Friday, 13 September 2019
Reading time 1 minute 19 second
Don’t give up – Peter Gabriel & Kate Bush
I’ve been trying to make people laugh for quite some time now. A good analogy of this that I use often would be that if I was a child and you were my parents we’d have visited the doctor on more than one occasion to find out exactly what is wrong and why was I not keeping up with the other kids.
I performed at a gig on Monday and really enjoyed it. The audience laughed. My stuff was OK but I didn’t really sell it and I didn’t connect to the audience or my material or even to the laughter. I knew what I did wrong and why. It was a valuable lesson. Another one learned the hard way at the coal of face.
An audience member tapped me on the shoulder at the end of the night and said they thought I was an excellent story teller. I was grateful for their thanks. I really was. What a lovely thing to do. Compliment another human being. I’d rather they say I was very funny but I hadn’t earned that.
Then they proceeded to tell me that they believed storytelling was a real art and I was their favourite comedian of the night. I again pointed out how kind they were to say this. I may have even blushed. It was a lovely gesture for them to take the time to say this.
The conversation ended when they announced that I shouldn’t quit. Even though lots of the other comedians had bigger and much better laughs that shouldn’t put me off.
This threw me. They had turned a compliment into a conundrum in my head. Did I look like I wanted to give up? What about my face said this? Did my demeanour express this? I didn’t want to quit until this was announced, was my subconscious considering this? When would it let me know?
They continued. Quitting should be the last thing from my mind. Lots of people had to go through bad gigs and you really were not that bad.
The audience member had turned. I was their favourite a moment ago. They then reiterated three more times so I was sure their point was understood. I was to continue. Don’t’ worry about not making people belly laugh. That might come in time. Just carry on.
I gigged last night. It went OK. As I left the stage I grabbed my coat and left the building just in case someone else wanted to compliment me.
Picture: Me last night gigging by the seaside. What a beautiful country to live in!