Stand-up Comedy Experience

So I took my first steps into the world of stand-up comedy. It was a frightening place filled with dreadful punch lines and stale material*. I signed up for the class because I want to develop my comedy writing. I also took it because I’m stupid. You see, having someone actually unload bullets into my helpless body during a dream wasn’t traumatic enough. Somehow, my devious mind has found a way to kick it up a notch.

If I’m not to die suddenly in my sleep, I plan to wither away on stage, slowly.

So why am I doing this? Well, I mentioned gaining experience in Comedy writing but that’s all academic. I’m doing it for the experience itself. I’m doing it because it scares the living hell out of me, and even if I bomb I will have the experience of having done it and another notch on my belt (I guess). The “final” for this class involves actually going out to a comedy club-like establishment and performing in front of strangers. Yeah. Scary.

Stand-up comedy is the latest in a series of misadventures. You see, over the past few years I’ve been snagging chances to raise my experience (and possibly level up in the process). I figure that a screenwriter can benefit from a range of experiences, so every now and again I’ll mosey on out of my comfort zone and try something new. Earlier this year I took up Salsa dancing with my wife, and in December we’re flying to Paris for my first European trip.

Whenever I think about balking at a chance to do something new (I do fear change.) I remind myself that it will help me as a screenwriter. Who knows when I’ll write a screenplay about a French roller coaster enthusiast who enters a Salsa competition. Or maybe a tragedy about a budding stand-up comedian who is hit by a drunk driver head on while traveling home from yoga practice. The possibilities are twofold!

The only problem with the stand-up comedy class is that it is going eat away at my time to finish my football script. So I’ve got to complete my script, learn French, and develop a comedy act in the span of a few months. Wish me luck.


*Apparently jokes about the Prohibition Act are too old.