A character that kills, or kill the character? Notes on your comedy with Nick Emeka

What to do if your comedy style is becoming a straightjacket?

Thanks very much to reader

Nick Emeka

for sending me his set. With the following email:

I am having some difficulty navigating the direction of my act. I want to avoid being one note because of my style, but am having a hard time developing things like callbacks, lighter jokes to throw off the obvious darker stuff, and audience interaction to keep them pulled in and engaged. Any and all thoughts are much appreciated! 

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Normally I’d go through someone’s set and give them notes beat by beat. As Nicks query is about his overall style, it’s given me food for thought. How can you “change style” and is it possible when you’re already locked in, and have a great thing going.

Right out of the gate, this set is killing. Nick doesn’t have to say anything and people are already cracking up. Nick has a great way with words, a charismatic performance and can really craft an unusual specific joke.

I’m very insecure about being perceived as creepy, which is something that I get from my father

I know this there was an incident where he was forcibly removed from a Kroger just for sniffing flowers, how Winnie the Poo does it,
pantsless

Give it time

The best piece of advice you can give to any comedian or artist who’s getting angsty around the 1-2 year mark, is you need more time. It’s very common for artists to become aware that what they are doing isn’t as good as they want it to be, and start freaking out. It just means you’re getting better and evolving as an artist. There’s a great Ira Glass essay about that here.

Everybody I know who does interesting, creative work they went through years where they had really good taste and they could tell that what they were making wasn’t as good as they wanted it to be. They knew it fell short. Everybody goes through that.

And if you are just starting out or if you are still in this phase, you gotta know its normal and the most important thing you can do is do a lot of work. Do a huge volume of work. Put yourself on a deadline so that every week or every month you know you’re going to finish one story. It is only by going through a volume of work that you’re going to catch up and close that gap. And the work you’re making will be as good as your ambitions.

How this is actually about me

When I started I also did a kind of extreme style. Harshly self deprecating, weird with jet black punchlines. I was also kind of doing a voice that wasn’t my conversational voice. I felt really boxed in after a while and struggled to write new material. It wasn’t after taking a big break and re-inventing myself in Berlin, that I started doing an act that was much closer to my authentic self. This gave me many more flow with my writing, and more satisfaction with my act.

I write a substack called “The Authentic Comedian” not “I love kooky characters” so these notes are from a very biased point of view. Clearly this type of comedy comedy is a popular and valid form of stand-up, even if it’s not my cup of Bovril. I like the type of comedy where people talk in their own voice about their own lives, and only use characters and voices to embellish their yawningly authentic set. More on this subject here:

Drop the act and be yourself (+ 10%)

But obviously Nick contacted me because he wanted my notes, so here I go! 🤿💦

Overall notes

I get used to his style pretty quickly. The metronomic rhythm, the way I know there’s a dark-weird twist coming up. And as good as the writing is, my brain starts to brace for impact, and therefore the impact is lessened. I also wonder, as Nick is starting to, how can you sustain this kind of style for a longer act? 20, 30 or even 60 minutes. How can you keep surprising your audience?

Also ol’ tight-arsed libby over here doesn’t like the image of women being kept in a basement. I know it’s a joke but - barf!

I generally have a hard time making an emotional connection with Nick’s material, because it doesn’t feel real.

How does one break out of a character?

Not everyone can take a big break and then reinvent themselves in Berlin. So what can Nick or anyone in that situation do to start bringing a more authentic voice into his act?

I’m going to call the character Nick is doing “Nick’s id”. This is the weirdo we see on the video. It’s important that Nick stops performing as “Nicks id”, and starts seeing the id as just a cast of characters that inhabit his mind.

I wrote an exercise about this a while back, but I plan to write a new one more suited to this specific situation.

A comedy writing exercise that turns the voices in your head into comedy gold!

To help this situation specifically I would say to state the premise in your authentic voice including how you truly feel about the subject, and tag at least one joke before letting the characters respond.

Nobody embodies how to incorporates a cast of characters into their stand-up while still remaining super authentic than Maria Bamford.

Notice how she usually states a real premise in her own voice & tells us how she feels about the topic, before going to clown town. She’ll often respond to the characters as herself as the “straight character”. The comedian is often the straight character in life, they’re always saying “What’s the deal with” and “Have you ever noticed?”, the comedian points out the absurd and is not themselves absurd, but they embody absurd points of view and then make fun of that point of view.

I’m going to try this with a few of Nicks jokes. btw I love this joke.

my cat has bone cancer shouldn't laugh at that
part of the treatment is giving her steroids
I don't know if it's helping with the cancer but now all she does all day is Sprint around my house screaming about The Joe Rogan Experience
she's also in heat which is unfortunate I I know what you're thinking
sir why don't you just fuck her?
I’m, more of a dog person in that regard

Nick tells me that this story is actually true - well the cat getting bone cancer and being given steroids part, not the Joe Rogan part. But here’s the thing, when I heard it in the set, I figured he was making it up! This is because he (real Nick) didn’t show any emotion about the cat having cancer. If it were my cat, I’d be devo - as well as having mixed feelings (like how much is this going to cost?)

Let me add an “authentic” section to this joke. I haven’t improved it, I’m just trying to illustrate a point. Nick should run this idea in his own authentic voice.
lol I feel self consious injecting my "writing” into this set at all. All the disclaimers!

My cat has bone cancer, shouldn't laugh at that

authentic section first

I was devastated when the vet told me.
Somehow its worse than finding out a relative has cancer
Sure, I feel bad for uncle George, but he does not have the tiniest cutest little feet - quite the opposite! Does this chemo come with a pedicure?

back to the id

part of the treatment is giving her steroids
I don't know if it's helping with the cancer but now all she does all day is Sprint around my house screaming about The Joe Rogan Experience
she's also in heat which is unfortunate I I know what you're thinking
sir why don't you just fuck her?
I’m, more of a dog person in that regard

Hairy men joke

I don't like seeing other hairy men in public

Authentic section

I feel the need to act more macho (puffs out chest) “Hey buddy do you like sports game?”
He’s doing the same thing “Yes and I like woman kiss”

Id section

it's like when two feral cats meet
we're either fucking or fighting
we only find out till we get started
either way we tussle muchacho
I’m hard

Check out Nick on Instagram and YouTube

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Show Plugs Berlin

• Tonight Fri 5.4.24 I’ll be performing with Funfdollar at the House Show - at 8pm and at Forms Night at 11pm. Both at Comedy Cafe Berlin.

• Saturday 6.4.24 is the final of the Berlin New Stand Up Award which I’m co-producing. Exciting!

Teaching Plugs Berlin

• I’ll be teaching an Intro to Improv intensive in May - Link

• My Spring In-person Stand-up classes are sold out but join a waiting list or take the class in German here - Link

World Wide Web Plugs

• Knife Crab satire. Please follow us on Instagram we could do with more followers! @knifecrab

• Berlin Stand-Up School - berlinstandupschool.com

• It me - carolineclifford.com