Ok so 'getting anywhere' in comedy is entirely up to the individual. From the comedy course I was on 3 people failed to graduate and were given the opportunity to try again at no extra cost and have decided not too - I don't think they realised that comedy can be a serious business. Of the rest of us nobody seems to have done much yet apart from me, you definitely need to be proactive to get any work - paid or unpaid. No one comes knocking at your door to start off with. Most of the people on my course were from outside of London and it's much more difficult to get gigs.
Last week there was a competition at the Cavendish Arms in south London. They are great for new comedians as they offer a weekly competition for newbies like me - The Cavendish Virgins comp and apparently the audiences are kind - not much heckling and because they are there specifically for the comedy they tend to want to hear what you are saying rather than chatting to their mates. All of which makes it a nice gig for a newcomer to cut their teeth on. If you are any good they may offer you some spots on other nights. To say you have won one of their virgin nights is great because it is a well known venue and recognised to generally have a good quality field.
Having said that they do a 2012 Max Turner comedian of the year comp. I didn't enter it because I heard about it too late. I heard about it only 2 weeks ago and most of the spots were full. It has a week of satellites (in poker speak) where 3 or 4 go through from each night Monday to Friday then a final on Saturday. I would have liked to enter but it all the spots had been filled.
Anyway the winner was this guy who I have seen on youtube before and struggled to ‘get’ initially – his quiet approach I find irritating – I hate having to struggle to hear someone but his material is very clever and there seem to be some real gems in there. This is not his winning performance but his set included this. He’s been on the circuit for a year or so from what I can gather.
I like to see what the winning acts are doing to try and get a hint/flavour of what is going down well with audiences. I don’t think this style will ever suit me though…
The runner up included comedic singing in his set – again not me – unless it’s to a deaf audience but then I’d probably sign it out of tune.
I want to enter the Leicester comedy festival newcomers competition but to do so I need to upload 3 mins of my set onto their facebook site and they will have a general judging of everyone based on that and then chose those who will take part in the Leicester comp in Feb.
This is a problem as so far I have 2 ½ mins of my first ever gig which I don’t want them to judge me on and 3 ½ mins of part of my gig from last week very badly filmed by my drunk friend. Do I just do part of my gig to camera (not a great option imo) without an audience or mike (mike work is something they judge on which is why my course spent a whole morning just on how to handle and use the mike) or do I wait and see if I can get any more gigs in the near future and ask someone less drunk to film it. The problem being that on the night me or the audience might not be as good as I hope. I can’t ‘stage’ a gig as that would be spotted right away, no compere, red curtains that sort of thing.
The Leicester newcomers is a great competition to be part of, it is the longest running comedy festival and anyone who is in comedy tries to do Leicester and Edinburgh. It gets you seen before Edinburgh, gets you gigs and as it’s near me would be ideal as all the local bookers will definitely be there.
So I'm applying for gigs and waiting to hear back. It's a catch 22 situation - they may not offer you a spot because you are unknown and well you know the rest. It's just a case of plugging away. I now understand what they mean by 'breaking in' to the circuit. It's not like poker where they will welcome you with open arms if you can afford the entry fee however good or bad you are.
I also have to start being honest with myself as to where I want this to go as that affects the time etc I spend on it. I am lucky that I can manage my time as I am self employed but obviously I still need to make a living and comedy is not going to do that for me for a long time. I am currently selling some property and will have some money available in a few months - more than enough to fund a month in Edinburgh. While there i could probably get a regular 10 min gig and a massive opportunity to network (plus possibly meet my secret but massive comedian crush). I haven't had a proper holiday for 4 years apart from the odd weekend away so I'm thinking I deserve one but am I just fooling myself? There probably isn't a hope in hell that this will ever be commercially viable, but I am having fun. Although it's agonising it's a good agony if that makes sense and it's cost me a lot less than poker ever would have.
Do you remember when you first started playing poker and how confident you may have felt and now looking back it's almost embarrasing how little you knew but you thought you knew it all after a few weeks of luckboxing? That's what I think I'm feeling now.
I love doing stand up, but I don't know if it loves me.
Thoughts?