, the words have been my dream to get laughs, now it will rather be the attitude.
- Work more with creating images of the audience. Once I have created a funny picture of their internal so I can feed on a few comments on the same topic and have continued laughing.
- Try my way of talking to the audience and use me for their answers to create humor. I have not dared to take the audience very much in my stand-up spirit, but if I'm going to be a good support comedians, it's a must. This I dread for, it's scary.
- Get my stand-up spirit of sounding like a natural conversation with the audience. I have so far been too theatrical and kept me talking tough to the script. Lately I have tried to resolve it with the knot, but I need to make great progress on that front.
If I can get the above things, I have a good foundation. I am not worried about the jokes. Writing humor is the piece I'm good at. But stand-up force is made up of so much more.
To achieve this, I have the spring as a work and experimentation. I will among other things, run a lot of free sites Big Ben, Stockholm. Sometimes my new stuff to fall flat, sometimes I will do well. If a scant six months and I will as the target succeeds really well every time I drive safe material.
I will also visit the North Well and other pay clubs pretty often, just to be in the audience and learn from the pros. Because I really want to try to become a comedian who can entertain a wider audience than I can do today. Of course with my own style intact.
It will be very difficult. But that is just what is the fun part.
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I am very impressed at how you can "throw you out" into the unknown and like grab it with abstract that gets people to pick up the dimples. There is not anyone who dares to do it, or have the talent, but there you go. Hope you come down a trip to Skåne in the year.