Improv Gig 3: The Lamp Tavern – Wednesday 9th May 2012
Improv Gig : 3.
Date : Wednesday 9th May, 2012.
Company : Box Of Frogs Impro.
Players : Box Of Frogs (Jon, Lee, Craig, Jenny, Marc, Karen, and Myself.)
Location : The Lamp Tavern (157 Barford Street, Birmingham, B5 6AH.)
Start time : 8pm.
Duration : 1 hour (ish).
Pre Gig Thoughts:
So it had been about a month since my last Improv gig at Fuel Cafe bar back in April. I figure that if I'm to be performing in a show in June with Starship Improvise, I should get in a bit more practice in front of an audience, and since the only criteria for performing is attending the Box Of Frogs Impro Workshop the night before I thought I'd give it a bash. Okay, I probably shouldn't count this as a proper gig as it's more like a showcase, but I am. Deal with it. It's an opportunity to do a shortform games again (much like Gig 1 with WOW Impro) and I'm sure it'll be fun.
The Gig Itself:
I was involved in the opening group game: "Story, Story, Die." I didn't win at this. I never do. Got voted off third out of six players.
The Second Game I was involved in was the game "Hands Through." I was a gardener (with Craig providing my hands) talking to his boss (Lee, with Jenny providing the hands) about a problem with the garden.
The Third Game I was involved in was the game "Playbook." I had only seen this game done before, but never played it. Two people start a scene, one person reads lines from a play and the other person must justify and respond to what that person was saying and create a proper developed scene. I was reading from the Play's script and Craig was improvising with me. If I recall correctly, the play was Jumpers by Tom Stoppard. It's a weird play, but it made for a good scene.
The Final Game I was involved in was "Three Headed Expert." One player (Karen) holds an interview with an "Expert." The "Expert" is actually made up of 3 improvisers (Lee, Myself and Craig) who can only speak one word at a time. Our topic was "Space" which resulted in our expert paying someone we met at a party £1000 to build a rocket to travel to Mars. Incase you are wondering, we paid him the money, but never saw him again.
Post Gig Thoughts:
The show was meant to start at 8pm. When I arrived at the venue at 7.15pm(which was 15 minutes late after being stuck in traffic getting there), I found out that there might not be much of an audience as there was a big Birmingham football game on that night.
By 8.15pm the audience had arrived. The audience was made up of one guy. His name was Joe. He was nice. He brought his own precussion which he used to indicate that we had hesitated in "Story, Story, Die." It actually worked quite well.
We cut the show short, so I didn't get to play a couple of the games that I was scheduled to play (One of them was "Word Count:" Three people in a scene, but they can only talk in sentences of 3, 4 or 5 words at a time. I can't recall what the other game or two were.)
It was all good practice, and I had fun doing it. And there was an audience member there, so I'm counting it as an official gig, only just though. (Had there been no audience there, we still would have played some games, but I wouldn't have counted it.)
So that's three improv gigs in the bag.
I'll probably put my name down for next month's gig on 13th June, too. So if you're in the area, drop by and let's try and double the size of the audience.
Improv Gig 2: Fuel Cafe Bar – Sunday 8th April 2012
Improv Gig : 2.
Date : Sunday 8th April, 2012.
Company : Comedy Unplugged.
Players : ComedySportz Intermediate Workshoppers Class of March 2012.
Location : Fuel Cafe Bar, 448 Wilmslow Rd, Manchester, M20 3BW.
Start time : 8pm.
Duration : 2 hours (ish).
On Easter Sunday evening I returned to the stage for the second time in just under a month after my first gig with Wow Impro back on the 12th March. This time I was performing with ComedySportz Intermediate Workshoppers Class of March 2012 in our first non showcase gig as we took over the Comedy Unplugged event for the night.
Unlike my first gig where I performed in short form games, this time I was performing longform. There were 2 large groups of workshoppers, and we each decided to do something different. The group that I was part of decided to perform a format called La Ronde, while the other group decided upon an Armando.
