Last night I wasn't up at the Funny Bone, and since I don't have any local friends, I didn't have anyone there to see me, and since Scott asked how many people the comics brought, I was pretty sure I wasn't getting on. Usually I would hang out and watch the other comics, but I really wanted to work on some writing exercises. Sadly I don't know any. I asked Matt Behrens (who did a workshop last summer at the Funny Bone with Jimmy Rice) on ideas for books to get so I could learn some and he said that was Jimmy's department. I emailed Jimmy and then got impatient (as often happens) and so I jumped on amazon.com and I ordered:
The Comic Toolbox: How to Be Funny Even If You're Not,
Comic Insights: The Art of Stand-up Comedy,
How to Be a Working Comic: An Insider's Guide to a Career in Stand-Up Comedy (How to Be a Working),
Comedy Writing Step by Step,
Complete Idiot's Guide to Comedy Writing (The Complete Idiot's Guide),
How to Write Funny: Add Humor to Every Kind of Writing,
Since I signed up for some sort of amazon.com credit card the above only cost me 40 bucks. Booyah.
One thing is kind of bugging me about last night, specifically about me leaving early. That is, that I did (leave early). It's weird, but I deal primarily in absolutes, I either do something or I don't. All or none. For example; I go to the gym 5 days a week, because if I only went 3, I would end up skipping one day and then 2 in a row and pretty soon I'd be out of the habit. That's how I deal with comedy, too. I used to go to EVERY show I could get in the door at, (which was fun) and people recognized my visible efforts. That's why when people said I was hard working, it was such a compliment (and even more so when they used the superlative "hardest"). Anyway, I'm kind of afraid if I miss a night, people will think less of me. Now first off; let me clarify that statement. I don't give a crap what people think about me; he's smart, attractive, goofy, stupid. I've never been popular, and I'm comfortable with that. I don't care what people think of me. Period. What I do care about is my work ethic and my reputation. I don't want people to be able to say I'm lazy or a bad comic. I remember once, Gabe Kea said "Wait, Marcus isn't at an open mic, what's up with that?" He didn't mean it in a bad way, but he was just surprised that I wouldn't be somewhere where there was stage time. I don't want people to think I'm not hungry anymore, but I also want to write some new (decent) bits. I guess I just need to do what I feel will make me a better comic. And I don't feel I've progressed a whole lot in the past couple months, so it's probbaly time to swicth some crap up.