Answers for Barry
Dr Barrington Terror asked Norm some questions in his blog which Norm was disinclined to answer, which is fair enough.I hate to see someone left unfulfilled though, so I'll give my take on the questions instead.
In reference to the Laughing Horse new act of the year competition...
"Do these competitions really mean “new”, as in one or two years on the circuit, or are they targeted at people who haven’t broken through to commercial work yet?"
The rules vary from comp to comp, but as a general rule they refer to people who are not getting regular paid work. There is seldom a 'time limit' as one person might do 100 gigs in year 1, and someone else take 5 years to get the same amount of experience.
At my Laughing Horse heat last year, there was a guy doing his first ever gig, and guys who'd been going a couple of years. It's unusual to see someone who has more than 3 years under their belt doing this stuff though.
"Do people plug away year after year, or do they get “pushed out” after a while, to be replaced by new, more ambitious or more talented comedy school graduates and the like?"
2 words. Ray Presto. You can keep going as an open mic for years if you want. I suspect there is a diminishing return to doing it though if you're not making any progress at all.
People don't get pushed out, but it's a tiring thing to do and people find their priorities change, work gets too much or their personal relationships mean they don't really have the time to keep it up.
Talented and ambitious people pass me by on a daily basis, but their success and mine are totally unconnected, so it doesn't bother me. Perhaps if I were more ambitious it would.
"If you win “New Act of the Year”, is that automatically a gateway into better shows, or is it more subtle than that?"
From what I've heard, it's a nice thing to be able to tell people and it does give you a little bit of a boost in terms of exposure, but there's nothing automatic about it. You still have to graft and beg for gigs, but it gives you a little more credibility when dealing with promoters who've never seen you.
But if you get a gig off one of them and it goes badly, they'll still think you're shit and never book you again.
There, that's my view (and it is only mine, based on experience and reading other folks' forum comments), which I hope sheds maybe a little bit of light.
Thank you, I'll be here all week.
posted by Peter The Great @ 2:29 PM
15 Comments:
Why thank you! Good answers, well put.
1. ChildBride
Good luck tomorrow. I’ve started reading dentinthewall. Some of it is exceptional and it’s given me sexual, predatory thoughts.
2. Moral question
Say you were a scientist and you were asked by a very senior global player to act as PhD examiner for a young lady with terminal cancer. The work is obviously not up to scratch, but the guy sits on all sorts of funding committees on which you depend for your research income and, hey, what the heck… she’ll never be using the qualification. Would you turn a blind eye and wave it through?
3. Anonymous and her chest
I like the faint whiff of bitterness in your comments regarding the ex-husband. That’s something I’d like to work on. In fact, we could work on it together… night after night contemplating the dark core of human suffering, you in your purple apron and me in a leather nappy. Happy days!
Have we met?! It's not over between us... not by a long way.
4. Sunday afternoon.
Pete knows, but I’m not sure I’m ready to share. An act of unspeakable depravity, a lonely girl a long way from home and a broken boiler.
5. Huddersfield
The home of Nina Hossain (telly news lovely) and a beautiful railway station, but otherwise a sh*thole.
No Barry, I don't believe we've met yet, but I'd love to - I love the idea of exploring the darkest recesses of the human psyche with you. I'm impresses that you picked up on a faint whiff of bitterness emanating from me, I thought I'd suppressed it so well...
I only hope that one day I can really exchange my cloak of anonymity for that purple apron...
Sorry Barry, it's not that I'm being difficult but I'm kind of groping for the answers right now and honestly wouldn't know what to say.
Thanks, Barry. My bossman is actually away for the week, so he's said I should work from home until next Monday. Best first week ever. I'm flattered by the word 'exceptional' but wouldn't want to get in the way of you and Busty A, so I hope you put those sexual, predatory thoughts to good use with her.
Huddersfield: Also the residence of the GodWig abode, and don't go forgetting it
I thought Castle Godwig was in the 'fax? Talking of which, when's there going to be a Jolly Boys' Outing to the frozen wastelands?
Yes. Yes it is. Even not working frazzles my brain and makes it do weird things.
Anon… could we be victims of our pasts together, do you think? I hope that, beneath a quiet, quirky exterior you harbour coldness and anger. I find that irresistible. Do you think that we could be a burden to each other?
I’m weighed down by splenetic boredom and have a sudden, inexplicable urge to indulge in acts of monstrous depravity.
That’s hard in South Croydon, though, especially on a Tuesday, so I might go to the pub instead.
Pete… for some reason, I keep thinking of the landlord in “The Yob” when I think of a Northern compere. I don’t know why, but I just can’t shake that terrible image of a slack-jowled, sweaty ogre. Please tell me it ain’t so! Are you performing this week?
While typing, a friend has texted to say that my recent life has been like an episode of EastEnders directed by David Lynch. Should I take that as a compliment?
Barry, your clear inner turmoil fascinates me and draws me like a moth to a flame. I think because I do recognise something of myself in it.
I believe that this could be interesting...
Hey where did Anon's cleavage go?
And wasn't the Yob landlord a Londoner?
What's wrong with you people?
Don't worry Mandarin Orange, my cleavage is still very much present. In fact I'm looking at it right now...
Christ on a bike! Is there no alternative place for Dr Terror and Busty Anonymous to meet. I am sure that the thrill of knowing that your twisted attempts at virtual courting rituals are causing others to choke on their soup add piquancy to proceedings, but I have just ruined another skirt because of it. Cut the cackle and get a room, chaps.
What is wrong with us, Anon? What drives your interest?
If you’re a closed book and find verbal intimacy impossible, we’re lost already.
If, though, you can talk freely and fluently, not only about all the allotropes of pain but about your innermost needs and fears, that is a different matter. If you can talk about those things without choking, flinching or turning away then, perhaps, a bargain can be struck. I am interested as well.
I can talk freely about anything with a person I trust - you will, though, have to earn that trust.
In deference to Mr The Great's other dear friends who have - by virtue of our conversation - been forced to look up the skirt of honesty and seen the bloomers of embarrassment, I will say nothing further on the matter on this blog.
That, is perfect. I will leave it in the hands of Mr the Great.
Perfect indeed. X
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