Saturday, December 11, 2010

Stand-Up Comedy/Storytelling Part 1


Couldn’t Compete

As a little kid, I couldn’t compete intellectually with my musical prodigy of an Oldest Sister; after all, who wants to listen to the knock-knock jokes of an eight year old when her sister has been on a European choir tour at the age of fifteen, and can tell you about the culture of Paris from first-hand observation? Ah, but I had a knack, even at an early age, of seeing the funny side of the things that happened to us, and learned how to tell those stories in better and better ways. If you’ve been keeping up with the blog, you’re familiar with my storytelling style by now.  

Since I was raised on a farm and in a small motel with two older sisters, my grandmother and mom, and a regular menagerie of pets, I had plenty of material to practice with. Even now, funny things happen around my family all the time, like finding the cat has invited a little black and white friend inside the house to play, or helping Middle Sister get a greasy, disgusting scrap metal stove into her van, with no equipment, while dressed in tights and a short skirt. 

I started writing down the stories of my childhood, especially those involving our pets, about fifteen years ago, with the idea of getting it published someday. While many of the events happened when my sisters and I were young, it has occurred to me that it will not be kids, but mothers and grandmothers, who will get the biggest kick out of these stories. Oh don’t get me wrong; little kids will love to have these stories read to them, especially if the publisher will illustrate them in color. But I  think it will be female type parents who will most appreciate  some of the silly things we did when we were young, because it will not only remind them of some of the stupid things their own kids do, but also the things they did that were not always well thought out, when they were that age.

For whatever reason, it seems I’ve also turned into a ridiculously practical person, and very much the literalist. Where other people watch the Twilight series and say, “Oh look, a movie about vampires,” all I can think of is, “Can you imagine the problems one would run into if they suddenly become a vampire?” See what I mean? That kind of thinking is ridiculously practical, but I’ve come to realize that it could potentially make for good stand-up comedy. 

So, I’ve decided to use my gift for seeing the funny and practical things in life, and create two more streams of income for myself; professional storytelling and stand-up comedy. I’ve always dreamed of telling my stories professionally; not just to my friends and family, but to an adult audience, So have begun creating opportunities in stand-up comedy, which I’ll talk about in the next postings. Guess the storytelling will have to wait until after Christmas, like everything else. Have I mentioned, by the way, that I hate Christmas? You can’t get anything done for a whole month.

No comments:

Post a Comment