On Stand-up And How Challenges Aren't Always Bad Look, I'm ..
Published: March 12th 2023, 11:17:02 am
On Stand-up And How Challenges Aren't Always Bad
Look, I'm not a doctor, but I'm pretty sure that the way muscles work is that you have to sort of break them and then they rebuild themselves and grow stronger. Something like that. It's how therapy works too, actually. Break and repair, break and repair.
Stand-up works in the same way, in my opinion. Good gigs don't teach you much; bad gigs do.
When I started out, a much more experienced comedian told me off for bringing water and notes to the stage with me. "You're only doing five minutes! You can go for five minutes without drinking water. You can remember five minutes!"
And I told him, "Probably, but it makes me feel safer to have it there."
When he then MC'ed a gig I was on, he introduced me to the stage and as we passed each other on the stage, he grabbed my water and my notes, leaving me on the stage with none of my safety tools. I was startled but of course, I was fine. I can remember five minutes. I can talk for five minutes without water.
Actually, currently on tour, I can talk up to 90 minutes without water and notes. And I'm grateful that he helped me realise that. Like a mother bird throwing her word-I-am-not-allowed-to-put-on-this-website-for-good-reasons from the nest. (Which I think actually was debunked? As I said, I'm not a doctor.)