(so meaningful for performing AND in life. thank you for this!)
"There’s an old jazz saying 'Play the gig in front of you, not the one in your head'."
(also super valuable advice for on AND off stage)
"Never blame the audience for not laughing, it’s like blaming a nail for missing the hammer’s strike."
(but i'm so good at hammering it MUST be the nail's fault)
"When I was starting out I just had SLOW written on the back of my hand."
(i just love this!)
AND FINALLY
"Imagine you’re talking to your best friend
You love hanging out with your best friend and you can’t wait to share stories with them. You’d never say 'Cheer if you like cats!'. You just feel good, and even if things go wrong you know they’ll always be there for you 💕"
(YOU DON'T KNOW HOW I HANG OUT WITH MY FRIENDS. jkjk so good, so true. and also WOO i love cats.)
thank you as always for these powerful, simple, meaningful offerings!
God, I did all of this wrong in loads of my gigs. A tightly wound bag of nerves without the skill or experience to make it into a Lee Evans type thing so I'd desperately cling to the rails of my setlist and if things weren't going well I'd instinctively bellow louder and faster in an attempt to fill the room with energy or maybe just get off stage faster. Mind you, I've recently been diagnosed with ADHD so anyone who didn't laugh at my flailing schtick is basically racist.
Not to detract from your thing but literally every creative millennial I know (myself included) is now being diagnosed with ADHD. They must have put something in the water...
Yeah but I've got got proper bouncing off the walls, danger to yourself, proper man ADHD, not woke crybaby 'I had a thought then another thought and it made me sad' ADHD. Either way, free, legal dexys!
Joking aside, as soon as I started working with SEN kids, I realised I tick every box and always have. I just always assumed it was a function of the dyspraxia I was diagnosed with in my teens (huge crossover of symptoms) and was just something I'd have to live with. The medication has been an enormous help to me, a real gamechanger. I was sceptical because I assumed that the medication dulls your mind (based largely on a 20 year old Onion article) but if anything it's the opposite, sharpening your focus so you can stream out the background noise and flick between tasks without thinking 'shit, what was I doing?'
dear caroline,
there are so many gems in this piece!
some of my faves:
"If it doesn’t add it distracts"
(so meaningful for performing AND in life. thank you for this!)
"There’s an old jazz saying 'Play the gig in front of you, not the one in your head'."
(also super valuable advice for on AND off stage)
"Never blame the audience for not laughing, it’s like blaming a nail for missing the hammer’s strike."
(but i'm so good at hammering it MUST be the nail's fault)
"When I was starting out I just had SLOW written on the back of my hand."
(i just love this!)
AND FINALLY
"Imagine you’re talking to your best friend
You love hanging out with your best friend and you can’t wait to share stories with them. You’d never say 'Cheer if you like cats!'. You just feel good, and even if things go wrong you know they’ll always be there for you 💕"
(YOU DON'T KNOW HOW I HANG OUT WITH MY FRIENDS. jkjk so good, so true. and also WOO i love cats.)
thank you as always for these powerful, simple, meaningful offerings!
love
myq
Aw gosh thanks, you put so much effort into this nice comment I don't feel deserving 🥰
Thank you! I can’t take all the credit. Cut and Paste helped out a lot. And also You.
Hi! I'm a budding musician and I find this advice helpful. Also I'm so impressed by comedians so it's fun to read through your process.
God, I did all of this wrong in loads of my gigs. A tightly wound bag of nerves without the skill or experience to make it into a Lee Evans type thing so I'd desperately cling to the rails of my setlist and if things weren't going well I'd instinctively bellow louder and faster in an attempt to fill the room with energy or maybe just get off stage faster. Mind you, I've recently been diagnosed with ADHD so anyone who didn't laugh at my flailing schtick is basically racist.
Not to detract from your thing but literally every creative millennial I know (myself included) is now being diagnosed with ADHD. They must have put something in the water...
Yeah but I've got got proper bouncing off the walls, danger to yourself, proper man ADHD, not woke crybaby 'I had a thought then another thought and it made me sad' ADHD. Either way, free, legal dexys!
Joking aside, as soon as I started working with SEN kids, I realised I tick every box and always have. I just always assumed it was a function of the dyspraxia I was diagnosed with in my teens (huge crossover of symptoms) and was just something I'd have to live with. The medication has been an enormous help to me, a real gamechanger. I was sceptical because I assumed that the medication dulls your mind (based largely on a 20 year old Onion article) but if anything it's the opposite, sharpening your focus so you can stream out the background noise and flick between tasks without thinking 'shit, what was I doing?'
Hi! I'm a budding musician and I find this advice helpful. Also I'm so impressed by comedians so it's fun to read through your process.
You're so welcome, thanks for reading!