July in a nutshell 7/29/17

Week 2 of my "attempt" at blogging weekly. Here goes!

I didn't really touch on what's been happening in my life with the blog last week, so if you're sitting on the toilet, or waiting in line at the bank, or in the middle of some other mundane thing where you have a few minutes to kill, I got your back.

We're almost settled into our new house. We love it, but there's still a few more things we need to cross off the list before I would say we're officially moving in. We won't have blinds for a few more weeks (I'm sure our new neighbours love the garbage bags we have hanging over our bedroom window right now). A few unpacked boxes are still laying around, tempting me to build a fort every time I come home. And we still don't have internet or tv. Telus came the day we moved in, and they said some fiberoptic something or other wasn't set up, and after waiting a couple weeks, they got back to us and said it would be October. So we called Shaw. They came yesterday, and weren't able to hook us up either. They're coming back today, so fingers crossed.

It's probably the most first world complaint I've ever complained, but my God do I miss having internet. I could take or leave tv, but how in the fuck did we ever live without the internet? I'll be posting this thing with my phone, eating up valuable data. So if you're reading this using YOUR data, just know that we're both making sacrifices here.

I also have a podcast loaded and ready to go, the first one recorded in the new "studio" that is our spare bedroom. It was a good conversation with Brett Forte, that I think those of you that listen to the podcast will really like. I'm holding off uploading it in the hopes that Shaw will come through and get me back online today. If not, I'll be one of those hipsters with his macbook sitting at Starbucks tomorrow, milking the wifi and sucking on an overpriced crappy coffee. But come hell or high water, I guarantee the Comedy Odyssey returns tomorrow*!

*Not a guarantee

As far as comedy goes, I've spent some time on the road this month. James Uloth, Alex Fortin and I spent a weekend in Saskatchewan and Manitoba, more specifically Swift Current, The Pas, and Carrot River, and had a really good time. Then we came home, only to find my Jeep, that had been parked at Alex's apartment all weekend, had been towed. It cost me exactly $3 more than I got paid for the weekend of shows to get it back. So after food and expenses for the trip, I basically paid to tell jokes for 5 days. That story goes right up there with some of my best "I'll look back on this and laugh someday" moments from my short career in comedy thus far. Sigh....

The show in Swift Current was at a golf course. We got there early, and they gave us a cooler of Pilsner and a couple golf carts and told us to go have fun. Chase your dreams, kids!

Front page! Granted, there isn't a lot of competition in The Pas, MB.....

Outside of the adventures in the Prairies, I had a really fun show this past Wednesday in Grande Prairie with my buddy Ben Proulx. The house was PACKED, and red hot right from the start. It was so much fun, one of those audiences that makes it hard to stick to your time, because you want to stay up there and keep going.

Ryan Short was out of town for a week, and was gracious enough to give me the keys to his Monday night Battle to the Funny Bone show at the Comic Strip last week as well. Another really fun crowd, and the comics brought the heat. I'm really starting to get a taste for hosting. I know some comedians hate doing it, but learning how to MC properly is a pretty valuable skill, and personally, I think it's fun to change it up once and a while instead of just going up there and doing material. It's also steroids for trying to get better at crowd work, which is something I really enjoy.

Speaking of material, I've been trying really hard to push myself to write new jokes and experiment with them on stage a little more. The problem with new jokes is that they come with a higher risk of bombing. I've had my share of bombs lately, but it's not really bothering me. I would rather go to an open mic and bomb with new material, then go up there in cruise control mode and tell my same old jokes that I know work. That's like lifting the same amount of weight at the gym every day, you're never going to get any stronger. It's no secret that a majority of my material focuses on me, my girlfriend, and my parents. It's stuff I enjoy telling, but I want to get better at observational humour, and based on the last couple months of writing/trying new jokes, I can see that I have a long way to go. Many of my favourite jokes I've heard other people tell are ones where I think to myself "I've thought that before" after I hear it. I'm envious of people that can write that kind of material, and I'm determined to figure out how to do it myself.

My day job is shut down for Summer holidays next week, so I'm going to take advantage of not having to go to work in the mornings and head down to Calgary for a few days. Monday night, I'll be performing for the first time at Comedy Monday Night, an open mic run by uber-nie guy, James Moore. It's considered by many one of, if not the best, comedy open mic in Canada, and I can't wait to finally check it out in person. Tuesday night, I'll be doing my first spot at The Comedy Cave in Calgary as well. I'm coming home for a couple days, and then heading back down Friday to do a weekend at Yuk Yuks Calgary. It's always fun to be on the road and get in front of new audiences, so I'm really excited to get down there for a few days and check out some new clubs.

This turned into a lot more rambling than I thought, and if you're in line at the bank, the teller is probably about to call you up, so I think I'm going to end it here. I got some great feedback on the "WWYD - What Would You Do?" blog last week, so if you read it, thank you very much. I'm really going to try to stick to churning these things out weekly now, as long as I can come up with stuff to talk about. And like I almost guaranteed, there should be a podcast tomorrow as well *fingers crossed*

Thanks as always for reading, and supporting me. Have a great weekend!

- Adam _____

WWYD?

