The subject title of this post also happens to be the title of one of the first books I ever read on stand-up, and I'm going to go through and read it again. Also on my list of things to do to feed my inner comic this year is:
- Watch and learn from more amazing comedians. I started last night by watching my new Bill Bailey DVD - apparently since our plans have commenced Operation Hiccup I am a little less motivated to save $$ - and was absolutely blown away. If there is a comic I want to be, it's him. Though with larger boobies and more hair.
- Get my hands on a copy of Comedian, a documentary Jerry Seinfeld did on the comedy world a few years back. Both Fred Lang and Greg Sullivan have urged me to watch this, if not threatened to batter me senseless with a rotten cucumber if I do not.
- Spend more time talking to comics about comedy. I'm such a geek - but I do love hearing people talk comedy, share their experiences for better or for worse and get their take on how this whole crazy business works. Greg Sullivan, for instance, was sharing his thoughts the other night on how comedy is like martial arts - you work your way up through the belt colours, you learn from your teacher/mentors and when you see someone who's finally cracked it and gotten their black belt, they're just so pumped and you know the amount of time and effort it's taken them to get there.
Here endeth the comedic resolutions for 2007.
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6 comments:
Check out some of the classic Australian comedians - grab a copy of 'Here's Luck', by Lennie Lower. Brilliant slapstick stuff, wonderfully crafted prose (see how many literary references you can count!) with the bonus of giving you an insight into 1920s Sydney. Check out some A D Hope poems (or even reviews) and James McAuley (he started off as a cabaret writer for Sydney Uni reviews) - they'll give you great ideas for songs.
Anon, Anon, Anonnynonnyno.
Maybe skip McAuley on second thoughts, most of his most-published stuff is gloomy Catholic self-lacerating things. Maybe a bit of Ogden Nash?
Gees Louise, at the rate I read these days (suffice to say that trying to read with kids around is like trying to apply fake eyelashes while blinking under strobe lighting) it will take me well into my retirement to read that lot.
Not that I'm not grateful...I don't spose they come in audio form, hmmmm??
It's a mere doddle. They were all three masters of the one-liner. Lennie Lower, for instance, got fired by Frank Packer for this exchange with visiting English dignitary Noel Coward:
NC: Ah, the King of Australian comedy, I presume.
LL: Ah, the Queen of English comedy, I presume.
Ogden Nash was even more terse: "The Bronx? No thonx!"
Who's Louise? She must be a very frustrating person to have that epithet named after her.
And it's okay. Lower got hired straight away by Packer's competitors. Take that, Packer empire!
They're beautiful. Plus one-liners are just my cup of tea, reading-wise. I can always fit at least a couple in between tantrums.
I'm yet to meet THE Louise - all the ones I know are quite lovely. Maybe it's like "Jeez, Louise, you're just so sweet I can't HANDLE it!"
Just thinking (or typing) out loud...
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