Tragedy Days

Ήμουν καλεσμένος στην ηχογράφηση του τελευταίου podcast των Διάτρητων ΑΕ.
Άμα έχετε 61 λεπτά και 4 δευτερόλεπτα να σκοτώσετε, περάστε από εκεί να μας ακούσετε να μιλάαααααμε. Το κομμάτι για το stand-up και τις Νύχτες Κωμωδίας ξεκινάει γύρω στο 13:10, όπου θα βρείτε και μια τέλεια techno έκδοση του theme του Tetris. Πιο μετά μιλάω και γι'αυτό το blog καθώς και για τα μελλόντικά μου σχέδια όσον αφορά τις Μαϊμού Ειδήσεις.

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Suited Monkey

Almost two months ago, Stelios Kouloglou, a Greek journalist, did a series of short videos showcasing some of the comics appearing at the Νύχτες Κωμωδίας Comedy Club in Athens.
Mine has finally been posted online: check it out! (sadly only in Greek)

A couple of thoughts after the jump...

That was probably one of my best sets, so I'm especially happy to have it on video. I think it comes across - it's surprisingly energetic (something compounded by the fact that I talk waytoofast)...
I like how they start with my joke about living with 4 siblings. It's something that describes me accurately and succinctly. They've picked my most palatable material -which conflicts somewhat with my statement, at the beginning, that "my set becomes more surreal with every passing year", but what are you going to do?

... It'd be nice if they hadn't mistyped my name in the accompanying text, though.

Now, can anybody show me how to save this and embed it? ... Never mind, found it!

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What I Learned About Stand-Up Comedy In London

Note: I was going to upload this almost a week ago, but other things took precedence.

There is only one comedy club in Athens, where I live. The one I work at. You'd think it would be hard to get booked, but there aren't a lot of aspiring stand-up comedians in Athens, where I live, either (or established ones, for that matter). As a result, I learned pretty much everything I know by watching HBO specials and reading FAQs on the interet.

Attending a live comedy show is a very different experience to watching an hour-long HBO special.
Let me tell you, sitting among the audience, looking at a sparkling microphone lit by a single spotlight on an empty stage and hearing repeated announcements saying "the show will start in 10, 5, 2 minutes" is a lot more exciting than double-clicking on an .avi file...

Then there's the crowd warm-up and audience interaction that you can't really witness anyplace else. Right off the bat, the comedians' experience was obvious. These guys were professionals. Mind you, not all of them made me laugh. After all, a professional isn't necessarily "better" than an amateur, he just does whatever it is he does for a living - and it was clear these guys had put a lot of work into their acts. Years of polishing their material had allowed them to juice every possible laugh from their concepts, coming at them from all conceivable angles.
You could just tell they'd done thousands of shows. Heard pretty much every possible heckle. And, boy, were there heckles. I went to a Friday late show (it started at midnight) and most of the audience were pretty tipsy even before the show had begun. At some point, a German lady sitting in front of me was just yelling gibberish, considerably lessening my enjoyment. Still, the performers handled it like, well, pros.

I was impressed by how quick-witted they appeared, how they made it seem like they had funny remarks about anything and everything at the tip of their tongues. "Oh, so you're a carpenter? Here's a joke about that. And you, sir? Norwegian? Hah! Listen to this!" There's this trick they do where they repeat the audience's answer to every question ("Where are you from?" "Scotland." "Scotland!") which keeps the people who didn't hear interested, while conveniently buying enough time to think of a comeback. Even so, I wish I had attended a second show, just to figure out how much of it was improvised and how much just looked that way.

Even when mocking the audience, though, they'd put "a little more effort" into the joke. At some point, the host made fun of a patron's open-legged stance. "My balls are so big, I can't sit any other way." he said. Some would have stopped there. After all, he got the laugh. Still, he went one step further: "Saturn has been pushed out of its orbit because of the gravitational pull of my enormous balls". It wasn't as funny, but it gave the (false?) impression that he wasn't just going for the easy dick joke.
I found it interesting that, when interacting with the audience, they would stick to a topic even if it wasn't killing, confident that they'd get a good laugh eventually. Long running jokes and callbacks created a sense of "shared experience" and won us over. Combined with the fact that they answered each. And. Every. Heckle, this really strengthened their frame and won our respect. They made it look like they weren't seeking a response. Curious detail: They didn't ask for audience member's names, rather going straight for "where are you from, what do you do".

