Stand up, Stand Up.

I signed up for a Stand Up Comedy course a few months ago. I'm not sure why really, definitely not because I think I'm funny, it was more of the opposite to be honest. I feel that when I tell jokes, or a story to my friends I get nervous once I have commanded their complete attention, and fail to make normal eye contact, while spurting out the rest of story at a million miles a minute. I was hoping that upon completion of the course I would be able to 'hold my own' and would have ultimately improved my delivery and in turn would be able to chat freely without looking like a rip roaring reptar!

Perhaps that would have happened - if I had finished the course! After 3 weeks I had a massive case of 'The Fear' and was dreading going back in. So I transferred the rest of my credit onto a course called, 'Finding your Voice'. I wasn't dreading going to college because of the comedy element - I quit because I felt absolutely terrified standing infront of everyone, and realised that I should tackle that element first before leaving myself open to complete humiliation when attempting to do the end of class Stand Up gig. I'm not normally a quitter (except from earlier this year when I quit Trees for Life a few days early) so to accept my failure I looked to Facebook - a few reassuring words from your friends always helps. One of my friends wrote something like 'Dont feel bad, you've made a grown up decision about your own limitations based on existing commitments'. Fair dues. That IS what I did.

The gig took place on Tuesday night and I went along with some friends to check out my classmates. It was interesting to see how they had developed. One girl used a story I had heard before - but she added in lots of side jokes that weren't previously there.. and the end result was - humour! Also, it was interesting to note that the more confident performers were actually not very funny at all. One to think about. Everyone asked me if I wished I had stuck it out... the truthful answer is, yes, of course. But alas, I made a decision that was right for me at the time, and I have to have faith in my own conviction. Plus, the 'Finding your Voice' course sounds good, and will provide a good platform for moving onto more adventurous pastures.

As I was lying in my bed that night I had lots of ideas floating around my head for a Stand Up routine. One is based on an exercise we tried at college using newspaper articles, and it moved onto stories about the Brownies. In my next blog post I am going to attempt to write down what might have been my routine had I not been a quitter! It might seem quite vulgar though, but be rest assured (particularly in reference to the Brownies)  that I'm not really so crude! When I was thinking about this in bed I could see myself delivering this routine in a super confident manner... so I know how I would like to be as a comedienne.. I'm not convinced though that I would ever be able to pull it off!

I feel like I should also point out that I don't have a burning desire to pursue a life in the lime light. I signed up for the course as I thought it would be a fun (ny) thing to do.