History of Stand Up: The Prologue

In my last blog entry, I indicated I'm reading a lot of books on the history of Stand-Up. My intention was to write a "Brief History of Stand-Up". But as I made my way through the volumes of material on the subject I also encountered a problem; not everyone agrees on just what stand-up comedy is. So, as "First Things First" things go, I'm backing up once again and tackling this by asking several comic how they define Stand-Up.

Certainly, the dictionary offers a starting point: Merriam-Webster 2: performed in, performing in, or requiring a standing position; especially : of, relating to, performing, or being a monologue of jokes, gags, or satirical comments delivered usually while standing alone on a stage or in front of a camera (stand–up comedy) (stand-up comedian) . Wikipedia: Stand-up comedy is a style of comedy where a comedian performs for a live audience, usually speaking indirectly to them. It is usually performed by a comedian with the aid of a microphone, either hand-held or mounted. Google: "Stand Up Comedy" is a song by rock band U2. It is the seventh track on their 2009 album No Line on the Horizon.

It seems to me that each comic has a definition that relates to their particular style of comedy. That's why I decided to ask several comics -- famous and infamous -- and see who responds. I'll post these responses and a few more thoughts soon.

Getting Somewhere from Nowhere

I was never very good at "first things first". I always just sort of jumped in, got messy and tried to clean up afterwards. Maybe it's because I am somewhat ADD, but doing things in a linear fashion just doesn't appeal to me. I have seen people who approach tasks much more methodically and it just seems mostly boring to me. A lot of time is wasted where you could actually be getting messy and having fun.

Just so you know, I'm eventually going to get to a point here, so stay with me.

My finest example of how I can't do things in order is that I don't read product manuals. I push buttons and turn knobs until things work. The gamble is whether or not I can figure things out in less time than it would take to read the instructions. I usually figure it out. Besides, I don't know how many times in the past I did read the manual and things didn't work like they said they would. I remember I spent a couple of hours looking through the manual for a new cell phone to try to figure out how to set it to vibrate. After much searching, swearing, and more searching and swearing, I couldn't find it. I finally just started pushing buttons on the phone until I got it to do what I wanted. Later, I discovered that the manual for the phone calls vibrate: "Polite Mode". Screw you Verizon! Not calling it "vibrate" wasn't polite at all. It was pretty rude, actually.

Learning something the way someone thinks we should learn it doesn't always work. When we learn something new, we all come to the table with some background knowledge. So the problem with getting to a goal by way of advice or instruction from others is that the path is often presented as a "one size fits all" scenario. Plus, not only are we all different in terms of our past experience and basic abilities, we also each learn differently. Some people are visual learners, some learn better by listening. Some people learn by modeling and learn by trial and error. I seem to learn better in a barely controlled mashup. (That's right spellcheck. I said "mashup." Even you are learning something today.)

As with other performing arts, when learning comedy, some of us turn to teachers. In most areas of the country, there are a number of comics or former comics running stand up comedy classes. But some people take the position that you can't teach "funny". Aside from having some narrow, provincial, and mystical definition of what "funny" is, I think this is exclusionary nonsense. One person may come to the table with better abilities (most likely learned from others), but everyone can improve the abilities they have. I've found the most important factor in any art form that will make one unique and more likely successful is passion. If you're passionate about what you do, are persistent and are willing to take chances, you'll improve. If you don't have a passion for comedy, you're probably going to have trouble succeeding. Also, don't come see me perform ... please.

There is the problem of the perspective of the teacher. Many teachers make the mistake of teaching only from their own subjective experience. The comics in their classes tend to pick up on this perspective and a shared style develops. Instead of teaching the comic how to discover their own voice, they Inadvertently or deliberately teach their own style to their students. So, the problem of a foundation from one comic is compounded by this projection of all the teachers own misconceptions and limitations.

The best learning platform for stand up is just doing it. Go up a lot. Along with writing all you can, performing will be the most important thing you can do to get better. Performing will teach you 10,000 different subtleties to stand up. Writing will keep your mind working in fresh ways and give the audience something new to laugh at. But both writing and performing can be helped by some fresh perspective.

