Can someone be taught how to be a good comedian? - Luck ? sk

lou_saffire · Posted: Tue Oct 15, 2002 6:08 pm Post subject:

so the age old question , is it as simple as "youve either got it or u dont", ive heard lots of opinions on this, from comediens , freinds an the like , is there a straight answer? ,or is it one of those universal mysterys , ( carol vordamens unimpresive mysterys ) what do u think? :devil:
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Grant · Joined: 11 May 2001 Posts: 6460 Location: Glaschu, Alba

Time, place, talent, hard work, inclination, lots of variables.

Everyone thinks Jim "Davis" Davidson is shit, he's been at the top of his profession for nearly 3 decades.

Billy Connolly? We had shipyards full of them.

Adam Bloom told me the best thing was that he was unemployed when he started comedy and it let him concentrate a lot of time on it.

I'm sure there are loads of talented and funny people out there who will never make it. Some will disagree and say that talent will always succeed.

Who really knows ???
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lou_saffire · Posted: Wed Oct 16, 2002 1:48 am Post subject:

its a damn shame but ur right luck has a tendency to take precedence over talent sometimes
:devil:
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James2 · Joined: 28 Mar 2002 Posts: 2538

Of course you can learn it.
Otherwise you'd be the same standard as you were for your first gig, for your whole career.

Joshua Howie · Joined: 27 Jun 2002 Posts: 60

I was just going to start a thread on a similar point. Thinking about the TV show 'Faking It' I wondered if it was possible to make one about stand up. They've made shows about other creative forms - DJing, cooking, painting, directing, rapping - but I reckon that one about stand up would be impossible and the reason why it would be impossible is exactly the reason why I am obsessed with doing it myself. It can't be faked. There is no blagging yourself through it- at the end of the day the audience have to laugh. Living for a few weeks with Daniel Kitson will not mean that at the end you can get on stage and convince a group of strangers that you are a professional comic. Im not saying you can't eventually learn to be a good comic- it just doesn't take a couple of weeks.

Another great thing about stand up is that if you do get funny you will make it. Maybe that's being naive but if you consistantly deliver the goods for long enough then success will happen. From what I've seen working in other creative industries (film, TV)- talent doesn't always win out. Luck and connections are far more important.

Steve Bennett · Site Admin Joined: 10 May 2001 Posts: 928 Location: London

I'm sure it can be taught - but some people will never learn.

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clara · Joined: 06 Apr 2002 Posts: 62

methinks it can be learnt cos me and a large handful of other open spots (who incidentally are prospering big time on the circuit) started off doing stand up in a bloody good workshop and that's where we changed from just another bloke/gal off the street into "stand ups". of course you learn all the time over the years that you keep doing it-its not just learning it all at the start.

I seem to remember there was talk of a stand up " faking it" going ahead and involving our workshop. it wasn't that it would be too hard it would be too easy. If our six week workshop ( six two hour sessions) was constantly able to turn an ordinary person into a very competent open spot in time for their first showcase gig (and I mean miuch more competent on average than the first gigs of other non - course/ workshop people) then over an intense four week period a bloke off the street could learn a lot of stand up very thoroughly and be excellent at it... there are a lot of good teachers out there.... I would admit that doing 20 mins at the comedy store would be impossible to fake but I don't think 10 or so mins at downstairs at the kings head would be that difficult to fake. that's probably why the programme couldn't be made.. u would need your faker to be faking a big thing ( like 20 mins) and up against those who've been doing it for years but that doesn't just take 4 weeks to sort out..

I've just argued myself into a circle. that was fun.
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Anthony Miller · Joined: 21 Jun 2001 Posts: 10570 Location: Chavdon

But clara you were AWFUL when you started. I remember.
You're NOT awful now ...but you were when you started.
I don't think you realise how far you've come!
Though some course "graduates" - Shazia Mirza and Claire Campbell
spring to mind seemed to emerge fully formed.

I've never been to workshop - I simply cannot get my head round
asking another person to teach you how to talk bollocks
when you could spend the money on beer or at the pictures
or going to a proper stand-up gig or just quietly at home reading.
I don't want success that much I suppose.

You become a stand-up by standing up in front of people you don't know
and talking. It really is as simple as that.

I think most people can do a storming 5-10 under the right conditions.
It's kind of sad that I remember so many people who had me in fits
who I only ever saw at 1 or 2 gigs and then NEVER EVER again.
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clara · Joined: 06 Apr 2002 Posts: 62

Anthony Miller · Joined: 21 Jun 2001 Posts: 10570 Location: Chavdon

People always defend comedy courses by saying the "gave them confidence" though?

If they're just about "confidence" why not visit a psyciatrist?
They're the professionals at making you feel better about yourself
and at least you get to lie down rather than stand up which I always find
is more comfortable.

What did you actually get vs what you paid out?

Someone told me once that at the start of certain comic(who shall remain nameless)'s
course he says: "The reason I take so much money off you is so you'll take it seriously."

I had to laugh.
Not because his course is shit - I've a lot of respect for him as a comic
but the reason he takes so much money off them is that he likes Malt Whiskey
rather than Tennants Super.
So do I. And that's why I'm thinking of starting my own comedy course.
There's got to be someone somewhere who doesn't know any better.
Having got nowhere over the years at this game I think the time has come
to become an Inkey Jones...

What do they teach you exactly?
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