DAMN YOU JERRY SEINFELD...
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Quick Summary:
My name is Sami Shah. I am a stand-up comedian in Karachi, Pakistan. I do this because I have an uncontrollable compulsion to get up on stage and risk total and complete embarrasment as often as possible.
I have done one hour-long solo show to date and am a regular performer at the local Open-Mic nights. My hour-long show went quite well (thank you for asking).
That was five months ago. Since then I have been working on material for a new show, although progress has been slow.
I am filling the gap by touring Lahore and Islamabad, courtesy of a radio company that has been very very good to me. The first stop is Islamabad on the 8th and 9th of April. One hour each night.
I am freaking out. Bad.
End Summary.
Last night I saw the documentary Comedian, chronicling Jerry Seinfeld's attempts at coming up with a complete hour of new material. I have seen it before. I recommend it to anyone thinking of becoming a comedian. It has everything you need to know about a stand-ups mindset and thinking process. And it is a damned good watch to boot.
I finished watching it and then watched a handy-cam recording of my own solo show. I then didn't sleep all night.
WHAT THE HELL DID I AGREE TO!?
Comedians in America perform two, three times a night. 7 months a year. In club after club, honing their jokes. Perfecting the material. They live with golden rules like: Never open a show with new material. Use something that is a sure-fire laugh. They edit and perform and edit and perform and rinse and repeat.
I did one solo show that was 70% new material. Material that hasn't been done since for any other audiences because the entire audience in Karachi who would want to watch stand-up saw my show. The material did alright. In retrospect not as well as I thought it had. And now I am going to perform the same material for 4 nights in two different cities. For new audiences with no background in stand-up comedy. With different cultural contexts. Who might not get it.
Or maybe I just got lucky that one time and the material is not actually that good.
There are a billion reasons why I shouldn't do this. Why it would be suicide, in fact, to do this. And it is all building up in my head.
A million reasons not to do this. And they all make sense. And it is too late to back out.
WORST CASE SCENARIO: Standing in front of 300 people in the 8th of April. In Islamabad. And the first joke bombs. And I have an hour to go with material that won't work. Because people won' t get it. Or because it just isn't any damned good at all. And I have to do it again the next night.
What have I agreed to...
Quick Summary:
My name is Sami Shah. I am a stand-up comedian in Karachi, Pakistan. I do this because I have an uncontrollable compulsion to get up on stage and risk total and complete embarrasment as often as possible.
I have done one hour-long solo show to date and am a regular performer at the local Open-Mic nights. My hour-long show went quite well (thank you for asking).
That was five months ago. Since then I have been working on material for a new show, although progress has been slow.
I am filling the gap by touring Lahore and Islamabad, courtesy of a radio company that has been very very good to me. The first stop is Islamabad on the 8th and 9th of April. One hour each night.
I am freaking out. Bad.
End Summary.
Last night I saw the documentary Comedian, chronicling Jerry Seinfeld's attempts at coming up with a complete hour of new material. I have seen it before. I recommend it to anyone thinking of becoming a comedian. It has everything you need to know about a stand-ups mindset and thinking process. And it is a damned good watch to boot.
I finished watching it and then watched a handy-cam recording of my own solo show. I then didn't sleep all night.
WHAT THE HELL DID I AGREE TO!?
Comedians in America perform two, three times a night. 7 months a year. In club after club, honing their jokes. Perfecting the material. They live with golden rules like: Never open a show with new material. Use something that is a sure-fire laugh. They edit and perform and edit and perform and rinse and repeat.
I did one solo show that was 70% new material. Material that hasn't been done since for any other audiences because the entire audience in Karachi who would want to watch stand-up saw my show. The material did alright. In retrospect not as well as I thought it had. And now I am going to perform the same material for 4 nights in two different cities. For new audiences with no background in stand-up comedy. With different cultural contexts. Who might not get it.
Or maybe I just got lucky that one time and the material is not actually that good.
There are a billion reasons why I shouldn't do this. Why it would be suicide, in fact, to do this. And it is all building up in my head.
A million reasons not to do this. And they all make sense. And it is too late to back out.
WORST CASE SCENARIO: Standing in front of 300 people in the 8th of April. In Islamabad. And the first joke bombs. And I have an hour to go with material that won't work. Because people won' t get it. Or because it just isn't any damned good at all. And I have to do it again the next night.
What have I agreed to...
posted by Sami at 12:17 PM
1 Comments:
hmmm...how about a hash brownie just before the show...so whatever happens...will not really sink in at that point...post show mortification u can live with!
also u could come up with jokes specific to the cities ur going to...u know, what both cities are famous for, and kind of turn it into a 'karachiites perspective' thing...(but without sounding insulting)
hmmm...or scratch all that.ur the pro here!
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