Lately, I've discovered a glaring hole in my haphazard approach to learning stand up. What is challenging to me is that this hole requires stepping back and learning something I probably should have learned before. I have to pay attention to "first things first". I'm talking about studying the history of stand up comedy. I'm talking about knowing how we got to where we are; about those that have gone before us and laid the groundwork -- or did groundbreaking things -- that shaped the art form so many of us are striving within and to whom we all owe some debt. It occurred to me that in order to get "somewhere fro nowhere" it might help to know how others did it. Plus, I'm learning from truly great comics and not from just one former comic trying to teach from some failed perspective.

So, I have about a dozen books I'm working through these days and I have to say I am fascinated. Lucky for me that I have a passion for it because I was going to do it anyway. As soon as I finish one book that I can't hardly put down, I pick up the next one and can't put it down either. From learning about theories that the art form emerged from court jesters and minstrels, through vaudeville and the borsht belt comics of the catskills, through the television era, the challenge of the 60's anti-establishment comics, the 70's revolution and revolt, the 80's explosion, the 90's crash, into today.

So, I'm sort of reading the product manual on stand up comedy. And I've somehow learned how to set things to vibrate. Soon, I'm going to consolidate some of this history in another blog entry. As with other blog entries I've made, if few people actually read it, it still gives me a place to put things together in some kind of linear fashion. God help me.

Cheeseburger Update

This blog was originally started to chronicle my travels through stand up. I started it when the Cheeseburgers of Comedy Tour was forming. But when that didn’t come together like we planned, I stopped making entries here. My progress is pretty much recorded on my Facebook Twitter pages, but I find myself drawn back to this blog so I can make some comments that are longer than 140 characters.

I got an email the other day from someone who wanted to know whatever happened to that tour, so I decided to make a quick entry here to update that.

We only ended up booking three weeks for the tour. One of the weeks got cancelled because of logistic problems. Though three of had regular communication, we couldn’t all seem to get on the same page. We knew we wouldn’t make much money and would have trouble being booked because we weren’t well known, but I think things began to fall apart when we realized how much of a financial commitment it would actually take to get out there.

Three of us (me, Myke and Chet) did do two weeks – one in the Phoenix area where we performed for six straight nights. The other week, we went to The Comedy Club in Rochester for three nights which Chet booked for us. Both weeks were successful and exactly what we wanted to do for a six to eight week period for the tour. So, from all the effort we put out, we essentially accomplished about 25% of what we set out to do. We agreed that we might pick it up again later.

Chet, Myke and I still talk regularly. Myke and I perform together all the time. We will most likely do something with Chet again sometime I’m sure. Hallie is doing very well for himself and even put out a CD.

Though the experiment of three or four unknown comics crisscrossing the nation didn’t come to pass, three guys did go from one end to the other, so it wasn’t a complete failure.

Thanks for reading. More on me soon.

What’s in a Name?

The official launch of the Cheeseburgers of Comedy Tour has begun. We put a video promo together and now have a website. The first leg of the tour won’t officially start until June in Phoenix, but all four of us will be getting together for a trial run at the end of this month. We start in LA for a show at the Ice House with fellow Bootcampers Jimmy Shaw and Roy Brewster, then we head up to Oregon and Washington. After that, we return to LA to do a show at the Comedy Store. For the two LA shows, will be just be doing short sets and the shows do not feature the Cheeseburgers of Comedy.

So far, the name of tour has begun to do its job. People remember it. With few exceptions, it has been received in the spirit it is intended. It’s not a big thinker. We’re touring the country, telling jokes and eating cheeseburgers. In fact, we will be looking for the best cheeseburgers in town and putting up YouTube videos of our experiences visiting them. So the name not only references our shared food choice, but also a secondary activity – a quest for the perfect cheeseburger!

The name also lends itself to an easy and relatable design for t-shirts and other merchandise. Eventually, we also hope to put a DVD together of our stand up exploits and our cheeseburger critiques. The money we make along the way from the bookings alone will most probably not be enough to sustain us. Selling a few t-shirts and other items along the way will help us keep gas in our tank and food and lodging on our days off.

Also, if you hear we’re coming to town and you know of any great places to get a really good cheeseburger, let us know. Hell, let us know even if we're not coming to town, it might be on the way and I'm sure we'll be hungry.