As there were 11 people in our group, and the La Ronde is better suited to a smaller group we sub divided into 2 teams. 6 People on the first team (Adam, Ben, Kage, Sally, Tim & myself) and 5 on the second team (Ash, Cat, Cath, Kate & Ste). Because of the relative short running time of these (circa 25 minutes each) versus the Armando, which was to be run as one block (1 hour), we book ended the evening with the 2 La Ronde Teams.
My team was up first. I'll be honest and say that my team called the first spot, because that way we could just sit back and enjoy the night. As we were up first, it was up to one of us to introduce the night. That honour fell to me, and I'll be honest I don't remember me doing too well at the introductions. (Tripping over my words, and just getting really nervous and then blanking on one of my team mate's name. Sorry Sally.) The improv section of my time on stage seemed to go much better from what I recall.
Sitting back and watching the rest of the night was awesome. The Armando from the other group went great, and the 2nd La Ronde was a fab way to cap the evening.
And that's not all, if you couldn't be there, and you feel that the above vague description wasn't enough, you can see the entire show courtesy of Judgement Dave's YouTube Channel.
As for my own performance, I wasn't brilliant, and there were still some hesitations, but I'm improving all the time, and that'll only come with more practice and more gigs.
The night seemed to go well enough that the workshoppers from the next Intermediate course (class of June 2012, which I'm signed up for) will be performing a gig here on July 8th, 2012. In addition to that, a group of us that performed at this gig will be performing our own stand alone improv gig, one Thursday evening in June, which I'm really excited about. (Details to follow, once we've got everything figured out).
So, more gigs, and more fun ahead.
Yay.
ComedySportz Intermediate Improv Showcase 4
Hello There Kiddey Stones!
How are you feeling this today?
The above gap is long enough for you to answer, and if you didn't, then more fool you. Though if you did answer, I should tell you that I can't hear you. Mainly because I'm wearing headphones and listening to music as I write this post.
Hot on the heels of my show with Wow Impro, As of last Saturday, I finished another batch of Intermediate workshops with ComedySportz. Last Saturday was the showcase performance. After performing in previous Intermediate showcases in November 2010, June 2011, and December 2011, it was my fourth time up on that stage. (And people say I can't cont, or speel.)
I was involved in 4 games. The opening throw down "Beastie Rap" Battle, followed by the scene game "Three Way Dub", A round of "Top That", and to finish, I participated in "Last Action Joke."
Everybody was on top form, but my favourite games that I wasn't involved in were: "Replay At Bernie's" and "Changing Styles and Emotions."
And now, because I have nothing else to say about it, you can see the whole showcase playlist on Youtube courtesy of Judgement Dave. (See if you can pick out which one is me.)
Until next time,
Matt.
Matt’s Night To Shine (Though Not In A Danny Torrance Kind Of Way)
Improv Gig: 1.
Date: Monday 12th March, 2012.
Company : Wow Impro.
Players : Rich, Rich, Matt, Liam, and me (Matt).
Location : Reckless Comedy @ Robbins’ Well, 2 Victoria Terrace, Leamington Spa, CV31 3AB.
Start time: 9pm.
Duration : 20 minutes.
So on Monday night I did my first non showcase or class show improve gig with Wow Impro.
I’ll admit after the fact that I was rather nervous before the gig, much more nervous and concerned about it than the stand up gig I did at the end of February 2012.
I was in a team comprised of Wow Impro veterans made up of: Rich Coad, Matt Dibbens, Richard Baldwin and, fitting in with the name game that we had going on, Liam Mullen. Then there was me, with my first gig.
We played four games.
First up was “Story Die” featuring all five of us with Rich Coad on pointer duty. It was a fun game, though I didn’t last long and was the first one to have “DIE” shouted at me by a group of students. It takes me back to my own student days, but at least these shouts were part of a game rule set.
Next up was “Emotional Taxi” featuring Richard Baldwin, Matt Dibbens, Liam Mullen and me. I was third in with “Anger”. It went well.
Third in the set was “Accents” featuring Rich Coad, Matt Dibbens, and me. My various pathetic attempts at accents included Jamaican, South African, Stephen Hawking, Scottish, Geordie, Brummie and Liverpool. Surprisingly, my Liverpool accent deserted me completely and I don’t think anything closely resembling that came out of my face.
