Well, That Didn’t Take Long
It didn’t take long to miss a day of my writing challenge. I’m castigating myself as I type this.
Missing a day isn’t ideal, missing two or more days consecutively is worse so here I am working to build a writing habit.
I had shows yesterday, one at a synagogue and one at an old christian church that’s been converted (heh) into a live music and comedy venue. The synagogue show was for an arts festival and I was the opener. I did 15 minutes up front and there was live music afterward, then closing with Keith McGill. I had to leave before Keith went up and I haven’t talked to him yet, but I’m curious how he did. I’m 99% sure he did really well. Oh, me? How did my set go? Well, I’ve done worse. The crowd was gracious and polite, but my material, for the most part, didn’t resonate and I think that’s a product of my inexperience.
For example, the biggest factor is that all of my material is written dirty. It’s written in my voice, cussing and dicey subject matter in all, and that doesn’t do well in a well lit synagogue on a Sunday afternoon where I’m playing to a mostly elderly crowd. I didn’t curse, which is tough for me, but that detracts from my material because it’s written with the swear words baked in.
It wasn’t all bad, I had laughs throughout, but there was a lot of silence and I floundered a bit. I wasn’t nervous or rattled, but I also don’t have years of reps to fall back on so I went from bit to bit, digging for laughs and I dug myself into a hole more than once. I learned a lot from this show as you learn most from your failures, bonus learning when you fail in a low stakes environment like this one. Positive takeaways include meeting the producer of the show (David, I believe) and he was delightful. He’s also connected to Raanan Hershberg (Louisville comedian that moved to NYC and is up and coming and very talented). Keith was generous with his notes and thoughts on my set. Always good to get feedback from another comedian, especially one of Keith’s talent and experience.
