Stand-up comedy; it
was the perfect idea!
I love comedy. When most people listen to Pandora radio, they listen to "Today's Hits,"
or "Katy Perry Radio." However, I
listen to comedy stations - particularly stations like "Dane Cook Radio" and "Chris
Rock Radio" (these are comedians if you were unaware) - basically, I enjoy comedy.
(Chris Rock)
(Chris Rock)
Over the summer, my
family took me to an event called Oddball Fest, where a large group of
comedians came together for one big performance. Headlining the show was one of
my favorite comedians, Louis C.K. I had a blast, and it increased my love for
comedy. My interest in pursuing stand-up comedy increased when I gave it a little more thought - I talked to my dad and uncle about it, and we ended up making up jokes about random topics for over a half hour.
In order to write
and perform stand-up comedy, over the next six cycles, I'm going to be spending
time researching, listening, watching, writing, and performing.
First, I'll do research on specific strategies and ways to approach stand-up. Then, I'm going to just listen to performances through Pandora, just to get a feel for the art. Next, I'll watch performances through YouTube and Netflix to understand the body language and stage presence necessary. I'll then write my own material about random things that I decide to write about. Lastly, I'm going to practice performing, and keep practicing until my final presentation.
My obvious goal for the project is to learn about the art of stand-up comedy.
However, I also have a few smaller goals.
First of all, I want to improve my public speaking and acting skills, because not only are they important in stand-up comedy, but I'm very bad at these skills and they're essential in other fields too.
I also want to be able to "find the funny," in simple, everyday things. By this, I mean I want to be able to pick out any random object, idea, etc., and be able to put a satirical twist and effect on it in hopes of appealing to
my audience.
Ultimately, in my
TED Talk, I want to simply make my audience laugh and enjoy my presentation.
First, I'll do research on specific strategies and ways to approach stand-up. Then, I'm going to just listen to performances through Pandora, just to get a feel for the art. Next, I'll watch performances through YouTube and Netflix to understand the body language and stage presence necessary. I'll then write my own material about random things that I decide to write about. Lastly, I'm going to practice performing, and keep practicing until my final presentation.
My obvious goal for the project is to learn about the art of stand-up comedy.
However, I also have a few smaller goals.
First of all, I want to improve my public speaking and acting skills, because not only are they important in stand-up comedy, but I'm very bad at these skills and they're essential in other fields too.
I also want to be able to "find the funny," in simple, everyday things. By this, I mean I want to be able to pick out any random object, idea, etc., and be able to put a satirical twist and effect on it in hopes of appealing to
my audience.
I love this idea. I really think that you would be hilarious if you were to do stand up comedy. Just your awkward nature would make everything that much funnier. I forget what TV show I was watching but basically it was a bunch of stand-up comedians facing off against each other. And one of the guys was really awkward and would make jokes out of his social anxiety and public speaking issues. I think it was be super funny if you kind of pointed that stuff out to the crowd. You should also watch Aziz Ansari and Bo Burnham if you have not already looked at them!! Good luck buddy
ReplyDeleteThanks Jacob. I don't know whether or not I should be offended by your comments on my awkward nature. Still, thanks for the advice. If at any point you remember the name of the TV show, just let me know. I'd be interested in watching it.
ReplyDeleteJacob, I love this idea! I think learning how to become a stand-up comedian can be useful in many parts of life. I'm interested to see how you deal with some of the challenges developing this skill may provide. One I can think of off the top of my head is keeping it clean as my sense of humor, which I'm sure many other high school students share, is a bit crude. I'm excited to see the results of your project and I hope they make me laugh a lot!
ReplyDelete