Last game of the set was “Party Quirks” featuring all five of us with Rich Coad as the host of the party. I was a kleptomaniac, and I stole the MC’s biscuits.
All in all, I think it went reasonably well for my first attempt. The venue was nice, though the stage was a little crowded at times with all of us up there.
I look forward to doing more with the group, and there’s the potential to be involved in a gig at the end of April in Birmingham.
London Calling
For those of you that have been paying attention to the blog this past few weeks, you will no dount have noticed how I pimped my trip to London. Well, now I'm back, and because I have a lack of better things to write about, I shall treat you to a diary of my trip.
Friday 2nd March, 2012:
Get to Wigan Station a little early and stand in the sun (with my big winter jacket on, I'm not an idiot, unless I've proven to you otherwise), until the train arrives. On the train and arrive at London Euston a little over two hours later, at 4pm. I walk from the station to my hotel but I misjudge the distance from Euston to Marylebone station (My Travelodge is just over the road) and I'm worn out from carrying a heavy back. Get to the room, dump my stuff, relax for a bit before heading out for the evening's entertainment. The Theatre, Darling! The Theatre. Over to the Geilgud Theatre to pick up my ticket for "The Ladykillers." The theatre is right next door to Les Mis. I'm a little early, so after getting my ticket, I walk past the theatre where Les Mis is performing. As I walk buy I get shouted at by a guy, but I ignore him and carry on walking. A few more steps and he taps me on the shoulder, insisting that he knows me, and that "we did stuff together last Sunday." As I carry on walking, I tell him he's mistaken and that I was in Manchester last Sunday. It's at this point he changes tactics: "What you looking for?" he says. "Jesus," I reply. He fucks off. I cross the street and circle back around to the Geilgud. I go in and stand at the bar. I buy a program, and settle in to watch the show. It was fab. I've never seen the original movie, though I should probably watch it now.
Saturday 3rd March, 2012:
Up at 9am and then out to Balham for an all day improv workshop with Hoopla improv Run by Steve Roe. My fellow course takers include a couple of familiar faces: Luis (who I know from Wow Improv in Bedworth) and Ravi (who's been to a workshop with Box Of Frogs in Birmingham). Improv community is a small world. To illustrate that point further, I went to lunch with three other people to a local fish and chip place, and when I was asked where I did improv, I said in Manchester, and he said "I went to ComedySportz, too." His name's Tim and he went to Bron's workshops between 2008 and 2010 before moving to London. Our paths must have only just missed in Manchester, as I started on May 1st 2010, but as I said, small world.
The class itself was really good. The topic was Genres. We did a bunch of different scenes with themes. The most challening was trying to do it in iambic pentameter for Shakespeare. That, and me introducing Transformers into Shakespeare made it a little more difficult. But in all honesty, when you think about it Megan Fox is the closest thing we have these days to a proper Shakespearean actress, so I wasn't totally off base. Hopefully it won't be too long before I can go back to one os Steve's workshops.
After class, I was shattered and that combined with the Victoria tube line being closed, meant I just didn't get around to going to the Hen & Chicken Theatre to see The Scat Pack. Sorry, Scat Pack. But at least we have now established a pattern game. I've missed your shows in Manchester and London. If you put on a show in Birmingham, I'll do my darndest to miss that one, too. So after not leaving the hotel again, I just simply read a book before falling asleep.
Sunday 4th March, 2012:
It was raining when I met her, but we were inside so it didn't matter. I finally met Jpops in person. She's awesomely fantastic. We (me, Jpops and her friend J) go to Camden Market, and get rained on. I'm lead to a shop "Cyber Candy" where I buy Australian Candy ("Violet Crumbles") and even some American stuff ("Peanut Butter M&Ms"). Sadly, there isn't any Tim Tams or Brown Sugar Cinnamon Pop Tarts, so I'll have to venture to the Australia Shop in Covent Garden. We exit Cybercandy and it's still raining. It's bitterly cold and I keep having to dodge out of the way of all the short people with umberellas. We escape into a pub "The Hawley" for lunch after giving up getting soaked and poked, where I have the Sausage and Mash.
