I've often tried to guess how many ''comics'' there are in this area. How many people are competing for the same stage time? If you count all of Maryland, DC and Northern Virginia, I'll bet it's over 300. Again there are 60 on DC standup alone. That number will only grow, not shrink.
Why? I don't think there is a demand for more comedy. As a matter of fact, there's less of a demand for live comedy today then there's ever been. Comedy today is more accessible outside of comedy clubs than it has ever been. When I was a kid we had 6 channels ABC, NBC, CBS, PBS and two independents (5 and 20). Today my highest channel is 912 (the Information Channel). I have satellite radio where I have two channels that allow me to listen to standup 24 hours a day. I could go on. You get the point.
However, there will be more comics a month from now than there are today and more the month after that.
More people try comedy than any other performance art (excluding Karaoke). It is not my business to determine what the ''right'' reasons to do comedy are. However, I can tell you why I do comedy. I do it because I love the art form. I do it because it is my therapy. I do it because I love the rush that feeds my already over-inflated ego. I am not going to do another blog about why people should quit comedy. Well, maybe I will. Again if you aren't doing well, why continue?
Andy Kline said something to me once that I've repeated a hundred times. I'll paraphrase. If John Doe decides to take up comedy and he's horrible, he still may be getting out of it what he wants. He's now a ''stand up comic''. At work he tells his co-workers he's performing that night. When people see him they say, ''Are you still doing comedy?'' His parents write about it in their Christmas letter, etc. However, he dreads getting on stage. When he does he bombs consistently, but he never will quit because he's getting out of it exactly what he wants. He does not define his success from the stage. He defines it by the label. It is where he gets his identity; it gives him value and worth.
Here's the problem. I would never ask someone to eliminate that which gives them purpose. However, I will say that this is extremely selfish. Others are affected; the audience,
the other comics and the art. This is not a victimless crime. An example, John Doe gets a slot at a local open mic and he bombs. First, there may be someone seeing live comedy for the first time. Next time someone asks them to go to a comedy show, they will probably want to go to a movie. Secondly, do you have any idea how many times I've heard comics say ''I can't get time in [fill in name of guy running the open mic]'s room''? Someone is losing stage time to John Doe. Third, bad comedy kills the soul. It is bad for our craft when a large percentage of the comedy at a show is poor.
For those of you teetering on whether to pursue your dream, if you have what it takes, below in an inspirational video from the greatest band in the world, Tenacious D.
Again, being bad at comedy doesn't make you a bad person. Rory Scovel, in between acting gay, said something I thought was pretty insightful last Saturday. He said (again paraphrasing), ''I don't care how funny you are, I care about what you're like off stage because that's when I have to spend time with you.'' That's a good message for all the would-be-comedians. How about finding your value in what kind of person you are?
He also said something that made me rethink how I approach an open mic set. I've yo-yoed regarding my approach regarding material at these shows. I used to think I shouldn't go if I didn't have anything new to try. However, this year I've changed my opinion thinking that logging stage time is as valuable, but that is a lazy man's thought process. Rory mentioned that during his recent time on the road, at the open mics, if the comic didn't have new material they didn't perform. They did this out of fairness to the other comics. I agree with this philosophy. I won't do that again.
If you spend as much time around comics as I do, you realize that the good ones are pretty smart. If you spend a lot of time at the clubs, you'll hear some pretty profound and insightful things. I find myself quoting these guys often. As a comic, how many times have you had someone say to you, ''I could never do what you do, I could never get up in front of all those people.'' Again, I am going to borrow from Andy Kline. Do you have any idea how insulting that is? You're basically reducing stand up comedy to having the courage to get up in front of people? That's the easiest part. You are talking about my passion. I am offended when people are so dismissive regarding the work and skill required to be good.
The point is if you have performance anxiety, comedy is not for you. Don't even try it. It is unfair to those that have made it their life's work. Take a public speaking class. Don't kill the soul.
Rob Maher said something to me once that I took with me and have used ever since. He said, ''Great comics don't live set to set''. You need to get to a point where you're no longer trying to prove to yourself that you are funny. Sometimes you don't do well and when you don't you have to use that experience to get better, not to question yourself. We were discussing another comic when he said this to me, but it was so dead-on I took it and applied it to my comedy.
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