You have to really want it and/or believe deep down you can do it. And/or hit rock bottom with your alternate career choice. I was coming apart at college, sucking as a predental student, and I heard about a standup contest. I wrote an act and went for it, and if I had bombed I may have given up right then. Fortunately I won and the validation made me unstoppable, as far as knowing what I wanted to do from then on. Not that unfamiliar a story, insecure actor/writer is self-effacing, scared to assert himself, gets a little success and shifts in animal mode.
I don't know how badly you want to do this for a living, but if you do, go for it hard, take chances, and if you're not as lucky early o...
Related posts tagged 'Advice for aspiring comedians'
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Related posts tagged 'Advice for aspiring comedians'
First of all, sit your parents down, and tell them that you want to be paid for something the rest of your life that you have passion for. And tell them, "Let's make a deal. If this doesn't work for the first five years, then I'll go and be a doctor." That's kind of like the deal I had with my dad, because I was on full athletic scholarship, and I wanted to quit to become a comedian. Basically... I just quit and became a comedian and he didn't approve. But he DID approve after he saw how funny I was.
In saying that, if you want to be a writer, then concentrate on being a writer. If you want to be an actor, concentrate on being an actor, because they're two different things. I got hired as a...
Finish them! DOn't be the guy that writes half a script. Write a full script or make a film and post it! you have so many cool avenues these days! But no matter what, finish! Even if it's bad, then you have something finished to work off of and show others and get their thougths! Finish, then show others and take their precious free thougths!
I started when i was 17. I got a good head start, skill-building wise, but I sometimes think I missed out on a lot of “Life” that I could be drawing from now. Try to go to college and get some knowlege. If you don’t do that, make a deliberate attempt to read a lot and educate yourself, so that you don’t just become a siv for American pop culture.
If you spend all your time on stage talking about the cover of People magazine, you won’t go far, you won’t last, and you’ll be bored before you get good. Take advantage of the head start you’re giving yourself by stopping as often as possible to live your life, explore America and grow as a person.
When you go to some shit town to do a one-nighte...
I can't help you at all. The only road to good shows is bad ones. Just go start having a bad time and if you don't give up you will get better.
Louis CK once told me to never let go of a bit. I tend to throw away a lot of ideas if they're not working, but now I think I'm going to go back to stuff I once believed in, and see if I still find it funny and can maybe re-shape it into something good.
This is a very common problem for most comedians. Lemme ask you this - How bad was your childhood? If it was really bad, chances are you're already comfortable with feeling like a failure. So you're actually ahead of the game!
Stand up is You vs You so tell that scared little bitch to calm down. You aren't fighting in Afghanistan or battling cancer. You're just telling shit jokes to strangers. Good luck and godspeed. Go for it!
The advice we always give to anyone is, if you want to make comedy or any other kind of film, or TV, or whatever you're interested in, the best advice we can give is to just start doing it, and don't wait to have people give you permission to do it, or wait for huge budgets, or huge crews. You can shoot on your phone now, and edit on your laptop, and start getting whatever is your style is, going. And that seems to work really well for people.
getting paid does NOT make you any better at standup, trust me. i wish it did. it's all about getting as much stage time as possible. it took me 2 years - my first gig, i got paid $20 and i drove 8 hours to do it. worth it.
advice: get onstage, however possible. there are no shortcuts. you need to put in the time.
Related posts tagged 'Stage fright'
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Related posts tagged 'Stage fright'
I used to have terrible stage fright, the best way to get over it is to just get onstage so much that it becomes second nature and not at all a big deal.
I was about to interview him at the Open Your Heart In Paradise retreat in Hawaii in front of the entire retreat. We were back stage and he looked up at me and smiled and I said "I'm so nervous!!!" and he said "Me too!!!!!!!" and we laughed and it was just the best. I miss him so much!
no you just have to have the fright and do it anyway. avoiding it is rational and smart. if you have a competing desire then you'll overcome the fear. but the fear aint going anywhere.
Oh yeah. The thing is, you’re so scared, but every day you’re just dreaming of doing Conan or doing a special on Comedy Central, so when it comes, it’s terrifying but great. You know, as a guy you’re scared to have sex but you want it so bad, you do it. Also, as a comic, you realize how hard getting on TV is, that you’re not going to pass it up out of fear. When you’re at Conan behind the curtain waiting to go out, and they pull it open and say ‘you ready?’ you see the lights, the crowd—it’s crazy.
Definitely. I kind of hate when I hear a performer who says they "never get nervous." I just don't believe that.
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