After we finished lunch it's about 3pm, so we decide to head to Piccadilly Circus. The Camden tube stop was exit only at that point, so we battled the freezing elements and made our way to Chalk Farm. A while later, we find ourselves in Piccadilly Circus. It's about 4pm and we have plenty of time to kill, so we venture into the M&M store (I've now been in both London and Vegas branches. I'm coming back for you, New York) and wander around the streets, until we get to the Trocadero. What a depressing shithole that turned out to be. My only knowledge of the place up until that point was they used to do the Presenter links on Nickelodeon from there back in the day.
We make our way to The Comedy Pub for some food and a few drinks. I had Sausage and Mash again, because I'm just that kind of maverick. I think I'm going to proclaim that for this day forward, Sunday 4th March 2012 will forever be known as Sausage & Mash Day.
And then it was time. The Comedy Store Players at The London Store. The London Store reminds me a lot of the UCB Chelsea Theatre in New York. It was a fantastic show: Neil Mullarkey, Richard Vranch, Josie Lawrence, Niall Ashdown, Paul Merton and Suki Webster had an amazing night. (It was probably just ok by their own standards) They even took my suggestion of "sausages." Highlights include Paul interviewing and translating for Richard's German expert (topics were "sausages" and "beer") and a long story "Neptune's Dream" where Josie played a character called Captain Lovely. At one point Josie gave a quite long justification as to why a mysterous planet might not have shown up on their scanner, at which point Paul just said, "No, it's because your scanner is fucked." Fantastic. I think this show has brought another two fans into the improv fold (Jpops and J), so yay for that.
Back to the hotel after that, and after expressing my thanks to the cast via Twitter, I get a response from Neil Mullarkey. Go to bed quite happy, but hoping that it's going to be warmer tomorrow.
Monday 5th March, 2012:
Up not so early and out to Covent Garden to find that Australia Shop for more expensive Australian sweetie goodness. On the Tube I ate a bagel and had a coffee (I'll say that I purchased them before I got on the Tube, I didn't just find them on the Bakerloo line. It was the ultimate New York experience, A coffee, a bagel, and a subterranean train. Just in London instead.) The shop is not where Google maps says it is. I spend half an hour wandering around trying to find it. In the process I lose my balance on the cobbles in the courtyard near the Disney store, hurting my ankle. I manage to find it eventually (both my balance and the Australia Shop on Maiden Lane) and come away with Tim Tams, Violet Crumbles, and cans of Solo.
It was at this point I decided to take my purchases back to the hotel, as they were too expensive to carry around the dangerous streets of London without an armed escort. I got back to the hotel at around noon, catching House Keeping in the act of cleaning my room. The House keeping guy doesn't look me in the eyes. This makes me feel shame, so I just decided to chill out for a bit. Around and hour later, I wandered around the streets of Marylebone looking for food. Or, more appropriately, places to purchase food, as my days as a pigeon mime artiste were long behind me. (I was ahead of my time when it came to the visual arts. The London Evening Observer called it "Inappropriately Long, and highly infectious [with disease]!") I found a place to eat in Marylebone station proper, and a cup of potato wedges later, I was nourished enough to go back to my room and chill out for a bit longer as my ankle was still hurting.
I decided to go to see a movie, so I travel on Tube to Piccadilly Circus and go to the Cineworld in the shithole that is the Trocadero. The cinema's quite nice, and the film "Wanderlust" is very good. After the movie, I head to McDonald's (Well, I had to at least once). I was going to go to the evening improv workshop, but my nakle hurt too much and I was just too tired, so I went back to the hotel, and just chilled out and read a book on my final night in London.
