Commitment and Contradiction

Alright, this blog is obviously brought to you by the letter "C" and by the number "2"

This isn't gonna be one of those funny blogs (not that many of them are anyway) but this is going to be a blog about two things comedians come across, or at least I think they do.

Last week or so, I performed on a show with Joe DeRosa. During his set, he spoke about a television show, I think it was Bridezillas, and he then commented about how he shouldn't have done that bit because he "didn't fully commit to it." Now whether he committed to it or not, it was still funny, but from what it seems like I've heard and learned from other comedians and books is that with full commitment a joke can go from a C or a B joke to an A joke. I think that you have to fully be behind with what you're saying and show your passion and commitment for what you are saying by using facial expressions, body language, and words used. Because from what I've been taught, if you seem like you don't care about what you're saying, then why should the audience?? I seem to have this problem at times. When I feel like a joke or an act out isn't going over as well as I thought it would, I tend to bail on it and don't finish it and move on to the next bit. Or if it still doesn't go over as well as I thought it would with all the lines intact, welp, then that joke apparently fucking sucks.

So let's go onto contradiction. Now first off, let me just say that I love criticism, positive or negative. I think that it's also important to get criticism from other comedians that you consider friends and peers and at the same time you respect them and their own craft and material. With that being said, a lot of times feedback can be contradicting. For example, awhile back, I was told throw in new material to get a feel for it in front of real audiences and to not worry about the laughs, and take risks. So at a recent show, I did just that. I didn't worry about the laughs and I got a feel for some new material that I'm really starting to like. Well, apparently, that wasn't the right thing to do, because someone watching the acts to give feedback to (agent and/or booker) said that my set was one of the worst of the night. Alright, that's fine. I think that if you're going to get feedback and criticism, you need to take it, do something with it, and move on. You make your own destiny in this world and you choose what happens and you pave the way. If you wanna go up on stage and try out a lot of new material and not worry about it being edited or fleshed out, then do it. Do whatever you want to do and do what you think is funny and do what makes you happy. I think that if you do that, then it's going to be obvious to the audience, and you're going to seem real.

Maybe I'm just talking out of my ass, I dunno...but what I do know is that commitment and contradiction seem to be an important part of this growth, and damnit, I'm gonna figure that shit out.