My to-do list

There's this thing called your "voice", and in brief, it's a comic's point of view, cadence, style, persona, etc.  It takes time to develop, and I don't have mine yet. I'd imagine that finding your voice just happens, where eventually you just are who you are. I don't really think about the process, but my ignorance leads me to almost fear the end result. Like a child who doesn't want to grow up, a paranoid part of me thinks, "but won't that mean I'm limited?" That's silly, though, and it's really just a culmination of comfort on stage with who you are as a performer. I'll still do whatever I want.

Putting all of that aside, there are specific things that I'd like to work on. For instance, if you watch a real comic, most of them will have a central idea. They'll present that idea, follow up with a punchline, or more often a series of punchlines that build on each other, perhaps lead to a new idea. I can't do that. I'll have a central idea, and if I come up with more than one punchline, I'll try to pick the "best" one and use it exclusively. Continuing to talk about a single idea almost feels like I'm repeating myself.

In a related line of thought, I'd like to get better with storytelling. My issue is rambling. Now, some people can ramble and it's funny, but I tend to muddy up the waters by going on unfunny tangents, so it ends up being confusing and boring. The whole "grass is always greener on the other side" thing comes to mind. I was talking to a comic that I admire. She was saying how she wants to do more punchline-y stuff. Ironically, when I heard her say that I sort of thought "Why would you want to do more punchline driven stuff, when you're so good at storytelling?". Yet here I am, wanting to change what I usually do. In her/my defense, I feel she's much better at what she does than I am at what I do.

But that's one of the nice things about going to open mics. You get to see how other people craft their jokes, revealing how they think and structure their act. When you talk to them before and after the open mics, you get to know other people's desires, insecurities, etc., and it builds that sense of community.



P.S. I didn't know that the magazine RE:COM ( http://www.recomedymagazine.com/ ) used "Comedy from the trenches" as part of their slogan, so while I'm keeping the address, I changed the title of this little thing here.