performers watching other performers
May. 20th, 2008 11:04 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
thehefnerI'm noticing an interesting trend among my fellow solo performers and artists here at Fringe.
When Eddie Murphy was on INSIDE THE ACTOR'S STUDIO*, he mentioned how stand-up comedians watch other stand-up comedians. He said if he found something funny, often times he wouldn't laugh, but intellectually say to himself, "Hey, that's funny."
I've found myself doing this a lot, sitting contemplatively with arms crossed or a finger nestled under my chin while my mother sits beside me, cackling away with the audience's uproarious laughter. But of course, I'm a cackler too, and laugh plenty often myself.
Others, though? Other solo performers watching these shows? They sit like mummies, in dead silence, arms crossed, looking anywhere from stunned to bored to daydreaming. Of course, most times, they're not: they're thinking about it, studying what the other performer is doing, intellectualizing and dissecting the art and looking for the levels. At least, that's what I do.
My point is, the small handful of audience that bravely turned up for yesterday's 6:20 outdoor performance of THE HEFNER MONOLOGUES (conflicting with about three or four other hugely popular local favorites) was a dead crowd, but that's not to say they didn't necessarily like or get the show. Hopefully they did, and will tell me so at some point, as well as sharing what they thought.
At the same time: c'mon, people, these are the jokes.
*And did he really deserve to be on INSIDE THE ACTOR'S STUDIO even before the aliens came down and snatched him, Steve Martin, and Michael Jackson up in the mid-80's and replaced them with the pod people we see today?
When Eddie Murphy was on INSIDE THE ACTOR'S STUDIO*, he mentioned how stand-up comedians watch other stand-up comedians. He said if he found something funny, often times he wouldn't laugh, but intellectually say to himself, "Hey, that's funny."
I've found myself doing this a lot, sitting contemplatively with arms crossed or a finger nestled under my chin while my mother sits beside me, cackling away with the audience's uproarious laughter. But of course, I'm a cackler too, and laugh plenty often myself.
Others, though? Other solo performers watching these shows? They sit like mummies, in dead silence, arms crossed, looking anywhere from stunned to bored to daydreaming. Of course, most times, they're not: they're thinking about it, studying what the other performer is doing, intellectualizing and dissecting the art and looking for the levels. At least, that's what I do.
My point is, the small handful of audience that bravely turned up for yesterday's 6:20 outdoor performance of THE HEFNER MONOLOGUES (conflicting with about three or four other hugely popular local favorites) was a dead crowd, but that's not to say they didn't necessarily like or get the show. Hopefully they did, and will tell me so at some point, as well as sharing what they thought.
At the same time: c'mon, people, these are the jokes.
*And did he really deserve to be on INSIDE THE ACTOR'S STUDIO even before the aliens came down and snatched him, Steve Martin, and Michael Jackson up in the mid-80's and replaced them with the pod people we see today?
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no subject
Date: 2008-05-20 04:51 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-05-20 05:04 pm (UTC)