Tuesday 13 November 2018

Comedy Geek, my journey and lessons

I've learnt so much about being a comedian, that being funny is not enough, you need to know the right things to say, the jokes for the right audience, have a definitive style that people can use to differentiate you from other comics and knowing how to land your punchline in a way it will produce humour.

Before I became a comedian I thought comedy was a fools business, it was all about foolery and dressing funny and making an ass of yourself until I studied the art of being funny and it became clear to me that you needed more wits than foolishness to actually erupt laughter as a stand-up comedian. My true motivation to do stand-up came after watching Daniel d' humorous perform on stage for the first time and i thought if it was this cheesy then I can actually try this out, but as I grow in the art I began to understand that every joke has its approach and comic has his/her style and I began to develop mine. It took me well over five years to definitively find my own voice as a comic and on that journey I wrote a couple of jokes which some I couldn't imagine myself doing them again and the ones I find my comfortable I held on to.

In my years of practicing as a stand up comedian I have been able to do four specials and one repeat special, and all through these shows I've been able to grow a personal fan base who understands my class of jokes. It takes me a year to prepare a one hour set and most of the jokes are either topical or observational, which means if I'm not picking a topic from current affairs or news stories I am talking mostly about my observations which most of the time I have to add a little twist to the story to get out the humour. In writing jokes I learnt to get at the punchlines first before developing a story to it and I like taking your mind through a journey of thought allowing you to wonder where I want to arrive at when I'm done with the story, this I learnt from basketmouth, but as I grow I found Trevor Noah more thrilling as he picks on topics and make light out of them.

The truth is anyone can be a comedian, but not everyone can do stand-up comedy except you have an exceptional gift in telling funny stories and picking at random topics. Before I gave myself the moniker 'Comedy Geek' I've always wanted people to see me as a smart person one who is not doing comedy because I was bored of life but one who finds fun expressing himself in an amusing way and sharing thought provoking jokes. So I became intentional, read more about comedians and comedy in general studied those whose part I wished to thread and i worked more on my presentation.
The likes of Chris Rock, Ali Baba, Dan' D humorous, basketmouth and bovi were my influences, I know you were expecting Trevor Noah but I am still studying him though, I watched these men and understood from everyone one of them I could pick style, delivery, content creation and fashion out how to write materials.

It actually takes hard work and dedication to do a comedy special, I have tried to encourage most of my friends and colleagues but then, you have to be determined from the inside, write jokes that could last you an hour set on stage and rehearse vehemently, in the cases where we don't have teleprompter you need to memorize your routine, so you can know how to move with the jokes so it doesn't look like you were just picking random subjects to share... the jokes have to co-relate with each other and if the next set won't relate with the last joke you have to prepare the minds of your audience so they won't look lost as to where you are heading to. N/B a comedy special doesn't have to be an hour but at least you need to have good materials that could keep you going and keep the audience engaged for as long as you are willing to stay.

Doing stand-up is more tasking than being a virtual comedian, in stand up you have to be sure the joke is funny before you tell it or you might end up bombing the set but being a virtual comedian it doesn't work that way, you can just share your video and wait for feedback or forget about it till someone comes along to comment whether it's funny or not.
I'll advise you read books and watch a lot of television, from news to everything exciting and even boring as well, pick on things that seems ridiculous to you note them down, open your mind to new ideas, keep an open heart during discussions, observe your environment and stick around people who makes you laugh more, these are the ways you could get your materials and when they come tailor them to suit your audience and always rehearse your routine.

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