Back into the Lisbon Stand-up Comedy scene

So I jumped back into standup comedy after taking a break for a few months. The break was really good. I needed to get some non-comedy things in order and I’m feeling way better. The first show back was exactly one week ago. Mixed results on that return. Some of it was well received, but I decided to really test the edge a few times. I went waaaay over the line apparently. I haven’t had a chance to go back and look at the video. I don’t know if i’ll ever get a copy but I really want to see it. There was a lot of silent patches this time around.

Not the “we don’t get it” brand of silence. The “ah yeah. that’s not funny and you’re probably a huge asshole” brand. Whoops. I’m not trying to be a shock comic in the slightest, but sometimes it’s hard to see where that line is until you cross it. Time to walk it back a bit. But you never know. Some people liked it. Some people felt it didn’t have the right tone. Either way I know if I want to move further with standup and do paid gigs i’ll need to clean up the act a bit. Right now my act is full of raunchy humor in my bits, which I love, but you aren’t going to get a corporate event to book you if all you know is masturbation jokes. I was really humbled last week. I didn’t come back as strong as I thought I would. I need to rework myself. my jokes. Find some structure. I had another chance to try again today though!

It did not get better today at all. I’m sick as hell. I feel terrible. My body hurts. I can’t think straight. How the fuck am I going to show some energy and perform? Well, I did my best. Which turned out to be terrible. I raelly hope that isn’t my new trend. Thanksfully I went up first and I didn’t have to wait to get it all out. But it was just so… blah. Usually I have some flow between bits. None this time. Just random unrelated jokes spewed out there. Terrible terrible terrible.

One positive in all of this is generally feeling different about performing. I really felt nervous when doing shows before the break. Like that shit would eat away at me some days. I’m still a bit nervous before going up, but it isn’t the same degree at all. if I fuck up i’m okay with that. I will learn. I will get better. I will find another show. There’s not as much preassure put on myself by me. I think that’s a good direction to head in. Hopefully I can keep finding places to perform.