Week 1

So last night I had my first class at the Comedynest and took my first step to becoming a stand-up comic. People slowly trickled into the club and grabbed a chair while Joey chatted with a few people and watched everyone walk in. He commented on how interesting it was to see some people’s body language. That some of us looked nervous and then others had a look on their face like they were ready to go. While I’ll admit to a few butterflies, I’d like to think I fell into the latter category. I typically grabbed a seat near the back, but thought better of it and moved up to the front corner, right at the side of the stage. Glad I did too, because from my angle I was able to scope out the rest of the crowd.

There’s about 20-25 of us. I’d say more than half the class was guys in their mid to late 40’s. At least I’m having my mid-life crisis a little early. There were 5 girls, which Joey was very impressed with, since there are very few lady comics working in Montreal these days. The first thing we had to do, not surprisingly, was walk up to the stage with the lights on you and introduce yourself to everyone. Name, age, what you do, where you’re from and why you’re here. Pretty standard stuff. One caveat: no microphone. He said we’ll spend a whole class on mic techniques later. For now he wants us to project our voice.

Here’s my introduction:

Jesse: “Hey, my name is Jesse. I’m 27 years old, born and raised in Montreal. NDG, to be specific. I work for Volkswagen Finance. And like everyone else here, I’m a big fan of comedy. I’ve been wanting to try stand-up for a while and came across this course while checking out local shows. I just thought it’d be a great place to start.”
Joey: “So what does Volkswagen finance?”
Jesse: “Mostly cars, I assume.”
Joey: “And have you ever performed before?”
Jesse: “Nope. Never.”
Joey: “And who’s your favourite comedian?”
Jesse: [brief pause] “Norm Macdonald.”
Joey: “Wow. I was not expecting that answer.”
Jesse: “Really? Norm’s the best. I can’t not laugh at him.”
Joey: “Yeah, it’s a good answer. Cool.”

Afterwards I asked him why Norm was an unexpected answer. He said that not many people know he even did stand-up, that they think of him just from Saturday Night Live. He said he’d never gotten that answer before, it was very refreshing. If he’s used to people not knowing Norm did stand-up, then I’m not sure what to expect from the rest of the class anymore. That’s absurd.

First impressions of my comedy comrades: There are a few strange ones on the group, which was totally expected. We witnessed a lot of pacing around and hands in pockets. A few people even put their hand up to block the glare of the lights. That strikes me as a bad habit. Although, the lights were a lot brighter than I thought they’d be. I had to fight off the urge to put my hand up and I could barely see anyone in the audience. There were also a few really interesting jobs. One girl was a war crimes lawyer, but got out of that and took an improv class at Second City in Toronto. So she clearly has an unfair advantage, since war crimes are hilarious. I definitely would like to ask her about that at some point. One guy is an unemployed circus performer. A couple people were writers or have a writing background. Then there were a handful of people who are currently doing standup or have in the past and just want to learn more or get back into it.

After the intros, Joey said that we all did pretty well and he wasn’t worried about anyone. I don’t know about that. There were a couple people who looked terribly uncomfortable up on stage. I’m rooting for everyone, but I think some folk are gonna struggle with this. “You can’t fail this class.” Joey said. We’ll see about that. On the other hand, there were at least 3 people who I think will end up being very funny.

Most of us were pretty quiet and attentive, except for one guy who kept trying to get a few one liners in and sat there with a smug smile on his face afterwards. For instance, while Joey was talking about a few words to avoid, such as the “C-word”, Smuggy said “Chicken?” to a few chuckles. Yup. And that was probably his best one.

I dropped one line that I couldn’t resist. While introducing himself, this guy said we were lucky he showed up because he was missing women’s curling. A few people laughed, but he kept talking about it until it was obvious he wasn’t joking in the slightest, going on about Jennifer Jones winning gold in 2010. He said he was taping it and was going to watch it the second he got home. Joey said “Alright then, we don’t want you to miss too much so we’ll try to hurry this up for you.” To which I replied “Hurry hard!” just loud enough for a few people around me to hear. It got a good reaction. It’s a curling joke. If you didn’t get it, then you’re probably not Canadian.

The rest of the class he spoke about a lot of the basics. “Be yourself.” “Be confident.” “Speak clearly and enunciate.” Nothing you can’t figure out on your own. There was one thing he did say that stuck with me. “Comedy is all about misdirection. It’s basically magic, but with wordplay.” Another pretty obvious point, but I really liked how he put it. He already wasn’t expecting me to say Norm Macdonald, so I’m obviously on the right track, n’est ce pas?

We got our first assignment as well. List 3 things that are obvious to other people about you, 5 negative characteristics and 10 things you hate, that bother you and that scare you. No funny stuff yet, just an honest list to start working from. And from there we’ll learn how to build the setup, the punch line and the tag. Bonus: We can get into Thursday night shows for free to watch as much comedy as we can. I think I’ll be taking more than a few field trips for this class.

And that concluded our first session. Overall, it really wasn’t bad. I think there’s gonna be some good times ahead. Not to mention our ‘graduation’, when we all perform a 5 minute set in front of a live audience filled with family and friends. Now THAT is gonna be fun.