Tuesday 6th March, 2012:
So the day gets off to a little hiccup thanks to a miscommunication, and I don't do much until leaving the hotel, except of course have a little Twitter interaction from Captain Lovely herself, Josie Lawrence. At 11.30am head to the Taxi rank at Marylebone station for a trip to Euston for the train home. I just couldn't be arsed taking the Tube again, especially when I have to go so far out of my way to change lines. I get safely onboard the Lancaster bound train, ensconced in seat 7 of Coach B, anticipating a relaxing journey home in one hour and fifty five minutes. An hour and fifty five minutes of writing one liners for Newsjack later, the train makes an unscheduled stop at Crewe, where we are told the service going forward is cancelled thanks to signal issues in the Warrington Bank Quay area. Now I know why the journey home was only £12, as they don't take you all the way. We have to stand around for a while on Platform 6, and if you've ever had to stand on Platform 6 at Crewe station you know how scintilating that can be. For those that don't, I'll just say that it isn't like Platform 9 and three quarters, though there is a homeless Alan Rickman look-a-like who will show you his wand. So eventually, we get on a Glasgow Central service that is travelling via Manchester Piccadilly. I get off at Piccadilly, (and by that I mean exit the train, not masturbate out the window as the train hurtles past the platform) and catch the Southport service to Wigan, arriving back in town a mere two hours after I should have.
Later on, I get home and type up my Newsjack one liners and send them off via email with just three minutes to spare before the deadline.
And now, I'm writing this diary.
And that, ladies and gentlemen is a wrap on my London adventure.
Until next time, take it easy.
Matt.
Busy, Busy, Busy
So it's Wednesday already.
I've had a mega-busy week so far, and it shows little sign of slowing down. So let's look at the week that I've had so far since last Saturday:
Saturday 25 Feb 2012: In Manchester for an Improv Workshop with ComedySportz.
Sunday 26 Feb 2012: In Winsford, Cheshire performing 5 minutes of Stand up comedy.
Monday 27 Feb 2012: Up at 4.30am to go back to Bromsgrove, Worcestershire for work. After work, over to Bedworth (near Nuneaton) for an improv workshop with Wow Impro.
Tuesday 28 Feb 2012: After work, over to Birmingham for an improv workshop with Box Of Frogs.
And that brings us, tiredly, to Wednesday. But the week isn't over. Here's what I've got coming up for the rest of the week, and into next week, too.
Wednesday 29 Feb 2012: After work, drive back to Wigan, then out to a pub quiz with family.
Thursday 1 Mar 2012: Working from home during the day, then after work, over to Liverpool for an improv workshop with Impropriety.
Friday 2 Mar 2012: The start of a 5 day trip to London. In the evening, I'll be taking in some theatre, darling, when I make my West End debut and watch The Ladykillers.
Saturday 3 Mar 2012: I'll be taking part in an all day improv workshop run by Hoopla Improv. Followed at night by going watch The Scat Pack performing an improvised musical.
Sunday 4 Mar 2012: I'll be taking the day to mooch around London, or maybe just sleep. But in the evening, I'll be going to see the Comedy Store Players live for the first time ever. As of now, the advertised line up is: Paul Merton, Neil Mullarkey, Lee Simpson, Richard Vranch, Suki Webster, and Josie Lawrence.
Monday 5 Mar 2012: I'll be taking the day to mooch around London again, But in the evening, I'll be going to another improv workshop run by Hoopla improv.
Tuesday 6 Mar 2012: I'll be heading back to Wigan, to get my stuff ready to go back to Bromsgrove the next day for work.
And all the while in London, I'll be trying to write some one liners for Newsjack. I'll be giving the sketch submission a miss this weekend, as I won't be taking a laptop with me, therefore I won't be able to submit before the deadline. I should be good to go for the one liners over the course of the weekend, but I'll have to hurriedly write up the one liners when I return home before the 5pm deadline on Tuesday.
We shall see how it all pans out!
And stay tuned this Monday for a very special Big Smoke edition of Mundane Monday.
Catch you then,
Matt.
The Year of Improv
So it's 2012 already.
The future, as so many called it.
At the moment it isn't that old and is full of potential.
What am I going to do with my year?
Well in case you didn't read the title of this blog post, or you are reading this post using Internet Explorer 9 as your browser, I'll say it again. This is going to be my year of Improv.
What does that mean?
To most it would mean that I can't spell the word "improve." To others, it would mean improvisation.
