What do YOU see?

Tags: The Stand-Up Diaries

There are many times in life where we are able to take a step back and critique the jobs that others do, and with youtube and facebook now a prevelant part of society, everyone who has an opinion usually steps up to the plate to offer it.  For example, take sports.  With the use of instant replay and ex-players now turned analyst, it’s easy for even the armchair fan to get a good sense of what the athlete is doing right or wrong.

I don’t think the same can be said for comedy though.  Maybe it’s because most people don’t know what to look for.  It’s one of those things where unless you are in the industry and performing, it’s tough to properly critique a comic past whether they get laughs or not.

I bring this up because this weekend I actually stayed home on a Saturday night long enough to catch Dez Reed’s Great Plains Comedy Festival Gala Performance that was held last year at TCU Place, which I was fortunate enough to attend.  When I was there I saw funny comics.  Now that I a performer, I saw something very different from the guys I saw on t.v. and it lead me to a realization.

While it is a goal of mine to get to the festival someday, it won’t be anytime soon for an audience of that size on that scale.  Maybe a smaller show at a bar or Beily’s is fine, but not at TCU.  I am at least 12 – 18 months away from that, and here’s why….

The guys on there has mostly one thing in common.  Confidence.  Not that I don’t have it, but the confidence I am referring to comes from a polished performance, where their timing is tight, and they know their material in the sense that they set up the jokes properly and get to the punchline, and are a bit animated as well, which is probably a byproduct of performing for a few hundred people.  They say it shouldn’t matter whether you are performing for 2 people or 200, it should all be the same.  Maybe I will arrive at that conclusion in a year or two, but right now a crowd that size would present a host of not problems, but challenges, that I am not certain I could overcome at this stage of my development. 

Check your listings, it is more than likely on Shaw channel 10 on Friday and Saturday nights at 11:30.  Watch it and tell me what you see.