A Free Show Biz Tip Posted on 05/29/2009 at 10:26 AM
If you are standing in Comedy Club A and you absolutely must ask an independent producer/booker about a show at Comedy Club B, be discrete. Don't loudly ask in front of staff, patrons and Club Manager A about shows at Club B.
Revived, Repurposed and Redeemed Posted on 07/13/2007 at 12:05 PM
Instead of one of my usual, malcontented rants, I thought I'd post something that actually complies with the stated purposed of this blog, just to be different.
Two years ago I wrote Ode to the XBox 360 as a satirical blog essay. I liked it and decided to try to perform it as stand up. It failed utterly. But I remained convinced that it could performed and enjoyed in some other form.
I dusted it off, edited the intro slightly and performed it for the Nerd Poetry Slam at the Bowery Poetry Club this week. What fun!
It was my first time performing at a spoken word event and it was a smashing success. The crowd was jammed with nerds. The host wore a T-Shirt bearing the image of The Simpsons Comic Book Guy and asked questions about Star Trek and Muppets.
Anyone who failed the trivia challenge was mocked by audience chants of "Not a nerd! Not a nerd!"
Where previously the bit had failed, it worked here for four reasons.
1. Most importantly, it was the right crowd.
2. The writing conformed to the format of the event.
3. While the changes were minor, the edited intro set up set the tone of satire and condescension rather nicely.
4. My performing skill has increased dramatically. I'm still no Sir Ian McKellen and I never will be. But I was able to project a variety of emotions and use a variety of vocal and mic techniques to punctuate the bit. I really enjoyed what I was doing and felt in command of the performance.
The event was judged and I didn't win. But I didn't care. I got what I wanted out of it and had a lot of fun.
Oddly, they played a continuous video of 80s cartoon toy ads behind the performers during the show. At a stand up club this would be unheard of and fatally distracting. But somehow it worked. Having the Transformers behind me as I sing the praises of a video game console seems to fit in some strange way.
The cherry on my ice cream Sunday of nerd came at the end. After the last performance the theme to the original Battlestar Galactica was played and the host started in on the monologue. He made a mistake and in the rather raucous atmosphere I chided him, "get it right!" He asked if I knew it and when I affirmed he surrendered the mic.
With the music rising to a majestic crescendo I stormed the stage, and with the crowd cheering recited....
Fleeing from the Cylon tyranny,
the last Battlestar, Galactica,
leads a rag-tag fugitive fleet on a lonely quest:
a shining planet ... known as Earth!
