…what Adam Sandler said…

Yes, well, welcome to Year 2 of my Clown College Confessions.  Thanks for those of you who’ve stuck with me this far.

Today was my first day of classes and I only had one class to attending: Acting & Voice.  We have a new teacher, which is exciting because it means we will get to see this subject matter instructed in a different method than that of the very unique view and perspective of one, Mr. Lewis Baumander.   The big project in Acting class this year seems like it will be the performance of 10-minute plays, which we will both write and perform.   Those are happening in February, so fans… keep your calendars free.  They told us they would be switching the groups around so we would be working with students other than those with which we had class last year, but a significant chunk of the people in my class this year were also in my class last year, which is good.  It will allow for a more comfortable experience, I think, based on the fact that we all already know each other and we can pretty much be at ease with each other (for the most part.)

I also had a first “new season” meeting with some members of LaughDraft.  It looks like we’re hopeful to put on another sketch show later on in September.  More details to come on that front, but things are looking positive.  We’re also starting to talk about getting more content up on our website, so you should all have lots of giggles to look forward to in the not-so-distant future.

I met up with the program coordinator today briefly to discuss an idea I’ve had for a performance/fundraiser.  The idea is very much still in its developing stages, so nothing more on that topic until I meet with him again.

The Humber Comedy Alumni show took place tonight at Yuk Yuk’s.  This is a performance in which some of the funniest stand-ups/past Humber students performed a show, mainly for the first years as a welcome, but also for returning students and other alumni.  The show was… great.  Surprisingly great.  I didn’t attend last year, and I don’t quite remember why, but for some reason I think it might have had to do with my roommate’s lack of desire to attend, and I was easily influenced back then.  Anyway, I’m glad I attended this year because the show was really great, really tight and very funny.  I hope to one day perform in this show.

Finally, on a more personal note, I’m trying to work on fear and personal anxiety.  Putting those things aside to get where I want to be in this program among my peers and with the teachers.  Even just shooting the shit with the program coordinator & his assistant this morning is like, a huge accomplishment for me, as tiny as it may sound.

A very positive start to the year.

I hope you’ll keep reading about my adventures in Year Two!

So, I quit my job on Monday, leaving my schedule free to perform a bit more before school starts up again next week.  Tuesday and Wednesday I performed sets in Toronto & St. Catharines, respectively.  Both nights, though one went very well and the other, rather poorly, have lead to the realization I must find a way to thicken my skin.  I don’t know how to do that.  As an anxious person, I tend to over-analyse every little detail; a bad set, an awkward social interaction, my place in pretty much every social circle in which I am a part, including familial.

Yesterday, I performed for the first time in the Niagara Region.  What a strange night of comedy.  Many of my friends and family were there to support me, which made me very happy, and very nervous.  But, all of whom were in attendance had mentioned they couldn’t wait to see me perform, so I felt like this was a good opportunity to see them in my “beginnings,” which sounds pretty pathetic, considering I’ve almost been doing this for a year.  It just goes to show, this stuff takes time and a LOT of hard work.  In hindsight, the material I’d chosen to perform might not have been really in synch with the audience in attendance.  Now that I know that, I can bring some more appropriate material the next time I perform in Niagara.

I don’t often think about the big differences between the place where I grew up and the places I’ve lived since.  But hands down, Toronto is VERY different than St. Catharines.  And the comedy audience in attendance here certainly wasn’t the crowd I’m used to in Toronto.  So.  I suppose it inspired me to branch out in my writing.

Anyway, if anybody from Niagara who was in attendance yesterday reads this: Thanks for coming out.  I’m sorry for all the dick, fart and oral sex jokes, but… well, that is pretty  much the standard definition of amateur comedy.

In contrast, I performed at Yuk’s downtown Toronto on Tuesday for Humber night and the set couldn’t have gone better.  I felt really “on.”  (Not so much in St. Catharines, considering I forgot a whole big chunk of my set.  Lame.)  The crowd was giggly and very receptive and almost everyone who went up pulled off an excellent set.

I wish I didn’t find myself so um… different(?) in comedy crowd socializing though.  Again, probably because I’m over-analyzing the situation constantly.  God forbid something I say would be un-funny or un-worthy of this crowd.  I never felt this way in any other social situation.   I think they should conduct psychological and sociological research on this fragment of the population.   The results would be so off the chart.

People are like: why do you care?  What’s the big deal?  Don’t think about it!  It doesn’t matter!  Just forget about it!

But what to do if you can’t?   If it’s impossible?  I’ll drive myself insane.  Maybe that’ll make me a better comedian.

  <—- Here’s the information for my first set in the Niagara Region.  Anyone who still knows me from like, high school or like… being related to me is more than welcome to attend!

I realize the details here are very small, so check out the event page on Facebook to confirm your attendance:  https://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=102847319820925

Or… I could put it this way:

I’ll have more musings on the subject as we come closer to the date of the performance, but in the meantime – take down this information and get ready to come out and laugh next Wednesday… either at my funny jokes, or at the sad state of my appearance.

…these are words I spoke over and over again last Wednesday night at my second ever hosting gig.   I wanted to write a post about my hosting gig last week because I thought it was a super-fun positive experience, considering I’ve been so busy working at the cinema lately I haven’t exactly been able to focus my attention on comedy, anyway, it was good to know that I wasn’t too rusty to pull off not only a set, but a whole hosting gig.  Actually, I found that the hosting gig was maybe easier than an actual set, because I got to ad-lib a bit and tell some true stories without them following a specific strict joke format.

