Ready Or Not…..Here Comes Monday!

Tags: comedy, The Stand-Up Diaries

Lots of times in life we’ve all probably felt as if we have earned or deserved an opportunity to work our way up the ladder, whether it be at work, or in a volunteering capacity, or building up enough momentum and guts to ask out that person you’ve always had your eye on.  But just because you earned it and believe in your mind you should attempt to take that step, does it necessarily mean you are ready for it?

This is the situation I currently find myself in.  Now, before I get started on the body of this blog, I would like to remind people that I do not do this blog to piss off other comics, nor do I write this to create controversy.  I started this blog as a way for my friends and anyone else who was interested to get an inside look at the world of comedy and what it’s like through the eyes of this newcomer.  Plus, sometimes comics will comment on the blogs to give a fresh perspective on things.  Remember, since Christmas I’ve had over 1,500 views of my blog, and it’s being read all over the world.  This is simply my opinions and thoughts.  You don’t like it, you can either comment and disagree, or stop reading this altogether.  So, let’s get to the subject of my blog post today…..

Last night was the Tuesday night comedy at The Factory Pub at Earl’s.  It wasn’t a bad set for me, the only thing is that I am beginning to develop a bad habit, that at first was done out of ignorance, because I hadn’t the experience onstage to know what the fuck I’m doing.  It’s the habit of just bulldozing through my material and not really giving the audience either a) the benefit of the doubt that it’s funny or b) time to let the humour sink in and get a positive reaction from it.  Yes, it’s that word TIMING yet again that raises its ugly head.  I can only count on one hand really, the times I have had to use that timing (by timing I mean taking a break in the middle of the joke).  I don’t have enough experience, I believe, to know when to utilize the timing.  Plus it hasn’t happened a whole lot as of yet, so it’s tough to recognize it, and once it happens, sometimes when I am onstage I just continue with my material because I haven’t conditioned myself yet to handle it properly.  Dez said last night on one of my jokes that if I would have had timing on it, that bit could have been funny.  On the one hand I’m disappointed in myself because I should know better, but on the other hand I do tell myself that it’s only been like what…..seven months?  Guys who have been in the comedy game for years don’t have it figured out, so there is nothing saying that I need to figure all this shit out now also.

The Factory Pub was cleared out except Dez, myself and a couple of his helpers.  It was here that he suggested I host on Monday night at Beily’s.  Now, this Monday is a bit different from most, as it’s not the regular comedy night.  The 3rd Monday of the month is known as “So, You Think You’re Funny?”.  It is a monthly competition where anybody from the audience can join the comics onstage where everyone gets the same 5 minute time limit to be the funniest performer of the night.  From the audience response, and the host, a winner is decided who then gets cash.  At least with no headliner that Monday I can’t forget the headliners name   LOL

Sure, it’s a paid gig, and all I really have to do is warm up the crowd at the start of the night, introduce the acts, facilitate the competition and declare a winner, facilitate the 50/50 draw and do some material in between acts.  The whole process shouldn’t take any more than an hour.  You’d think it’s easy, but it creates a whole host of new problems or challenges, depending on how you look at it.  I think the difference between a problem or a challenge is in your confidence level, really.  For the most part I view Monday night as a series of challenges, that can turn into problems pretty quickly if they aren’t handled the right way.

I won’t talk about the strategy that I am planning to employ on Monday, because it might tip my hand as to my material or subject matter.  Let me just say that as the host, I believe it’s up to you to set the tone for the night.  It’s much like the hostess job at a restaurant.  IF she is rude to you before you even get to your table, regardless of how great the meal is or how great the service was, that opening encounter will somewhat dampen the experience.  Hell, if it was bad enough you may not even want to be walked to your table, just might turn around and leave.  So, as you can see, there is a bit of pressure or expectations that come with this.

I say that while I might have earned this opportunity somewhere along the way, I don’t know if I am necessarily ready for it.  That’s right.  I don’t know if I am ready to be thrust under the spotlight for this type of responsibility this soon.  Who knows?  If things somehow lined themselves up where I knocked it out of the park that night, it may put me in consideration for a spot in the festival?  Dez said that I should give the type of performance that I did at Manchesters during the competition where I wiped the floor with Saskatoon’s best, even if it just was for one night.  Not as easy as it sounds!

Don’t get me wr0ng, I am grateful for the opportunity, but I can’t see how I have earned…well wait a second.  My persistence and growth, sure it’s been slow, but I’m still in the mix, aren’t I?  I just don’t think I am quite ready for this yet, as I am writing material that I’m not quite ready to do yet, things that are a stretch for me onstage.  Things that other hosts have tried and done successfully.  It would be easy to say that I just need to follow the formula that has been placed before me, but there are parts of it that I’m not comfortable doing yet, so I have to dive right in and get my nose dirty, so to speak, to make it work.  I know this might not make a tonne of sense right now, but once Monday night is over with, I can go into a bit of detail as to what I was trying to accomplish.  The things will make sense.

Right now I just need to get this right and prepare.  If Dez didn’t think I could succeed, he wouldn’t have given me this opportunity, and I get that, I really do.  It will take a few days for me to believe I can succeed, and once Monday night comes and it’s showtime, I will own the moment and make it work.

To all those around the world who read this, have a blessed weekend, and thank you very much for supporting this blog and of the local comedy scene.