Friday, January 18, 2008

Don't sit down, Stand Up!

I hate making New Years Resolutions, basically because it's just more pressure that you put on yourself for something that you're not going to do, but this year I did "tell" myself that I was going to try to go to the gym more often (I've been twice this week) as well as a few other things I wanted to accomplish this year.

Last night I checked off another list of the "things" and it scared the crap out of me.....I went to an open mic program at a local coffee shop.....and I participated.

I actually got in front of a group of about 30 people and spent a few minutes on stage trying to be funny, well at least I thought I was trying to be funny.

Granted this was an open mic and several of the guys that went up before me got even fewer laughs than I did and I swear there were crickets for one guy. It's hard to be funny ALL the time, I think we get jaded by these TV Comedians because every joke they tell is funny - but what people don't realize is that that person probably told 20 more jokes that weren't funny until they hit on the funny one.

I did get a few laughs, which is cool, but they weren't from what I thought I would ge the laughs from, it's a lot harder to do Stand Up than you think it is.

The only problem is that I used all of my material I had in just a few minutes so now I've got to get back to writing more jokes.....please send me your funny one liners so I can steal them and not give you credit!

2 comments:

Andrea Knapp said...

You have balls Michael! I would have to be so drunk to get up on stage and do anything never mind trying to be funny.

Which I'm not.

Unknown said...

OH! You should totally read this book, The Comedy Bible by Judy Carter..... I know its kinda cheesy sounding, but the workbook type feel of it is really helpful. My girlfriend was working through it and wanted to try some stand up. We used to do improv in Nashville, but stand up is a whole different ballgame. Where did you go? Pressure Cafe on Clark is really a great little venue for first times, practicing, etc. And they brew Metropolis coffee so ya gotta love'em! Congrats on getting up on stage. The first time I stepped on stage in Nashville I seriously thought I was going to pass out. Its so stupid that its like the scariest feeling in the world...
Happy Friday :-)