Stand up Stanford

A very quick one here 'coz I'm dog tired and have a whole day of interviewing ahead of me.

I had another go at stand-up today. Partly successful, partly not. It was the Stanford try-outs for the Rooftop Comedy's College Stand-up competition, so I figured I'd throw my hat in the ring.

I was first on, with a three-minute bit about Vegas I'd cobbled together over the last day or so. It went down fair enough - there seemed to be plenty of laughs in the right places and I didn't clam up, as I feared. In fact I was surprisingly nonchalant. I really didn't feel that nervous at all, and if I'd had a bit more time I would have happily stayed on stage, maybe trying some riffing with the crowd (don't get ahead of yourself, boy).

Unfortunately I didn't make it through to the next round, but I'm not too fussed about it, for the following reasons:

a) I bloody well got up there and did it, and I'm pretty happy about that.

B) Without sounding too pleased with myself, I really do think I was funnier on the night than at least three of the eight acts that went through. I suspect they had a lot more friends than me in the audience, and so got more votes, but I did OK for myself on the night. (Obviously this might all be crap, but that's what I'm telling myself at the moment).

c) I didn't talk too quickly. Amazingly considering my predilection for rattling through sentences at a rate of knots, I was reasonably measured in my delivery. I also stayed in one place and didn't use my hands too much. So maybe I can do this kind of stuff without coming across like a cocaine fiend.

d) It went OK. Yep, not great, but not terrible, and I can hold my head up at the end of it. With a bit more polish I reckon I can get together a pretty good set, and I've proved to myself that I don't get too nervous in front of (admittedly pretty kind) crowds.

A KZSU stablemate did make it through to the Cal match, though, so it might be a good excuse next quarter to head up to SF and catch that show.

I definitely want to do more comedy performances now: It's the only way I'll learn, and I think it'll give me a bit more discipline about writing funny stuff. I just need a way to make sure I'm in SF at least one night of the week, and that I'm definitely going to be on stage with new material.