I haven't journaled in a while. I've been working on land and at sea quite a bit. I really enjoy going back and forth between ships and land. Every gig has different parameters for the show. On ships I have to do two different shows, a clean one and a dirty one. Sometimes I'm on as the juggler, sometimes I'm on as the comic, sometimes I'm on as both. When I am on as the comic there is usually another juggler on so I can't do any juggling in my show. In comedy clubs, I usually close my stand-up show with one juggling trick. Even though it is only two minutes of the performance, it is a very easy way to get offstage for me. When I can't do the trick, my comedy needs to be extra sharp. Also, every ship run has different lengths of shows and different ratings. I am on the Carnival Liberty Sunday night and I am doing two different stand-up shows, no juggling, and both shows need to be PG rated so there won't be any dirty jokes either. This is stretching me as a comic which I love. It makes me try new stuff and pull out old stuff and really helps update my act and sharpens my skills.
After that, I am in Meridian, Idaho for four nights doing club shows. I am doing an hour, but it is just one show with no parameters or ratings, so I get to put my act back together. I recommend that other comics who want to improve take jobs that stretch their abilities. Challenge yourself to work clean one night. Try to take out bits that you depend on for one show. Do your closing joke in the middle of your show and see if you can follow it.
Don't misunderstand, I always try to do the best show possible, every night, and those who have worked with me know that I take every crowd and every show very seriously, but if you start to rely on certain bits and do them exactly the same every night, your act gets stale. Some jokes will be in my act forever, I'm sure of it, but if I don't give those jokes a night off sometimes, they get tired. Also, you never know when a joke will all of the sudden have to be taken out of your act because of personal changes in your life or major news stories. I think a real entertainer needs to be flexible and to always grow.
I'm doing a midnight show on the Destiny tonight. It is an R rated show. I've been watching CNN all day and plan to do about seven minutes of fresh political material and bring back a bit that I used to do that is about a topic that is once again in the news. I will probably chicken out and only do about three minutes of fresh stuff, but it is better than nothing.
tommy on 05.16.08 @ 02:34 PM CST [link] [No Comments]