A note on what I think are some of my strengths as far as comedy goes.

Good news all around- my security licence has finally come in, also, I seem to finally be getting used to spelling licence the way it's spelled on my drivers licence, and therefore I don't have to be anxious about how it's supposed to be spelled, however that is.

Also, got word a bunch of days ago that I was approved for the media pass to this weekends comic convention.

Aw yeah, gonna write about panels that professional comic writers/editors put on.

Saw Rango on Tuesday, was quite fun, but I did have some trouble staying awake for it for two reasons.
1- I kept my warm jacket on for most of the show. Warm = tired.

2- More importantly I've been working hard on getting my act together, meaning getting my sleep schedule in order for one, so I'd gotten up (pretty naturally in fact) at like 5:30 that day after 6 hours sleep.

And I'd been going to bed around that time not a week before.

Rango worked on a bunch of levels, comedy, western, self aware meta narrative (with nods to Depp as Hunter S. Thompson, and Clint Eastwood as the father to the modern western*). The story was really tight, sharing only what was needed- we never even learned Rango's real name... which made it odd that the one character, Ms. Beans, had this condition where she'd every once in a while just freeze up then a minute later start up again as if no time had passed. It wasn't explained, it never really serviced any jokes or the plot at all. We're told it's a defence mechanism that's gone a little screwy... is it from the trauma of your fathers death, making it difficult for you to trust others, with the freezing as a visible signal to that end? I don't know, maybe.

Seems like there was an explanation for it that they cut out of the movie, and in the film that ended up on screen it didn't need to be there at all. Maybe it's just something slightly odd that kids'll get a kick out of it.

*With John Wayne or Ronald Reagan or Jimmy Stewart as the grandfather to the western. Probably definitely Wayne.

Hm, may as well share an update as far as the comedy set goes. I know I'm at my funniest under two conditions (really, I'm going to make a little numbered list again? well, I do love it, so)

1- when I'm excited about whatever and have started talking pretty fast... of course maybe that's just a numbers game, start saying enough words per minute, you're bound to say something funny. Anyway, in this state I'm pretty expressive, talking with my hands... it's a sight. A funny, funny sight.

2- my controlled dry humour, usually a result of someone else saying something I perceive as ridiculous, and then I make my retort. The source of my reputation as a sarcastic guy, which I always fight against by putting forward the idea (perhaps purely semantical) that "sarcasm" has a degree of mean spiritedness to it, whereas if I actually think negatively about something concerning another person I'll hold my tongue. I prefer "irony" in place of the word "sarcasm".

Anyway, because of the spur of the moment-ness usually required for my #1 brand of humour, I was prepared to discount it, but relying solely on #2 was soon problematic because of how reactionary it is, not to mention, regardless of intent, it can be rough on the sensibilities.

I'm trying not to offend my audience (mostly stand up comics themselves), that's not what I want to go for, but I do want to comment on the performance involved with comedy. To that end I've turned the lense back on myself with some self deprecating humour. Sort of.

I've written a bit that has me purposefully sounding nervous, so I can ping pong between my two brands of humour. I guess what's interesting about it is I haven't just written down jokes to say, but jokes to act.

It's pretty tricky, and I'll definitely have to practice it a lot because it's something that HAS to be perfectly memorized (even as I nervously look at my cue cards for the bit).

Well, I need 5 minutes of material, and I've only just got a minute or so. Still got work to do. I'm confident that if I got this section down, I could riff for the remainder of my time and still come off better than most stand up sets- but that's not the plan.

Tight control without appearing thus. Professional.

I've got a ways to go.