The silence can be deafeningI went to see my first stand-up comedy in years last night at the Front Gallery in Lyneham. It's a very small venue, primarily catering to university students. Most people sat on the floor.
All of the acts were fairly new, but they were surprisingly polished given their lack of experience.
I was invited to attend by someone I met through Impro Theatre ACT who's trying to break into the whole comedy-thing.
Canberra presents some challenges if you want to do stand-up comedy. There aren't many venues and you'd probably need to take the 3-hour drive to Sydney most weekends if you really wanted to break into the scene.
That's not for me. I'm happy to continue with Improv Theatre. There's safety in numbers. It's awfully lonely-looking standing there all by yourself at that microphone.
Years ago I wrote stand-up material for Gary Bradbury, which he never paid me for. That kind of dulled my interest in trying to write professionally for comedians (show me the money!), but hanging around the impro people lately has rekindled my interest in comedy writing.
2 comments:
Have you done an impro course yet? What's it like? Would love your view - just thinking about signing up here in Sydney and wonder what it's like. Need a good creative outlet from the 9-5 and kick start some more writing.
Bullseye comment that impro gets you up there but isn't as scary as stand up!
Thanks for leaving a comment Adrian,
Yes, I recently completed the Stage 1 workshop in Canberra. I enjoyed it so much I will be doing Stage 2. It pushes you out of your comfort zone, but it's a great experience. I definitely improved as the course progressed and I'm keen to hang-out with the more experienced improvisers so I can learn more.
I've found it has also "fondled my muse" so I'm getting back into creative writing too.
All the best,
Marcus.
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