Lessons from Comedy

            This weekend I was in a comedy competition. I placed 3^rd. Yeah me! I’ve been doing comedy since 2008 and this is the first time I’ve placed in a competition. Of course, I could complain about how unfair comedy competitions are. The best comedian doesn’t always win. But, truth be told, I’m not the best comedian out there. Still, I’ve learned some valuable lessons.

DON’T BE AFRAID OF FAILURE

            This last competition I tried an entirely new approach to the stage. I didn’t plan out where I was going to go. I played off the moment and the crowd. Usually I have everything exactly planned out and that makes me appear a little stiff. I did a little better just riffing.

LEARN FROM YOUR MISTAKES

            Yes, riffing was good, but at a few points I was flat. I need to find a point where I’m both prepared and ready to riff—almost a paint-by-numbers approach, where I have the basic lines drawn in before I take the stage, but am free to play with the colors. Right now, I don’t know how to do that or what that will look like.

KNOW YOUR AUDIENCE

            I’ve played this crowd before and I know the comedians who do the best are the ones that interact with the audience. My last performance there I did that a little. This time I did it much more and it worked—for the most part. Learning comedy is a trial and error affair.

LEARN FROM OTHERS

            One of the areas I’m flat as a comedian is crowd work. Other comedians are far better at it than I am. The winner of the competition really related to and even at points picked on the crowd—in a fun way. There’s much I can learn from watching him and the other comedians. They all have strong points and they all made mistakes.

STAY POSITIVE

            In order to succeed, you need to stay positive. You can’t let one bad performance beat you down. I’ve had some bad—really bad—performance, but so has every comedian. Every time you take the stage, you take that risk. But, as you mature, the likelihood of failure decreases and the likelihood of success increases. You begin to learn how and when to take risks and that wisdom makes all the difference in the world.