But to me, it actually means that I want to improve and improv (aka making shit up on the spot).
To that effect I've started my fourth round of Intermediate level workshops with ComedySportz this past Saturday. For the next 8 weeks I'll be going to the Manchester Comedy Store every Saturday and making things up. It'll be fun. It always has been in the past and the last time I did the course I actually felt like I was improving.
There's also a group of workshop of attendees who do extra practice after class on alternate Saturdays. I went to the first one on the 7th January and it was a lot of fun. Unfortunately for me, I skipped out on the extra session this Saturday, as I was catching up with other classmates who I hadn't seen since the last course. I think the next one will be on the 5th February, so I'll be going to that one.
So that's two regular things that I will be attending in the hopes of getting better at improv. But that's not all. I've found two different sessions down in the Midlands (where I am during the week due to work). It's early days yet with my experience of these two groups but they seem like a fun bunch.
So that's three workshops a week, plus an extra one every other week.
In addition to all this, I'm going to London on the first weekend of March and I'll be going to an improv jam, which should be fun and free from preserves.
Hopefully I'll be improv'd (get it?) by the end of the year. And by then, who knows? The world could very well be, as my friend told me, my lobster!
December And Beyond: The Year of Doing Big, Fun, and Scary Things!
And so it's December and all the hoopla of NaNoWriMo is over. Or is it?
Well technically yes, but there is more to the site than just November. Every year, after the final throes of novel writing are done, a new section of the website is revealed called December And Beyond, which is convenient give the title of the blog post, otherwise you may have been misled.
But you haven't.
One of the purposes of the December and Beyond is to help and support people who wish to continue working on the novels they started the previous month. There's also a section devoted to enable people to post their goals that they hope to achieve before the next NaNoWriMo in 2011.
"But Matt, what are you going to do until the next NaNoWriMo?" I hear you ask. If you hadn't jumped the gun, I'd have aleady told you, rathe than make you wait until the next paragraph.
I have a number of creative goals this upcoming year and while I suppose I could have waited until New Year's Eve to post them, that's so passé as everyone does that.
So here they are, all itemised and whatnot:
December 2010:
- Writing a murder mystery sketch before t'end of t'month which takes us handily to the end of 2010.
- Try to write a 15 minute sitcom before the middle of January 2011 for a competition.
January 2011:
- Continue writing sitcom
- Starting an 8 week stand up comedy course with ComedySportz at The Manchester Comedy Store on January 22nd.
- Write stand up material
February 2011:
- Learn whether the correct usage is February or Febuary.
- Write more stand up material
- Learn to end all my bulleted lists with a full stop. There's no reason to let punctuation go to the dogs. Because they can't spell. Seriously, ask a dog to spell antidisestablishmentarianism. You'll find they all probably have contempt for you for asking. But they are one of the key demographics of this website's readership, so: Ruff!
- Write some topical sketches for a BBC Radio Series (if Newsjack returns for another series - usually 2 series are broadcast a year starting in Feb and again in June for 6 weeks at a time.).
March 2011:
- More stand up writing.
- More Newsjack material. (if applicable).
- Stand up debut? (unconfirmed at this point)
April 2011:
- Script Frenzy 2011 - I think that given the style of writing that I will be doing up to this point, I'll probably be leaning towards a mixture of stand up material and sketch, to get my 100 pages. A real mixed bag as I don't seem to have any luck with trying to write features, so maybe this will be better.
May 2011:
- 8 week improv course begins with ComedySportz again.
- More writing - probably a mixture of stand up, sketch and sitcom.
June 2011:
- Newsjack writing (if applicable).
- More writing - probably a mixture of stand up, sketch and sitcom.
July 2011:
- Newsjack writing again (if applicable).
- Short story writing or a return to writing That Joke Isn't Funny Anymore (though it really needs a page one rewrite).
August 2011:
- More writing of various varieties.
September 2011:
- More writing of various varieties.
October 2011:
- More writing of various varieties.
- Start another 8 week improv course.
And that little lot should take me right up to October 31st, 2011.