Schedule for March/April

3/28 Ice House Comedy Club (Annex Room), Pasadena, CA

3/31 Wildcard Bar, Wenatchee, WA

4/01 Wildhorse Resort, Pendleton, OR

4/02 Quality Inn, Ellensburg, WA

4/05 The Comedy Store (Belly Room), Los Angeles, CA

Cheeseburger of Comedy Website

Cheeseburgers of Comedy Promo Video

Stand up -- On making it the performance of your life

A smile once again comes over your face. You're still waiting for the day where this gets old for you, but it hasn't happened yet. You're still as fresh as when you first started this glorious work. As you lean into the mic and say the first words that start the ball rolling, you imagine the thrill of those people on the receiving end of your latest hilarious musing. You pause before you speak, knowing the joy your slanted view of reality will stir within their souls.

"Can I take your order please?"

You know you delivered! You know you nailed it! Sometimes the temptation to talk during the silence is strong, but you know the seasoned vet will wait. You gotta say it like you mean it or they don't believe in you, they won't have confidence in you and you might as well pack it in. You've lost the battle. You wait for the reaction with professional confidence -- and then it comes.

"Yeah. I'll have a number 3 combo with a coke."

Yes! There it is! You've hooked 'em now. Now they are yours! This is going to be one of those performances that they'll remember their whole lives. You know they'll be telling their friends to come see you as they try to imitate you around the water cooler the next day in an attempt to vicariously be like you. Now that you have then right where you want them, you deliver the next punch.

"Would that be medium or large?"

You know you're just baiting them now. This is one of those sure lines that get them every time. Never fails. You know what's coming next.

"Large"

Now you bring them home. They're actually depending on you now. You've brought them to the desert, and they need you to take them to the promised land. They have come to you, laying down their hard earned money, wanting you to take them away from their troubles, their daily, dreary lives for a moment. You don't disappoint them. You now show them why they have come to trust you time after time to be their savior.

"We'll have your total at the window. Please pull around."

It's time for the afterglow. They want to meet you now. See you up close. They may not ask for your autograph or to have a picture taken with you because they are sometimes in awe of you or they're too shy. But you know they want to be near you. You are gracious and charming. You try to make them feel comfortable and give them a moment they will tell their grandchildren about. You make yourself available to pose for pictures if they ask. You know they will one day realize they saw the performance of your life. Little do they know that you have put it upon yourself to never give them anything less.

On Moving Forward

Some people describe life as a river; that you go with the flow, the river takes you downstream, sometimes there are rough waters and other times it’s a gentle current. Blah, blah, blah. My experience is if life is a river, then you’re swimming upstream. In order to make any progress, you have to swim hard and fast. Take a rest, and you move backward. Eventually, it is inevitable that you’re going to drown. But that’s just the nature of the beast.

At this point, some may simply say I’m swimming the wrong way; that if I just relax and let the river take me downstream, there’s something lovely waiting for me that I was destined for. We can take nature as a cue on this and see that everything has a way of balancing itself out. The ultimate design is actually perfect and we each have a place. And some of us get eaten for dinner.

I don’t think those who know me would think of me as a negative person. To the contrary, I’m pretty sure most would say I’m positive. So, this viewpoint of a difficult struggle in life and the extraordinary effort it takes to succeed may not seem consistent with positivity. But the viewpoint is based in my experience. Nothing has ever been easy for me. The orientation of having muscular dystrophy all my life probably has something to do with that viewpoint. (I will be writing about this much more in the future). Nevertheless, it’s my experience. Life isn’t easy. You have to make an effort to get to where you want to go, otherwise you drift where life takes you. This comes down to the question we all must ask ourselves: “Is our life a matter of choice or is it predetermined?” In case you haven’t figured it out yet, I’ve decided I have a choice in life.

So, as I undertake this current project of advancing a stand up comedy career to the next level, what ever that may be, I understand that I can’t just stay in my house, watch reruns of Golden Girls, eat potato chips, and “let the river of life take me where it wants to”. I want things to move forward. I want to get somewhere. Somewhere closer to success than I am right now. In order to do that, I do what I heard a wise person once say, “I get up each day, report for life, then do the next indicated thing.”