Everybody Bombs 9/24/16

*This Wednesday, September 28th, I'm performing in the Finals of the "Jokers in Training" competition at the Yellowhead Casino. The best set of the night is worth $500 US, and a trip to Los Angeles to do a set at the famous Comedy Store. The lineup of finalists is full of incredible comedians,  and they'll all be brining their A game to try and win this thing. This is easily the biggest show of my comedy "career" so far. If you're interested in checking it out, tickets are free, and can be found here:*

https://www.eventbrite.ca/e/jokers-in-training-competition-finals-tickets-27779663722#tickets

Thanks to everyone that came out and supported us in the prelims, very much appreciated!

Every comedian bombs.

"Bombing" in comedy, if you didn't know, is the act of going on stage to try and tell jokes, and not having anyone laugh at them. You stand up there, rambling, and there's just silence. Sometimes you can see the people staring back at you, sometimes the spotlights are so bright you can't see if there's even anyone out there to bomb in front of. I prefer the second scenario, because I can try to convince myself that I'm not bombing, it's just that nobody came to the show.

We've all done it. Some more than others. I've had my fair share of bombs already. Sometimes the audience just isn't feeling that show, and you see 6 or 7 comedians in a row go up and tell jokes to complete silence. Personally, I almost find that makes it easier to deal with, because I can tell myself I wasn't just the weak link in the chain that night. That's always been my biggest concern with bombing. The actually bombing itself doesn't bother me too much. It isn't fun, and I always want to do well, but I know it's part of the gig. And I mean absolutely no disrespect to the audience when I say this, but I don't really lose a ton of sleep worrying about what thought of me. I'm going to do my absolute best to make you laugh, and if I miss the mark, I apologize. But nobody can please everyone, and I don't think you can beat yourself up over it. I just use bombing as a learning experience, "this worked, this didn't", and I try to get better. Hopefully the next time you see me, I can connect with you better.

My biggest concern with bombing was, and still is, letting down the booker/promoter of the show. And the other comics. Being a big sports fan, I can't help but look at our shows like a game, and the comedians are a team.  I want to help the team win. When it's my turn to go on stage, I want to do well, not just because it's an awesome feeling, but because I feel like I owe it to the other comedians to do my part for the show. When I bomb, and I go back to face the rest of the comics, I can't help but feel like they're looking at me the way a hockey team looks at a guy that scores on his own net, or a goalie that gives up a brutal goal (and trust me, I know that look). It doesn't get to me as bad as it used, but I still worry I won't get invited back to the next show. Like they look at me like a liability.

I know now that we all bomb. Almost every show I'm on, someone does. And it's no big deal. We don't hate him/her. Just climb back on the horse and try again tomorrow. I've slowly forced myself to learn that if I bomb on a show, it doesn't mean I won't be allowed back. If anything, I use it as motivation. If I stink on a show, and the person promoting it gives me another shot, I'm going to work extra hard to make sure that doesn't happen again. I don't want to let the team down.

I think part of the reason some comedians are so hesitant to write and try new material is because with new stuff comes a greater risk of striking out. There's really no way to know if something is funny until you go up there a few times and try it. Once you get some stuff you know works, it can be so easy to just relax and count on those jokes. There's minimal risk of bombing, and if you do, you can tell yourself it was just an off night, that material usually kills. I understand now why veteran comics say you have to bomb to get good. You learn 100x more from losing than you do from winning. The key is to use the experience to get better, and not to just convince yourself you did fine, it was just a bad crowd. I have the mentality now that no matter how bad the audience was, there was something I could have done to make it work. I listen back to the recordings, as painful as it can be, and try to figure out what I did wrong.

One night at the Druid, I bombed harder than I ever had up to that point. It still might be the worst set I've ever had, just awful. Earlier on the show, the MC, Lars, told a story about how one night, he told the audience his friend was coming to do a set. Lars wanted everyone to just be completely silent for the guy's set; don't laugh, don't heckle, don't take a drink, nothing. His buddy went up, did 5 minutes to absolute silence. And then after it was over, they let him in on the joke. So I finished my set that night, admitted I bombed, and shook Lars' hand. As I was walking off the stage, Lars says, "Hey Adam, remember that story I was telling about how I told the crowd not to make a sound during that guy's set?"

My eyes lit up. Maybe this wasn't my fault! He set me up! "You didn't....." I said.

"Nope, I didn't. You just bombed!"

At least I was responsible for the audience laughing once that night.

He apologized afterwards, and we had a laugh about it. It did't bother me at all. That night actually really helped me start to convince myself that the other comedians don't care that you bombed. Half of them probably weren't even listening. We've all done it, we'll all do it again. When you're learning how to walk, you don't just stand up and run around the block. You have to fall down a few times first. And you learn why you fell, and what you can do to not let it happen again.

If you're a new comedian, and you go out to a show, and you bomb, don't beat yourself up too hard. Nobody is mad at you. We've all been there. Just use the experience to learn. Record your set, and listen to it. And be honest with yourself. If you got 3 laughs in 5 minutes, you bombed. But make notes. Take those 3 laughs, and try to do that more, figure out what about those jokes worked. Don't get discouraged. Comedy is an intimidating thing to get into. The comics on your show that went up there and crushed, they were where you are right now. And they used those experiences to learn and get better. Be your own biggest critic.

Embrace bombing. Remember the nights you bombed when you go up there and crush. It makes them 100 times better.

"I failed over and over and over again in my life....and that's why I succeed."
-Michael Jordan