Part-time passions

As described in my previous post I have always been a fan of comedy. My family is huge and quite a few of my uncles and aunts are some of the funniest people I knew growing up. Laughing is the best way to spend life from one moment to the next and I grew up with a natural craving to make others laugh. I would not consider myself a naturally gifted comedian who can make others laugh with just a weird facial expression or gesture, for me it is a means of connecting with people. If you can find out what they find funny, you immediately connect with them on their level. It is a bond that profits everyone involved.

With that being said, about 8 weeks ago I saw an ad for a vacancy to join an improv team in my local city. I loooove Whose Line Is It Anyway? the tv show, and rewatch episodes regularly, always admiring the performers wit and imagining myself as a part of the crew or at the very least a guest artist. Improv as an art is intimidating to most, even veteran entertainers, who would rather hide behind the veil of a script than lay themselves bare to on the spot spontaneity. Within this lies the appeal for me; I am terrified of repetition, mundane continuity and would bore easily if something I find passionate becomes a redundant job. With improv one never knows what will happen and every performance is as different as the next. Takes me back to my days as a waiter where the appeal was meeting new people everyday. Unfortunately as a waiter you do kind of become biased and the longer you do it the more you are able to read people and place them into certain categories to make dealings with them more predictable and ultimately profitable.

I decided to take a chance on chance. Having performed in quite a few stage productions at school during my high school years, including an invitation to the Graaff Reinet Heritage festival in 1999 and the odd MC gig at family functions, I had the basics of stage performance grounded. I took to it like a fish in water (even if I do say so myself). Many commended me on my courage to do improv comedy but to me it felt like an itch I could finally scratch.

There is a certain high that comes with being an entertainer, a metaphorical drug, that once it hits is hard to let go off. Audience approval becomes a staple. Performing becomes a means of therapy and more so improvisation; as most of what you come up with is a true glimpse of who you are deep inside. A mutual understanding between you and the audience; that I desire to make you laugh for just this moment and you as an audience desire to be made to laugh.

The @WhoselinePE crew perform at a venue called The Bru Bar every Tuesday night and I have been fortunate enough to become a guest artist for this, the 6th week running. I have received mostly positive reviews but to me it is all about being in an environment of like-minded people who live for the art of comedy and learning as much as I can about the industry while I am there. The recognition of the audience is but the cherry on the cake. To me it is about doing something I respect, admire and enjoy. At this point I am uncertain what the future holds, I still have my full time job, family and education to complete but for now I take it one performance a at a time, as invited to and am just grateful for the opportunity to live out a lifelong dream of mine.

9 to 5 work sometimes kills the flame inside me but recently I can feel a new heat rising.
Watch this space as there have been talks of open mic nights coming up. Compared to improv, stand up is a whole different ball game. A challenge I would gladly embrace but for now, I play where everything is made up and the points don't matter.