Talking about better
I’m mostly not in the comedy scene any more.
As I tell people, with some sadness on my part, what I do to perform, it’s almost nothing, which I regret.
At the same time though, I think I’ll be able to make my living this year and maybe even accomplish some of my more outlandish year goals by performing comedy.
With auditions for the comedy theaters about to happen (auditions I never passed or was deemed good enough for a callback) and my talks with my roommate and some of the others in the comedy scene, I’m really starting to think about this concept of “better” and whether it’s helpful.
“I need to get better at comedy.”
That’s a phrase I’ve said many times and one I hear constantly. From my friends, my roommate. When I asked him how often he heard others say this, he said constantly.
I feel very conflicted about this phrase, this motivation, this ur-insecurity that is bred into the world of improv and stand up too I think, the comedy community in New York and I do not think exists in the professional sphere.
In Los Angeles and among professionals, I do not think this thought exists, at least not as a final manifestation.
Getting better at comedy, as an actor, on your networking and exposure is all part of it, but I don’t think the final thought is a general “I need to get better at comedy” unless that’s been diagnosed as what’s getting in one’s way.
I think the thought is:
“I need to get better at booking work.”
***
Like I said I’m conflicted.
Let’s start with the negatives.
First, it’s insane.
Yea, that short fat dude in your class is funnier than you. He makes weird noises and always references 19th century philosophers.
Guess what? His progress or how funny he is has nothing to do with you, unless MAYBE you could be his twin or look almost exactly like him.
But what about team auditions? Slots at comedy clubs?
Aren’t we all competing for work, for recognition, aren’t they looking for the funniest people and maybe diversity if they’re not morons and don’t want to look like bigots (which these institutions constantly do anyway)?
Well yes and no.
There is a carrot.
There is incentive to getting on a team or getting up at a big comedy club.
Exposure, a showcase for your work, a sense of institutional branding.
Perhaps the biggest carrot of all for insecure comedians: the sense of an institutional “yes you are good enough to do comedy whatever that means”, which validates the years of classes and pay-to-play that many now compare to “comedy grad school”
From the theater and the clubs’ side this is not the thought.
The thought is either:
-Well we built a school (fka: a pyramid scheme) and we need to showcase the work of some students. We gotta put someone on teams so, who’s it gonna be?
-We need people to buy drinks. What comedians will attract people to come here and buy drinks.
But from a comedian’s perspective, the thought is:
“I need to be better so I can be recognized that I am worthy of doing this and then… I don’t know, I’ll figure it out when and if”.
It’s an infinity bottleneck, a Ponzi scheme, a bubble, a pyramid scheme, call it what you will and a lot of my musings have been trying to understand why it exists.
Why are a bunch of people who are unsure if they want to be actors or writers or even ANYTHING spending tons of money and time and social media presence insisting they are generalized “comedians” without an idea of their own futures except to gain approval from 1-4 sources?
Where did these people come from? What did these type of people do in previous generations?
It’s crazy and the worst part is this insecurity about ones future and need for institutional approval constantly manifests as:
-feeling shitty about one’s self for doing less than amazing in a class or a show where one is supposed to be learning a fun skill
-being shitty and catty to a ton of people because they are somehow the enemy and because somehow choosing to ignore people feels like control in a desperate situation.
This is very wordy but it basically boils down to this bubble of comedians along with the generalized sense of needing to be “better”, in part abetted by institutions, makes people feel shitty about themselves and act shitty towards others.
Not addressed yet:
It also does NOT prepare them for a life actually making money off comedy either writing or acting.
Interesting. Perhaps my next step if I were to further pursue this would be to investigate grad programs and see how they function comparably.
***
Now, the positives.
People get better.
They nerd out and are driven.
They find other nerds who are also trying to get better and sometimes make interesting things regardless of whether they get institutional approval.
Those who have not gotten institutional approval throughout their formative career in comedy are starting to outnumber those who have in the ranks of the uber-successful:
Donald Glover, Aziz Ansari, Nick Kroll, Rachel Bloom, Abbi and Ilana, Mindy Kaling.
Are we to think the system at fault for not recognizing these people or nurturing them? I think perhaps.
However, the sense of community and shared objective brought these people in, in some cases caused them to find each other.
Having a community of comedians, these theaters and clubs can sometimes lead to extraordinary collaborations and fruitful crossbreeding.
That social aspect and the opportunity to reward “nerding out” are valuable.
Are they worth the contorted masses?
It’s a crucible and one I think could work better.
Then again, as the founder of an improv program and a former artistic director of a comedy theater (however briefly) I know it is easy to broadly criticize and harder to effect meaningful or the “right” change.
In the meantime, I’ll leave you with this:
I think this competitive feeling that comedians feel towards one another in New York is 90 percent unhelpful.
Get on a team, don’t get on a team, booked on a show or not.
You are always competing against yourself, refining your own voice, if you wish to get better pick a concrete goal and take steps to improve.
This sense of nebulous “better” is a bad corruption that I think goes against at least the spirit of long form improvisational theater, though I’m sure that could be debated.
But till then, be easy on yourself. Pick something REAL you want and try for it.
And then don’t be surprised if you’re still a grump and a curmudgeon even if you get it. :)
Peace.