I was in the wildcard round of the RAW Comedy competition tonight. I put a set together which was a mix of what worked last Saturday and last night, plus one or two funny bits from the past and one or two completely new small things that I’d always wanted to do.
Oh, and for the first time, I didn’t wear a suit. Now that I’ve tried it, I like both.
I was first up on stage and I just didn’t do as well as I could have. The audience didn’t seem to like my material as much as I had hoped, and for the first time since I started I forgot my set part-way through and had to check my cheat sheet.
Almost everyone on the night was better than me (I still kicked one or two), but the three winners were definitely great and deserved it. I didn’t deserve it, yet, but when it comes around again next year I’ll be ready with a vengeance.
I recorded my set, and hopefully I can put it online later if the festival organisers authorise it, now that I’ve lost.
I prepared a set almost exactly the same as the last half of my Northbridge street set from Saturday which got a good reception, so I knew it was good, and yet when I ran it last night it went okay but not great.
I didn’t feel alone though, despite there being about 60 people at the club, there was something off with the mood compared to last week, all of the professionals were struggling to get anything out of them.
I did do something different this time, every time I looked down at stage I reminded myself to look at the audience instead and try to make a connection. That didn’t work, I mean I did it, but there was no connection.
So tonight is my big night and I have to decide am I going to do the same thing as before that didn’t win it for me, or am I going to run my new stuff knowing it worked once and bombed once.
I was flicking through a book called Comedy Secrets, where it had a paragraph or two about why material works one night and not others, and that some studies have shown external factors have a big impact on how the audience will receive material. Still, I feel like as a performer we’re meant to be able to turn the crowd around and make them laugh because out stuff is FUNNY. Not just funny in the COLD or the HOT or on a SATURDAY but FUNNY. And when we know the audience can randomly like or dislike material despite it being funny, it’s hard to know where the line is between saying – I had a shit night – or – the audience had a shit night.