Besides the Comedy Store, I also went to a much less glamorous show: it took place in a Hotel basement without spotlights or microphone. The show wasn't sold out (about 40 out of the room's 60 seats were full) and the main act mostly joked around with the crowd, probably the wisest choice, seeing as how the next number - who tried to do straight material, really intelligent stuff with lots of double-entendres - bombed miserably

I was surprised by how much every comedian I saw kissed up to the audience (a behaviour you don't see much in HBO Specials where the egos are bigger and the crowds adoring). Rather than ask us to applaud them, they'd tell us to give our love to the mic or applaud ourselves for being such an awesome bunch. I guess it's easier to say "is that all you've got?" when you're not asking for praise on your own behalf.
Being in the audience also made me realize how hard it is to remember the performers' names... even if you intend to! Dimitris is a common name in Greece and getting people to remember it is a riddle I have yet to solve.

All in all, it was a great experience. Turns out that, in many ways, we have it good, here in Greece. It's a lot easier to get booked, and competition among comedians is much less intense. I'm also proud to say we offer a pretty good show, even by British standards. Our problems are mostly on the marketing side. Unfortunately, the smaller market also means it's impossible to make a living just from stand-up...
More than anything else, seeing stand-up shows in London made me realize I owe it to myself to try my luck abroad.

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One of my best sets, so far.

These two are my favourites:


I'm not sure what part of my act this is from:


Why, yes, I do come up with all my jokes on my own.

Man, I look like I'm having fun.

... photos by Lucia Rikaki (25/10/08).

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Show-starter

Come see me live! Shows start Oct 23!

Comedy Club @ TrickyTrickArt - Αιόλου 48-50 Μοναστηράκι
Τηλ. Κρατήσεων: 210-3311009 - 6973371601

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The ego-boost I've been hearing so much about

Όταν κατεβαίνω από την σκηνή, συνήθως δεν είμαι ικανοποιημένος. Ακόμη και τις φορές που μου λένε ότι πήγα καλά, σκέφτομαι ότι θα μπορούσα να’χα πάει καλύτερα. Εστιάζω στα σημεία που δεν έβγαλαν γέλιο.

Απόψε ήταν αλλιώς.
Απόψε πήγα καλά. Απόψε, για πρώτη φορά , είμαι ευχαριστημένος.
Συνειδητοποίησα ότι βρίσκομαι στο στάδιο που πασχίζω ακόμη να δικαιολογήσω την παρουσία μου στην σκηνή. Αυτό που εισπράττω συνήθως είναι η αποδοχή του κοινού. "Χε... καλός αυτός".
Σήμερα εισέπραξα θαυμασμό.

Ήταν, βέβαια, πάρα πολύ καλό κοινό. Δεν είναι ότι έπαιξα τέλεια, ή ότι γέλασαν σε όλα μου τα αστεία, αλλά με έκαναν να νιώσω θεός. Είχα ζήσει την απόλυτη απελπισία του να μην πηγαίνεις καλά, αλλά ποτέ πριν δεν είχα νιώσει αυτήν την ικανοποίηση. Είναι ωραία να στέκεσαι στην σκηνή και να περιμένεις να σταματήσει το χειροκρότημα και να καταλαγιάσουν τα γέλια. Έφυγα από τις Νύχτες Κωμωδίας νιώθοντας λίγο ψηλότερος. Γύρω στο 1,87.

Πρέπει να βελτιωθώ. Πολύ. Θέλω να νιώθω έτσι μετά από κάθε παράσταση.

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Nocturnal Monkey

I'm done with last year's jokes. Done! Yay for this year's fresh, new jokes! There's a video of me performing some of the material from this blog after the jump. A few excrepts from my set at Νύχτες Κωμωδίας last Sunday.
I'm not quite sure why the cameraman decided to use the nightshot function, but it turns out I'm funnier in night-vision.

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Shows start October 25!

Check it out! (try to ignore the ugly web design and long-winded text)
The point is: I'm performing again! Come see me live at Aiolou 48-50 (Monasthraki station)...
I'm going to need all the help I can get... I'm already scared shitless...!

(edit: an anonymous tip informed me that it's October 25, after all)

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Funny Monkey

I'm going to start my comedy blog with a video of the first time I ever played in front of a paying audience.
It's in greek, so those of you who speak (listen) greek, enjoy. The rest of you: laugh at the pauses.

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