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“Laugh”, I said “laugh”!
At a show last night a friend brought a friend who brought a friend and the friend said “I think comedians should get drunk before they go on stage”. I didn’t, had a great set anyway, but it made me think about how is it that we break down walls. In my email in-box I subscribe to a thing called Notes from the Universe. I know it sounds cheesy, but modern times call for modern measures. In other words, secret “that shit in” folks, whatever “that shit” may be. Anyway the note I got yesterday said. “Be still, Leisa, (yes they address the lovely notes with your name, cute huh?) Stop thinking, feel, take action. It made me wonder if I “feel drunk” would that be enough. No seriously folks, can I have six Martini’s. Soliciting laughter whether it is while high on substance, or high on life is serious business.
Maybe the key word is soliciting. No we are not soliciting the way prostitutes solicit sex, of course if you have a good set you might get some (insert smiling emoticon here), but we are soliciting, aren’t we? The literal definition of solicitation is to urgently ask for something. The aim of a comedic set is to KILL the audience, and sometimes in less than 6 minutes, that seems urgent to me. Other words that replace the word solicit would be incite, woo, hook, move or persuade. Hooking the audience sounds pretty dead on for what we need to do to get the response we want. We are the protagonists and it is our job to get people interested in us. If we wait for the audience to tell us that they like us first we have wasted too much time.
One of the first things I realized as a yoga teacher was that I couldn’t let the class have more control than me. I have to dictate how the class will run. If I walk into the room and the class is tired then it is my job to get their energy moving. I can’t say “Look, I can tell you guys are tired, and that half of you don’t really want to be here, but is it ok if I try to make you work hard anyway”? My job is to make them sweat and loosen up and feel good. On stage my job is to make them laugh and loosen up and feel good. As comedians we can’t ask for permission to make them laugh, we have to make them laugh whether they really wanted to or not.
4 Comments to ““Laugh”, I said “laugh”!”
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As a commenter, I’m going to make the comment that you make (what should be) an obvious point — when we take the stage, it our job to make them laugh… every time. I am boggled at how often comics take the stage and don’t even TRY to make the audience laugh. I mean, it’s one to be working out unpolished material, but it’s something altogether different (and pathetic) to be up there WITHOUT any material (or even ideas) to polish.
That being said, I’m pretty sure the friend of a friend of a friend wasn’t making his comment for no good reason. Were there a bunch of nervous first timers on the bill with you? Huh, were there? Were there? Your audience deserves an answer. Answer us!
Eric, we all know by now that my name is so BIG that i rarely play with nervous first timers ( well not that kind of first timer anyway) ….
i did ask him why he thought this way of course – and said “i saw a comedian do it once at the Improv — at first the fact that he was drunk as shit didn’t work… but then all the sudden everyone was laughing.. and me too” he said. “it just seems like that maybe is the way to do it”
drunk leading drunk?
I think everybody should get drunk before they go to work. Comics, Bus Drivers, Pilots. Whatever.
ya know, now that i think about it … my favorite teacher, right before i dropped out of High School, was always WASTED!!!! God, I loved her?