Tag: being funny

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Stand Up Comedy, Who Can Do That?

carolyncordon

Some people are terrified of Public Speaking, and would rather to almost anything, rather than actually speak in public. Not me, I love it!

So when the chance came up to do a short Stand Up Comedy piece at an event with several other Stand Up Comedians, I said, yeah, count me in! And now, as one of the other performers at that gig, Todd Gray, wrote in a message to me, ‘that monkey is now off the back, and a weight off the chest’.

The other performers, and especially the person who organised it all, Marc Ryan, were lovely to me, and it seems like the kind of thing where they all look out for each other. They all thought I’d done a good job doing my act as Nanna Carreau, an old dear who’s funny!

I had a couple of poems I’d written, and performed them, people laughed (with me or at me? who cares, at least hey were laughing!) And wow, I enjoyed doing that so much, I really want to do another gig!

Anyway, yes that monkey is now off Nanna Carreau’s back now too, and she’s has been whispering lines to me, for the next show! The performers there on that night at the Prince Albert Hotel in Gawler, it was, a venue I know very well. And no, not for hte reasons you’re thinking!

My writing group meets at that hotel every Thursday afternoon and that helped a lot on my big night as a Stand Up Comedian! I did a little impromptu act, sort of, yesterday too. I was driving home from a visit to my Mum, and had to stop to fill up my car with petrol. And as I was going insode there to pay for the fuel, I saw to young women collecting money for something or other, and decided I’d stop to see what it was all about, on the way back to the car.

So that’s what I did. They told me what they were doing, and I told them about doing the Nanna Carreau, and did a mini act, with just my voice and words, not dressed up in character, like in the photo below!

Then one of the young women google Nanna Carreau, and found a photo of her/me, and we all laughed again! The photo was a smaller one, and only showed Nanna’s Carreau’s head in that same beanie (which she’ll proudly tell anyone and everyone, she knitted it herself), but that link and photo were definitely enough to back up the truth of what I was saying!

Anyway, they told me I should record myself doing my act, and put it up on TikTok, and I’d get thousands of followers! A fine idea, and one I may see if I can get my son to help me with that one day. In the meantime, I’m definitely going to discuss the possibility of that writing group I mentioned putting on a workshop in doing comedy/Stand Up, and then later on in the year, have a Stand Up Comedy event as a part of the Festival of Words we run every year in July.

We have a theme for the Festival, and this year the theme is ‘Time’, and Nanna Carreau and I are already thinking about what we will/or rather could do with that theme! I have to remind myself, I may be the President, but I have a subcommittee to convince!

Ah life is so much fun, and it looks like it’s going to get much more fun, and funny too! Cheers, have a laugh, you deserve it!

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‘Funny’ in Good Ways

carolyncordon

People have told me I’m funny, in good ways, and that makes me happy! Funny in bad ways, I’m not exactly sure all of what that entails but funny in Good Ways is bound to be much better, isn’t it? I’m funny in person, when chatting with someone, or when talking to an audience of many more than one.

And I’m funny in my writing, some of it anyway. And when I’m writing about serious things, like chronic illness, I try to bring some light-hearted moments into it too. – You should hear me on the subject of incontinence, I’m hilarious! Of course there are some subjects where there is no way to be funny, and I pay due respect to the importance of not playing down the seriousness of subjects such as rape and abuse. There are no laughs with this subject, and if you think these issues are funny, you are a sick person, and should seek help, before you hurt someone.

So, back to happier subjects. I have three books that I am confident are funny. They are written by me, and with the imaginary dog who lives inside my head. This dog is Buster, and he and I have written three books, as I mentioned. The first book was ‘Dig It! Gardening Tips for Dogs’. The next book was Doggone It, Mindfulness from a Dog’s Point of View. The third book is Dog Buddha’s Thoughts, exploring what Buddhism may be like for a dog. All of these subjects are ones of interest to me, from an amateur kind of viewpoint, and seeing them from a different species, the dog adds further interest (I love dogs).

I also have a book about Multiple Sclerosis, looking at the serious sides of this chronic illness, which is what I was diagnosed with in 2010. This is not something for laughing at, you’d think, but the memoir I wrote and had published, ‘Mick Jane and Me – Living Well with MS’ has some funny pieces in it along with the important serious stuff. If you can’t laugh at life sometimes, is it worth getting out of bed?

Some of my books
My lounge room, with Missy lounging around

Being funny is something that appeals to me, a lot, and one fine day, I hope to be a stand up comedian, bring laughter to people, talking about my life, and the way I always look at the positive side of things, even those with a negative aspect. Incontinence, for instance, not a funny subject, that’s true, but if so, why on earth to people say, ‘It was so funny, I pissed myself laughing!?’ I’m well aware that ‘pissing yourself’ ie, wetting your pants, is not a funny thing, yes, lived experience there, damned MS! But seeing the funny side of this very serious issue helps a person live through the embarrassment of it, and also helps other people to feel better about themselves if this is an issue they deal with too.

Showing the funny side to life helps yourself, and it helps others too, and who wouldn’t want to do that?

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My First Ever ‘Stand Up Comic’ gig

carolyncordon

It wasn’t an actual gig, with advertising, posters, lots of money spent on putting it together, and getting the word out to others. It was more a simple case of me taking advantage of an opportunity and going for it.

I wrote a piece, looked at it a couple of times, thought about it, then edited it, printed it out, then went along to that opportunity and went for it! There were a variety of reasons why it was not the best ever Stand Up Comic event, and they were not all my fault.

The event was not set up for what I was doing, the audience had no idea beforehand what I would be doing, the sound quality was terrible. But even with all of that, I’m glad I had a go, and was at least OK, if not great. I am a work in progress in so many different ways!

A stand up comic act will be best if you have an audience set up ready to laugh, if they can easily hear what you’re saying, and if you’re really, really funny. That was not the way it was today, but I’ve learnt things, about the best kind of venue, a target audience, things to do next time, in other words.

Or maybe I’ll just go on being a poet and writer, who is an amusing and lovely friend, and there is no need for me to be that kind of performer. I am going to look further into this though, there is a stand up comic who is aware that I’m interested in learning more about the whole things, and I’m hoping to work with him toward the end of the year.

I am involved in a writing group, which puts on a monthly writing workshop, on a variety of different ‘word’ related things. Stand Up comedy is certainly word related, and I’m looking forward to learning more about how to put together a script, and presenting it to make people laugh.

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I can smile, I want to make other people smile too!