Happy New Year! It's the first Friday of 2009 and it's chilly here in the Gray Cat's loft. The topic for tonight is writing and the focus will be on writing comedy. We've all had the opportunity to tell a joke we've heard but it's far harder to create a new joke. There is in fact an art to crafting a good joke and to combine a series of jokes on a theme. Brevity is a key skill and the silences between words or phrases can be as important as the words themselves. The meter and timing of a joke is rather poetic and at times nearly musical. The other side of writing comedy is performance and the real test of a good joke whether or not anyone will laugh at it. I've recently started attending comedy open mike nights at the local coffee bar and a nearby Mexican restaurant. These informal events allow anyone with courage or experience to try their hand at stand-up comedy. The seasoned pros will often try out new material while the newbies can get their feet wet in a rather forgiving venue. The process of trying your jokes can be daunting, but with practice it gets easier and the jokes that survive and get refined can form the basis of an act. I'll have more on the ins and outs of comedy writing and performance in a future post.
The brand new year 2009 holds promise and hope to balance the fear and uncertainty of the last year. Let's all try to embrace the positive and to give of ourselves in 2009. Help others if you can and keep the hope alive. Make every day an opportunity and seize the moment!
The loops of the week some high and glassy synthesizer loops.
The picture of the week was created using Project Dogwaffle.
Click on the image for a full-sized view
Send your comments and feedback and I’ll read it all and respond to some of it.
Bye for now!
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