WORKSHOPS - THREAT OR MENACE?Patton Oswalt (Comedians of Comedy, Ratatouille) offers this advice on his blog to people who ask how to be a comedian…
“The answer is very simple. It's so simple, that no one can ever accept that it's the ONLY WAY. But rest assured, the lucky few who understand how simple it is, and go and do this simple thing, ALWAYS succeed:Go onstage a lot. Go onstage as much as you can. Don't read books on comedy. Don't take comedy classes. Don't ask anyone how you should write material, or what they think of your material. Develop on your own.Go onstage. A lot. Every night. If there isn't an open mike in your town, start one. And then go onstage. A lot. That's it.”
When I was starting in improv comedy if you wanted to do it professionally you were told to take workshops. Not just one day drop ins to learn to basics but level one, level two, level three, master classes, intensive classes and on and on. It was mandatory. There was always a new workshop and it was always hundreds of dollars. The tease was this would get you stage time for the real show on weekends in front of an actual audience. But like a drunk girl wanting you to buy her drinks at the Roxy while it increased your chances of getting what you wanted the odds were still slim.
Those who can do and those who can’t teach is the old saying but with comedy those who can still often don’t make as much money as they need to pay the rent and workshops are a way to get some extra cash. Companies like Theatresports, Second City, UCB and the Groundlings do good business with workshops.
Comedy isn’t comfortable. You’re going to fail more that you succeed and it’s understandable for people to want a safe place to start off. Comedy workshops are good for letting you know the basics. In improv, things like saying yes, moving action forward and theatre tricks like voice projection and how to cheat your body so everyone on stage isn’t standing in a line talking. In stand up it can be good for exposing you to different styles of comedy and basic microphone technique. But the most important thing a workshop can give you is practice performing. It’s also a good place to meet people who are just starting off like you. For myself meeting Randy Schooley, Christine Lippa and Dean Haglund made it easier to keep going when things got rough (and if you’re trying to do something new it’ll get rough).
But like Patton says it’s all about practice. Get on stage as much as you can anywhere you can. Workshops are much less important than any time in front of an audience and if you find yourself taking a class that tells you not to perform any other shows while doing it, then put down the Kool Aid and walk out the door. Don’t worry about ruining your chances to perform at a venue because you didn’t take the classes. You get good enough and either they’ll hire you anyway or you won’t need them and will find your own path.
-Ian