That's what I plan on, anyway, but I'll probably be too lazy to do half that, but there's no point setting goals that I can easily reach, there is no fun in that. I shall endeavour to lunge and thrust my way to writing and comedy perfection in the next year.
I should probably factor in some time to work on a NaNo plot for 2011, too. But I've talked about NaNo plot issues in my previous blog entry.
Do you have goals? Are you planning to sidle up to the big ol' buffet of personal challenges and fill your plate high with creative projects. What will you manage before Oct 31st, 2011?
Matt Fishwick: I Love An Internet Superstar?
In my Two Year Anniversary Craptacular blog post at the end of March I updated you on the goals that I set for myself for the year. In case you can't be bothered to click the link, I recap the ones that I'm going to talk about today:
Goal Seven
Meet more people. This will be really difficult for me. Anyone who knows me in real life knows how really shy I am around people I don’t know or don’t know that well.Goal Eight
Be a better person. I don’t exactly know what this entails, but I know I’m not good enough the way I am.Goal Nine
Be more confident. (I’ll have to wipe the dust off of that CD)
So there were the three goals to try and make me a better person. And I think that I am a little bit thanks to the course that I went on. Up until now I never mentioned what exactly the course was, but it ended last week so I shall tell you that it was the very awesome Comedy Sportz Beginning Improv workshop.
Some of the people that know me, know I like comedy. Some of those people even know that I try and write comedy. And one of those people actually thinks that I'm funny.
Despite all the years of being interested in comedy and in the back of my mind wanting to perhaps persue it as a career of some sort, I never actually did something about it.
Until this year.
I'm 28 this year (pretty soon, *ahem* 13 days actually *ahem* for those of you wishing to buy me a card and present), and I wanted to have a go before it was too late and didn't want to look back on my life and think "if only I'd have tried" and so between scouring the Internet for porn and tea cosy knitting patterns (A man is allowed diverse hobbies, and if he can, then so can I) I found the ComedySportz UK website.
Pretty soon, the first day of the course rolled around and I was really nervous. Had I made a mistake? Would I find out that I wasn't funny after all these years of thinking I was? Are these rhetorical questions and little redundant and boring?
I rolled up to the Manchester Comedy Store (Okay, that isn't exactly true. I don't know how to rollerskate, I walked) and I learned the answers to the three questions that I (tastefully) posed in the previous paragraph.
No, Yes and Definately Yes.
While I was shy at the first class, but over the next few weeks I eventually loosened up a bit and by the end I didn't think that I did too badly. At least not bad for someone with no performing experience beyond Year 9 drama.
I met the fantastic people that organised, ran and taught the workshops: Bron Edge, Sean Mason, Chris Tavner, Jade Fearnley, and Rob Hudson. Big shout out (dig me being all street 'n' shit) to all of you. You guys rock. (Though the rolling has yet to be confirmed.)
I made friends with people and I think that I'm a little more outgoing than I was before I started. Though I can't confirm this, as I went all Howard Hughes and I haven't left my room for six days. I've also been peeing in jars, but that's just for fun.
The last session of the 8 week course was last Saturday, and at the end of our session I presented people with gifts. I won't ruin the surprise for people that accidentally bid for them on e-bay later.
I wasn't entirely convinced that I did brilliantly at it, but it's a start and I've signed up for another course later in the year, to try and improv(e). Get it?
Amazingly, they didn't think that I sucked that badly, and even wanted to get my opinion for the new promo video that they were putting together. And so after a dozen script rewrites and me having to do multiple takes, it was finally in "the can" as they say in "the biz". However, later I was told that having me crying and sitting on the toilet wasn't the best endorsement, so we ventured to the front of the Comedy Store for a little bit of that "off the cuff" magic that I will, one day in the distant future, become mildly tolerated for.
You can find the video on Youtube and on Facebook (search for ComedySportz UK).
Yes I am aware that I could have embedded the video in this post, but for technical reasons I chose not to learn how to do it.
Don't forget to watch the video for the best showstopper in the business, Ashley Miller.
PS. In the spirit of Comedy Sportz, this blog post was entirely improvised.
