Are you a "Pryor" or a "Carlin"
Some advice I gave to my latest class
Relax!
Always the most helpful advice, right? Oh, just relax, of course, why didn’t I think of that!? (/sarcasm) But really, sometimes it is exactly the advice you need even if its easier said then done. (And really, aren’t most things easier said then done?)
Davida is funny, naturally and effortlessly funny, and she was ready to quit my class after freezing on stage in front of her classmates yet again. I asked her questions to lead her to each next joke, slowly inching her through her set. And then I gave her advice that seemed to really make a difference.
I pointed out to her how funny she was when she just talked to us, off stage, how the jokes just flowed out of her, how the best thing she could do to write was to talk to someone and then pause to make notes. This is what I wanted from her on stage but her attempts at remembering her set, in order, with all the punchlines and tags and every detail of the setup, was gumming her up and making her seem distracted on not present.
I pointed at the two pictures on the wall she was seated in front of. Richard Pryor and George Carlin. Carlin is said to have written every word meticulously and rehearsed his act with a director as a stage actor doing Shakespeare might. This method worked for him. Pryor on the other hand often didn’t know what was going to come out of his mouth when he got onstage. He followed his whims, flexed with the crowd, and was prone to fits of inspiration.
To be clear, I don’t know how true or accurate either of these claims about these two great comics are. But the point stands. We don’t all have the same approach, and Davida was more like the Pryor type; she needed to be loose, and free, and while I wanted her to keep working on memorizing her set off stage, on stage I wanted her to give herself permission to forget to tell a joke or two, to miss a tag, to be loose and free, to be the naturally funny person she is. She was doing an original set, not reciting some sacred well known text. The audience would’t know if a joke was missing, and she could add it back in at the next set.
I’m very proud to say this worked really well with this particular student, and Davida killed at her graduation show, and I do mean killed. A more experienced comedian I brought in to do a warm up set whispered to me, “Oh damn. She’s funny.” I also heard from two other students from this same class that this advice helped them as well, so I figured I’d share it here.
Don’t let perfect be the enemy of good, or of great even! Trying to recite every word perfectly might be getting in the way of you being the natural that you are, or it might be exactly right for you. Experiment, figure out if you’re a Carlin or a Pryor (and again, I’m not even sure that Carlin and Pryor were a Carlin and a Pryor.)
dear keith,
this is a great distinction!
i love this: "I pointed out to her how funny she was when she just talked to us, off stage, how the jokes just flowed out of her, how the best thing she could do to write was to talk to someone and then pause to make notes."
i just finished a 10-week acting class. in the first week, we were given an acting task and then after that told to discuss the task. the discussion of the task was more natural, easier, just humans communicating comfortably, and that was the teacher's point. that was how acting could feel at its best. just doing. as ourselves.
and i think that makes a lot of sense for standups, like the one in your post as well.
thanks for sharing!
love
myq
I love this advise. It makes accepting that things went well even missing something is ok and not beating yourself up for a messed up joke (still working on that).