I go to A’s games and still imagine taking the ball in extra innings, defective spine and all. I day dream about joining plays, appearing in movies, even working the grill at Five Guys.
I’ve never once entertained taking the mic for stand up comedy. Inducing laughter live is a tall order, not to mention looking (and feeling) in control doing it. I admire you for trying it.
There is, especially during the first week of school or if I cover another teacher’s lesson. But the rest of the time, I have a numbers advantage: I get lots of cracks at cracking them. My audience returns every day, and I get extra leash from a crowd thanks to the individual relationships with its members. If my stuff doesn’t work today, it might tomorrow. Stand up comics don’t get that luxury.
I do have that nagging fear all the time that I’ll wake up one day and my schtick just won’t work. I’ve stayed ahead of it so far, but someday nothing will work.
I love your attitude to “making it” I never properly accepted that there was absolutely no chance that I would ever become fêted for some artistic endeavour until well into my fifties, in fact probably well into my sixties. The relief of having done so is liberating. It has given me a new enjoyment in everything, even if there is still a tiny residual voice inside me saying that the newfound freedom of expression and relaxed attitude might just be the key to me actually finally “making it”
“Damn sticker will they ever let you off of this pole?” I am often that person endlessly cackling through wondering why no one else has a sense of humor!
"which is its own autopoetic mortification engine." by itself worth reading but I wonder how different performing open mic stand up comedy is from doing an open mic poetry reading - same potential to bomb or worse, indifference, same waning hope to spark...
The first time I ever read in public was in a biker bar, and knowing it would be a hostile crowd, I figured it was the best way to initiate myself—it wouldn’t get worse, I imagined, and it didn’t. There were boos, catcalls, and people telling me to shut up and sit the fuck down (it was an open mic for music, not poetry, as you can imagine). I thought, well, if one person out of all these people doesn’t hate it, I’ll consider it a success. Thankfully, someone did squirm out of the crowd and thank me.
I suppose the ideal reaction to a long poem would be people vocally approving or making noises of approval, like at a jazz club or in a gospel church. I do think, though, that it’s much harder to do comedy than to write poetry, and once you feel confident reciting poetry, it’s usually not so difficult in the end.
What you've said leads me to think of standup and, say, spoken word (for lack of a better term) as being in a kind of tradeoff relationship. There's much more freedom in the latter and that might be what makes the former harder to pull off. It's a particular reaction needed at a pretty bounded interval. So there's a lot in terms of nuance and flight of fancy that you can't do, or can't do much of.
That said, ballsy biker bar story. I wouldn't have done that.
I go to A’s games and still imagine taking the ball in extra innings, defective spine and all. I day dream about joining plays, appearing in movies, even working the grill at Five Guys.
I’ve never once entertained taking the mic for stand up comedy. Inducing laughter live is a tall order, not to mention looking (and feeling) in control doing it. I admire you for trying it.
And writing this. It’s a great piece.
Imagine there's probably some overlap with teaching tho, would you guess?
There is, especially during the first week of school or if I cover another teacher’s lesson. But the rest of the time, I have a numbers advantage: I get lots of cracks at cracking them. My audience returns every day, and I get extra leash from a crowd thanks to the individual relationships with its members. If my stuff doesn’t work today, it might tomorrow. Stand up comics don’t get that luxury.
I do have that nagging fear all the time that I’ll wake up one day and my schtick just won’t work. I’ve stayed ahead of it so far, but someday nothing will work.
Hopefully be close to retirement.
I'm pullin for ya
I love your attitude to “making it” I never properly accepted that there was absolutely no chance that I would ever become fêted for some artistic endeavour until well into my fifties, in fact probably well into my sixties. The relief of having done so is liberating. It has given me a new enjoyment in everything, even if there is still a tiny residual voice inside me saying that the newfound freedom of expression and relaxed attitude might just be the key to me actually finally “making it”
Yeah letting go does carry with it that possible win-win. I think it's totally ok to feel ok about that.
I hope this will pass for a fairly decent comment, because I think you should keep going.
Very cool one, JPA. Appreciate you taking the time.
“Damn sticker will they ever let you off of this pole?” I am often that person endlessly cackling through wondering why no one else has a sense of humor!
Hahah. God bless you and your ilk!
Really enjoyed the cackler on this audio!
"which is its own autopoetic mortification engine." by itself worth reading but I wonder how different performing open mic stand up comedy is from doing an open mic poetry reading - same potential to bomb or worse, indifference, same waning hope to spark...
Interesting comparison. What's the ideal reaction youd want performing for a poetry crowd?
The first time I ever read in public was in a biker bar, and knowing it would be a hostile crowd, I figured it was the best way to initiate myself—it wouldn’t get worse, I imagined, and it didn’t. There were boos, catcalls, and people telling me to shut up and sit the fuck down (it was an open mic for music, not poetry, as you can imagine). I thought, well, if one person out of all these people doesn’t hate it, I’ll consider it a success. Thankfully, someone did squirm out of the crowd and thank me.
I suppose the ideal reaction to a long poem would be people vocally approving or making noises of approval, like at a jazz club or in a gospel church. I do think, though, that it’s much harder to do comedy than to write poetry, and once you feel confident reciting poetry, it’s usually not so difficult in the end.
What you've said leads me to think of standup and, say, spoken word (for lack of a better term) as being in a kind of tradeoff relationship. There's much more freedom in the latter and that might be what makes the former harder to pull off. It's a particular reaction needed at a pretty bounded interval. So there's a lot in terms of nuance and flight of fancy that you can't do, or can't do much of.
That said, ballsy biker bar story. I wouldn't have done that.
Great set, man. Much respect--keep going after it!
Right on Peter
really good time listening
really good time listening
Feel like that rogue bowel cell could go on and on. Road trip to the brain. Felt invested in that little guy.
Hahah, yeah if that were a piece of prose it would have gotten cuter. Thanks Eric.
I like what you're doing on your substack. Been poking around.
Hey, thanks. Props for the guts to do stand-up.
I wish you were doing standup near DC as I would then go and see it.
Definitely got to get out to DC one day. Standup or no