Andragon wrote:Phil, man, you need your own stand-up tour. And sneak your tunes in, cause they're just as good as your sense of humor.
Ty, Andrew. I tried comedy back in the '70's, when I was young & pretty. I think I sucked about 1/2 the time, & it was a LOT harder than music. If you don't feel especially humorous or gregarious, you can always just shut up & play & sing & leave it at that. In comedy...it's all you all the time, interacting 100%. There's a zone there, but it's way different than the one you get in music. You cannot disengage from an audience with comedy like you can with music, & just shut your eyes & "get into it." Well, perhaps someone like Robin Williams can. I was & am a lot slower in the head than he is.
When you're on in comedy, it's just as great as when you're on in music, but it's apples & oranges. Way different. Way harder, too. Same material that kills tonight might not faze the ppl tomorrow night, even when you do it exactly the same. But it ain't like songs, where you just pick another out of your repertoire. All you got is the set you wrote. You don't go out there telling jokes you read in books or on the internet & get by. You have to be way more on top of everything with your audience, & it's exhausting when you don't feel it like you should. It was the hardest thing I ever tried to do. Even harder than restaurant management, & that, my friend, sucks!
I used to sit & try to get in that zone for about an hour before every gig, whether it be comedy or music. It was more necessary in comedy, I found. With music, I can go on cold & do just fine or better, unless it's session work in a studio. I haven't even attempted comedy since then, & it would scare the living hell outta me to be put on the spot like that for a full 1/2 hour, let alone the marathon gigs I used to do.
I'd much rather be a musician that has a cpl funny songs, & a few lines to make ppl smile. A LOT less stress!