Today’s activity started with this blog. But I also made a booking for the tour and exchanged emails and phone calls with other comics, friends of comedy, and others regarding these plans. I updated my Facebook and Twitter status and got back with people who acknowledged me as best as I could. Here’s what I noticed; things are starting to happen. Who knew?

I want to give a quick shout out to a new comic friend Dave Robinson who wrote about me in his blog. Active comics eventually run into each other in the river rapids of life and I knew of Dave from Twitter. Though we really didn’t talk much, we exchanged a few jokes across the ether. I regarded him as an experienced and funny guy. He seems to also be on a similar journey and I just wanted to thank him for giving me some attention and a lift. Anyone who has something called "Davewear" can't be all bad.

You move forward. That’s all. You take your best shot with the resources you have at hand. You may not even have the resources of the person next to you, but if you apply yourself with a little more passion, ingenuity, and excitement, you can make some progress.

I’m swimming as hard as I can.

Ultimately Stand Up Boils Down to a Mic and Mouth

My Brain

I’m trying to get organized and focused on what I need to do to get ready for the tour. Chet is really busy with his school and job(s) but we exchange notes every day. It is starting to dawn on me how really big this job of doing a successful comedy tour is going to be. It seems like I need to do so many things, it’s hard for me focus OR get organized. I know from experience that when you’re trying to achieve something big, it’s important to make a list then focus on one thing at a time. That way you don’t get overwhelmed. But I am so A.D.D., I sometimes can’t even focus long enough to make that list. I just keep jumping from one thing to the other.

I’m blaming my brain. I can't help but think that, even at my age, my brain should be working better than it is. As bad as it is, I'm amazed I could even think THAT! What was that person's name again? The one who's shorter than me and has the same last name as me and follows me around in the house? Why am I wearing this condom? Where did I leave that brand new can of Spaghettio's? Huh, brain? Where the hell you been? And why in the hell did I dream last night that I won a brand new Ford Focus? It’s my dream! Why didn't I dream I won a Dodge Viper or at least a one of those new Dodge Caravans?

My brain just won't listen to me! My other body parts listen to me. Kidneys keep filtering crap so I can pee, my lungs work whether or not I tell them too, my pancreas does whatever pancreases do. I don't get why my brain thinks it can do whatever it wants. I mean, it's definitely not a team player.

If I want to take my comedy to the next level, I need to get more results out of my brain. So, I had a talk with it. I sat it down and said, "Look, brain, you work for me. So, either you shape up and fly right or you're history! I mean it! The next time I dial a number on the phone and you forget who I was calling, you're fired! I'm getting a new brain. (and by the way, thanks, Brain, for the immediate reminder that I'm a stupid idiot by telling me no one "dials" phone numbers anymore!)".

I'm starting to think its all my fault. I let my brain hang out with the wrong crowd. When I was young, I let it spend too much time watching television. It used to get me in trouble in my class when it was daydreaming. When it was time to take the quizzes, I would ask it for the answers and it would just sit there in silence forcing me to cover for it by making up stuff. I muddled my way through the multiple choice and it was easy to bullshit my way through the essay questions, but when it came down to the fill-in-the-blank questions, my brain was the one that was blank! The asshole!

Then, when I was a teenager, I started smoking pot. That’s when my brain really got off the leash. It started thinking "outside the box". It started asking questions like, "Why do we have to live by society's rules ... man?", and "If a tree falls in the forest, does Schrodinger's cat secretly love its mother?" Huh? Have another puff of ganja you dirty hippie! You can't even think your way out of the paper bag you're using to quiet the anxiety attack you're making me have because you're so fricking high!

Now I'm finally at an age where I'm supposed to be enjoying my life and I can't remember why I came. My brain just keeps telling me to turn on the weather channel or check my Facebook page. Did somewhat just mention me on Twitter? I think i heard my Tweetdeck chirp. Chocolate chip cookies and milk sound good to me right now.

... I'm sorry what was I talking about?

Oh yeah, the comedy tour. We seem to have gotten a good reaction to the "Cheeseburgers of Comedy" idea. So, at least we have gotten this far. I think I need to be the one to decide what's next. My brain sure isn't going to do it.

Stu Baker's Brain