Yesterday someone asked me if it was wise to announce what my set would be like on Wednesday? I don’t think it makes much difference. I don’t think that many of those concerned read this stuff, and, even if they do ...there’s not much reason to be concerned. Most will believe that they have a pretty good idea what material I’ll be doing anyway; at the same time, it could just be a smoke screen. I know me better than most; well enough that, no matter how tempting ...I’d never follow a ‘shape shifter’ into the Night & Fog!
It occurred to me fairly early that I could put together a ‘set’ that just riffed on the material that I suspected the competition would be using. Simple enough, really, because I have pretty good idea what most of the regulars will be doing. You could direct a line or two at each of the ‘beginners’, (of which I count myself one), and a minute or so at each of the contenders. Fun? ...Perhaps ...but I believe it’s how you play the game.
What you really want, is that everyone, ‘plays nice’, and gets along well; even more important, that the inexperienced are made welcome, supported in, and commended for, what is to them, a very demanding role. Uppermost in importance, is that the people who attend as part of the audience have a good time, and leave with the intention of returning ...regularly!
We really need a much wider range of both quality and quantity of performers at, ‘Refuse to Sit Down’. It would be so much better if there were a pool of twenty or so comics participating in a regular rotation; much more entertaining for the audience, and more instructive for the performers, I’ve never seen a comic perform there that I’ve failed to glean something from.
My Father put in ten years on the down town Toronto police force. He used to get, in the late ‘40’s and early ‘50’s, pay duties down at the Gardens for the big wrestling matches. He said it was entertaining, watching the wrestlers venting their theatrics on each other, and the audience loved it. But, he saw them arrive, usually all in the same vehicle, and all good friends; after the show they’d all pile into the same vehicle, and head off for dinner and drinks.
It would be great to see something similar at ‘Refuse to Sit Down’ when we get a large enough and deep enough pool of talent. You’d have to arrange the verbal ‘jousting’ between opponents of fairly equal capablility ...there’s many there I’d not want to come up against. Great training for the comics too, as they could gradually morph from villain to ‘Hero of the day’, and really, that’s the role of the, ‘Trickster’, ...the ‘Shape Shifter’!
As it stands now, we don’t have sufficient comics to develop that level of skulduggery. Of the fellows we’ve got ...what can I say? "...With friends like these ...who needs comics!?
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