Few comics showed up for the evening, compared to the regular Sirens turn-out, but it was enough for about 7 comics to come up and do a set and for me to talk a bit between each set.  I was a bit upset that more people didn’t show up, but I guess it’s to be expected from open mic nights in Toronto in the summertime.  Lots of people out of town, lots of people too hot to leave the comfort of their parents’ air conditioned houses. 😛

Anyhoo, my theme for the evening was: “Resignation” as I’d recently submitted my resignation from my job at the cinema to get ready to go back to school in the Fall.  I told several ridiculous stories about working at a movie theatre, as I have nearly 7 years off and on of experience dishing out popcorn and taking shit from moviegoers.

It was fun to retell the stories to people who don’t also work in movie theatres.  Also, afterward, one of the audience members (and a good friend of another comic) told me I was adorable up there.  How about that?

Reasons I shouldn’t find that as awesome as it may seem:

1) A woman said it;

2) I think she was just making conversation.  She probably felt bad for me.

Annnnnnyway…  as a result of my working so much and taking Wednesday night off to do Sirens, I wasn’t able to film the news this week, so Paul, the web-master/writer/creator of the website stepped in.  He’s supposed to be our Sports guy, but we haven’t established that quite yet.

You can check out that news report by clicking here:  http://laughdraft.com/2011/08/ld-news-19082011/

I’ll be back to film it next week though!

OH! And friends from the Niagara Region might be happy to hear that I’ll be performing a set in St. Catharines at the end of the month.  More details to come.  Stay tuned!

Thanks for reading friends!!  Once I’m finished at the cinema, hopefully I’ll have more comedy news to report!

Just thought I’d run people by a typical day of writing and filming our weekly newscast.

Step 1 was getting the day off.  Somehow I managed to get three days in a row off this week, you’d think I’d have spent some of that time writing jokes for the show, but alas, I went to Welland and didn’t want to do any writing there, so there you have it.

Step 2: Get picked up & driven out all the way to Milton, ON.  Why Milton?  Because Paul has the greenscreen in his basement and he lives in Milton, therefore that is where we must film the news.

Step 3:  Eat lunch at Swiss Chalet.  (Joey and Paul demand their Chicken n’ Ribs – I prefer the Chicken on a Kaiser.)

Step 4: Shoppers Drug Mart to buy cat treats, because I don’t know when the next opportunity I will have to buy Peanut her snacks and I left her old bag in Welland.

Step 5: Arrive at destination, 2.5 hours later.

Step 6:  Decide instead to discuss the details of a potential upcoming LaughDraft show.  Get completely immersed in that and forget to write jokes.

Step 7: Write jokes.

Step 8: Slow news week.  See if Steve & Brandon come with better jokes.  Take 2 hour nap in the meantime.

Step 9:  Steve and Brandon arrive.  They brought more jokes with them.  Huzzah.  All is not lost.

Step 10: Establish the order of the jokes, get costumed up and head to the basement to start filming.

Step 11: Get through the first and last scene only before a breaker goes out and we have to break for 10 mins. to let the electricity calm down again.

Step 12: Keep fucking up the wording for the same joke over and over and over and over again until you finally get so fed up you end up using one of the sloppy takes.

Step 13: Wait patiently while co-anchors and other special appearances do the same thing.

Step 14: Pick Paul up the floor.  He fell down as we threw a volleyball at him.

Step 15: Holy crap, we’re done!  We’re done!!!  We did it!

Step 16: Zombie car-ride home to Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz……….

Is it worth it?

You tell me…http://laughdraft.com/2011/08/ld-news-05082011/

Not this year.  Sure, I went the past two years in a row and wanted to start making it a tradition.   Year one was amazing.  Coldplay and fireworks. Love in the air.  A panic attack in the line back to the subway to get off the island.

Year two, I suffered heart wrenching breakdown (but Arcade Fire and Weezer kicked fucking ass.)

This year, I’m sweating behind two counters and a projector.

Next year, I promise myself I will celebrate summer.  For this year,  I am a cinema-masochist and all that matters is whether or not you want Becel margarine on your popcorn.  Yes, that’s all we have.  Becel.  No, it’s not butter.  It’s Becel.  What do you mean you don’t know what margarine is?  Don’t tell your kid it’s butter.  You’re lying to him.  Kid, it’s margarine.  It’s like butter, only not real.  And we can keep it longer without worrying about it going bad because it’s filled with disgusting chemicals.  Yeah.  You did see the commercial for it by the Heart & Stroke Foundation in which they claim it’s good for your heart.  But you know what’s better for your heart?  Not eating Becel.  I’ll tell you that much.  Now hurry up and take your popcorn so I can run up to the booth and start the damn movie.  Yes.  I do that too.

Clown College posting is officially back on.  We’ve received our Fall schedules!  As I may have mentioned, class sizes in Humber’s comedy program aren’t very big; we started off with about 20 people per section.  I imagine that will have dropped a tad as we enter our second year.

I’ve come to be accustomed to the members of my section so it will be very interesting to see how I fare this term, as they are mixing up everyone into new sections.  For a while I was worried about this.  Given the nature of this program, it’s common for us to divulge somewhat private information during our classes and in our sets.

I speak for myself, but others may sympathize that it takes time to trust people enough to open up like that.  Especially when you face the consequences of seeing them every day for the rest of the semester.

I want to say that people have become used to my interactions with them.  They know me and how I will react to certain circumstances and though initially I was worried about whether or not it would go over well next semester, I’ve decided not to care.  I’m just going to try to make the best of it and stay positive.

Let’s see if I’m kidding myself.