Category: Blog Grind

I was booked a few times to host Karaoke, or as they call it in the biz world as a KJ, Karaoke Jockey. I had a good time. I was asked to make it more than standard Karaoke where the KJ calls out what person is next. To be unique and to use my stand-up comedy skills, I opted to do crowd work in between each “musical act”. At the top of the “show”, I have each table come up with table team names, making the evening interactive. As the host, I would give my perspective on what went down during the previous performance, a la American idol Karaoke style. For example while 2 girls were singing a Katy Perry song their friend leaned his iphone camera on salt shakers to record them. There was no artistic integrity of being a cinematographer! He should be holding the camera in hand, zooming in and out getting different angles! That was lazy camera work and I let him know it! Next time his friends were up singing a Britney song he was busy at work recording and getting different angle shots! Now we’re talking! And of course my favorite, I raffle off a free drink in order to get email addresses. KJ Oy Vey that’s my name baby. I really do enjoy it, but the question is–does it affect my integrity as a comedian? I’m starting to get booked on Saturday night shows so which gig do I take? It’s case by case, but at this point, I rather take the higher paying Karaoke gig. I hope my comedy priorities are still in check.

Part of playing the game with standup comedy is hanging out at clubs. I went to a comedy club cold. Meaning I didn’t roll up with anyone I just came up by myself. I was nervous and didn’t really realize it takes cajones to do it, but in retrospect yeah it does. It was worth my going because I discovered that I know the owner of the club from my acting days. Score. I didn’t get a chance to talk to him, but he is now on my radar. Yup, everything old is new again.

So far the Solas show has been successful. How do I define success? We have never had to cancel a show. We have performed for 2 people and 35 people. We recently were told by the owner of the bar that we are not allowed to bark out front. That makes producing a show very challenging. We had to adjust a few promotional tactics, but despite the set back we have not had to cancel a single show. Creativity comes from constraints, even in marketing. Last night we had 8-10 audience members, which in a small space is a fair amount, especially given the frigid temperatures. They were a weird crowd, but hey, they were an audience.

Comics work in Manhattan for free or if you’re hosting a free bar show you might get a percentage of the tips the audience (hopefully) contributes.  If you take the same comic with the same set to a comedy club on a weeknight he might get paid 0-$25. Weekend $25-$200. Outside of the city the price for the same act went up between $200-$1000. That being said, comics will work for cheap if they don’t have something else already booked, because something is better than nothing. Which makes it hard to decided what to charge. It’s tough to make a living, but that being said I am starting to be that kind of comic… the kind who gets booked!

When it rains it pours. Ok fine maybe it’s just drizzling, but at least it’s not the sahara desert in the land of Michelle. Enough with the metaphors let’s get down to it. In the blogpost Customized Comedy Consulting I mentioned a gig I was asked to help produce. The first stage of the project is just about complete and the second phase is next, which will require an enormous amount of work. A synagogue approached me about producing a comedy show for Purim and possibly again in the summer. I got booked at a new comedy club, to MC their comedy show and a host their Karaoke night. I briefly spoke with a hip medium size comedy production company about working for them. A theater organization would like me to produce a comedy benefit with comedians from a popular TV show. These are a lot of exciting potential opportunity and they are exactly what I would like to be doing. Who knows which of them will actually come to pass, but the prospects of them are exciting.

http://youtu.be/GrZdz2QEg-k

Michelle talks about a 72 year old, her boyfriend, and a wedding.

I read the book How to Fail at Almost Everything and Still Win Big by the creator of the cartoon Dilbert, Scott Adams. My big take away from the book was the idea, live in the neighborhood of the people who you strive to be like. For example, if you want to be a Wall Street big shot live in Stamford Connecticut or on Park avenue. You might only be able to afford a roach infested basement apartment, but live there. I moved to Astoria in September (before I read the book, but somehow that thought was subconsciously already in my head). Astoria has become the mecca for comedians. It’s less expensive than Manhattan and is becoming “hip”. Granted the comics that have been there for 6+ years are saying how expensive it is, but as someone who had lived on the Lower East Side, this is waay cheaper than what I have been accustomed to paying.

A few times a month I work in a coffee shop with a comedian friend of mine, Jon Fisch. We have our own computers out and focus on our own projects, but it’s nice to have company. He is a talented headliner who has been doing standup comedy for 15+ years so it’s really humbling and well, cool to have a friend of such stature. He invited me to a party with all of these Astoria comedians and I have not had so much fun since I started the Comedy Grind. I was around comics who have been working in the NYC scene between 6-20ish years. We talked about comedy, but it wasn’t a bunch of people sitting in a corner gossiping about other comics, it was a party with friends who genuinely like having fun with each other and I was so pumped to be around them. I was recently asked by a booker to recommend comedians and I wound up recommending a bunch of them from that party. I also booked one comic on my show. I’m not saying I made new friends, but I did expand my social network of comedians. Pretty much I moved to a new area for seven months in order to get invited to one party– and it was damn worth it!

I went on a stand-up comedy audition today. I was slightly skeptical about it because the producer and I had no Facebook friends in common. If someone is legitimately in the “biz”, we would have tons of friends in common. Facebook is the LinkedIn for the arts and stalkers. I went to the audition and it was legit. The producer is working with theater companies I am familiar with and is pretty much curating a performance space. For the audition, I did stand up comedy for 2 people, which one would say is weird, but I am getting more comfortable performing for 2 people than for actual crowds. This is probably a bad thing, but good for this particular audition and for a true reflection of where I am at in comedy. The feedback I received from my audition was, I engaged with the crowd, played nicely with the audience, and was professional. I didn’t hear the word funny, but I don’t want to ask for too much! The truth is they were laughing, and I’d rather hear laughs than “you are funny” after a set.

The other strength of my audition is the fact that I would be a great candidate to help book and run shows. I enjoy doing this and am experienced at it. I think/hope that skill set sets me apart from the rest, that and my professionalism. It turns out they booked me to host an upcoming show on March 6th…standby for that blog post!