Different Audiences

It always strikes me as strange how you can do the same comedy material for two different audiences and have it be a hit with one, while only getting polite chuckles from another.

I did a half hour show last night for an audience that I've never been in front of before. I was excited going into the evening because the show had the potential to lead to many more shows if it went well. So, I decided that to make sure I put my best foot forward I would tell my three most popular stories - Oogey Boogey, Finger, and Puke. These are the three stories that regardless of where I am, or what I'm doing, they tend to go over very well. These are the stories I pull out when I'm nervous about an audience because they tend to be "gold" material for me.

So last night, for this new audience that I wanted to impress, I called on these tried and true favorites for the first twenty five minutes of the show. The last five minutes, I planned on doing something most comedians will do from time to time - I was going to try out a little new material. I've had my Grandpa Kain's old four string tenor banjo for a couple years now, and I've been slowly trying to work out ways to use it when I perform or speak. Well, I worked out a new comedy song (which I'm pretty happy with) and planned on trying it out at the end of the show last night after hopefully getting some big laughs with my old stories.

Well, about five minutes into the show, I knew it wasn't going to be a great night. Instead of big laughs like usual for these stories, I was getting mild and polite chuckles. Even on the big payoff lines of the stories, lines that have gotten raucous cheers and doubled-over laughing from some audiences, I recieved quite subdued laughter.

Needless to say, I was a little disappointed. Now, I know the old adage that every audience is different and sometimes you can just have a crowd that just doesn't get into anything you give them, but these were the stories that have never - to date - really failed me to garner the overwhelming approval of those I was speaking to. Sure, I have some weaker material that I've learned never to open with, but to save until the audience get's to know me, but I didn't even bring any of that out last night.

And then, I get to the banjo song - material I've never used before - and they really seemed to like it. I did a little sing-a-long, and it seemed to be the most well recieved part of what I offered them.

Frustrated, I hopped back in the car, and began the two hour drive home with nothing to think about other than how some shows can just seem to go so off track.

I consider myself a pretty versatile speaker. I can do stand-up. I can give Christian talks and sermons. I can mix a little stand-up with a little Christian message. I've also been doing quite a bit of poetry and prose reading performances. But I'm beginning to feel like it may be time to prune back a little bit.

Straight stand-up has been very good to me. It's how I got my start, and how I've paid a lot of bills over the last few years, but I'll be the first to admit that it's the hardest of all the things I do. I've always seemed to follow a rythm with stand-up - I'll have one fantastic show, and then one mediocre one. I usually hit around 50/50, which, in stand-up, is considered pretty good. And while the bad shows are always a tough pill to swallow, the great ones always make up for them. But for most of this year, I'm probably closer to 10/90, (the 90 being "mediocre" or less in my opinion) leaving me to wonder how much longer it's really worth offering myself up as a straight comic.

I also have to admit that doing the old material - the "gold" stories and such - is not nearly as much fun as it used to be. Most of the writing and creating I've been doing lately has been more focused on the prose, poetry, and Christian message talks. So maybe it's time to hang up the stand-up hat for awhile.

A couple notes on some unrelated subjects.

I just got an email from good friend and part-time ministry partner Mark Elgersma who says several new CD's and a possible DVD from this summer's SERVE project in Sioux Falls are nearly finished. They're recordings of the night time worship services that we had all week, and I'm pretty excited to hear them. We've been wanting to put together some more promotional material to get my stuff out there, and luckily there was a great guy named Brian at SERVE who had the tools to do it. (Note to self, get in touch with Brian soon and give him a big thank you.)

There's a chance the CD's will be made for more than just trying to get more speaking engagements, and we'll end up offering them to the public - which would be really great if it all fell in place. I've had a couple different versions of a comedy CD for a few years now, and I've been waiting to branch out a bit and record some more serious stuff. We're hoping this is the opportunity we've been waiting for. I haven't heard the CD's yet, but I've heard they'll be in the mail soon, so I'm very excited to get my hands on them!

My next show is on Tuesday, August 30th, and that was the next time I was planning on updating the blog, but I've gotten a few requests to update a little more often. I'm thinking about maybe updating once a week, instead of just a couple times a month. I'm not exactly sure what these writings will be, since I generally just update after speaking engagements, but perhaps I can spend some time writing about what I'm currently working on creatively, and how I'm preparing for the next speaking gig.

Till next time,

Jason