It’s Only A Matter Of Time Now……

Tags: amateur comedians, Saskatoon, stand-up comedy, The Stand-Up Diaries, trevor dean

Over 4,100 views in 31 countries since December of 2011, covering topics ranging from cancer, to bullying, to redemption, to family and being homeless, 89 likes on my Facebook comedy page and the almost 20 people who follow my blog through e-mail and/or WordPress.com, it all comes down to this Thursday, April 25th of 2013.  1 1/2 years into my comedy journey, exactly one month until I turn 40 years old, it all comes down to this, my return to the comedy club.

Understanding the journey I’ve been on for the last few months to get to this place, I now realize that I took comedy for granted.  I knew that comedy would require hard work, I just didn’t know the parameters of that hard work in relation to comedy.  You know the mantra “work smarter, not harder”?  I can honestly say that I didn’t do either.  I don’t believe some comics know how to work harder in a comedic sense.

Over these last two months I have learned what working harder means in comedy.  It requires you to look at the wording of your jokes, to take a step back and be able to understand why the audience did or didn’t laugh at a particular bit.  It’s not enough to say that a joke is funny, just because it’s funny.  I don’t think comics, or anyone in life for that matter will benefit from the “just because” scenario.  Regardless of what you pursue in life you need to know the how and the why.  If nobody around you can tell you the how and the why then you need to exhaust all options to find it.

If you aren’t interested in pursing the how and the why, I believe it’s for two reasons.  You either think you’ve got the how and the why figured out, or maybe it’s because discovering the how and the why takes discipline and hard work.  Most people want change, to change the results they currently get out of comedy, or from life, but they want to do it at their own pace.  Well, I have found out the hard way that this is the true definition of insanity.  Doing the same things you’ve always done thinking they will get better results.  Who the hell are you fooling?

If people truly want to get better at something there comes a time when you become humble and let go of the excuses that prevent you from achieving change.  This requires putting your pride or ego aside and doing whatever possible to change because you have the belief within you that change is possible.  If you think I am singling out certain people, I’m not.  I used to be that way until I got thumped to the curb (deservedly so) back in early January.

I went to the club Friday night; it was sold out to the point where they turned people away at the door.  I was asked if I would go up and do a set, but I declined.  It was tempting, but I knew within myself that I needed work, practice and timing to be able to deliver material for an audience that size.  In fact, with only a few days until my return, I know that I require another coaching session including making out a set list based on the new material I’ve written, then practice the shit out of it so it seems fluent and smooth.

At the end of the day I’m tired of the way things were, tired of being left out while everyone else did Facebook postings about out of town gigs, killing a set at the club and get mentioned in the advertising.  It was disappointing, discouraging and humbling to go through.  The self-doubt, fear and frustration will be there right up til the moments I get back on stage.

The question is, will the $500 already spent in coaching, all the writing, the scrapping of jokes, having to explain a joke to my comedy coach a few times before he understood the premise of it, the plans my comedy coach has for me beyond Saskatoon…..will they all contribute to success, or will it be a flop?  Will the performance be so much better than before, that others want to know about the coaching and/or the e-book and do it themselves?  Jerry is putting his reputation out there as a professional comedy writer to help me, and now it’s up to me to be able to deliver the material properly to get the desired result.  There is a bit of pressure there, especially when some people doubt a comedy coach’s effectiveness.

We get the answers on Thursday night.  Look for a post next weekend for details on how it went.