I've volunteered to do a standup-comedy act at the science-fiction convention NORCON (June 3-5)...
It's hard to be funny on purpose. And much easier to be unintentionally funny (as I've accomplished countless times).
Someone warned me: the convention guests won't be able to take you seriously as a writer AFTER they see you as a goofy funnyman on stage.
Who knows... ;-)
What do you think? I write "genre" fiction, so I don't have that much of a reputation to ruin in the first place...
If a Really Serious Writer like Margaret Atwood appeared on a comedy club and made fart jokes, would people then say: "I can't read her books now. She's ruined her image!"
Is it all about image?
Then again: Why should writers take themselves so #*#¤%* seriously?
The worst that can happen is that the audience won't laugh...
:)
3 comments:
Hey, that's like, now.
Let us know how that went. Post pics!
I just came back from the Sunday of the convention...
Ken McLeod and wife were in the audience of my stand-up comedy show... and audience of about a dozen people. The majority of the visitors were away in the film room, watching an old Norwegian TV show.
My act went on for 20 minutes, and I did get an applause at the end. But it felt weird performing for all those empty chairs -- most of the audience sat in the back.
I joked about "2001: A Space Odyssey", The Star Wars Holiday Special, UFO abduction stories, TV commercials, Goreans, and the "Lord of the Rings" stage musical.
(The whole show was in English, for the benefit of the Guest of Honor.) We ended with a sing-a-long and nothing technical broke.
Maybe I'll do it again, if they ask me.... But I wish the audience had been bigger.
:)
P.S.: You can listen to my "Lord of the Rings" musical spoof here:
http://alpharhoypsioln.tripod.com/id9.html
(I did the stand-up act again at Imagicon/SweCon 2006 in Stockholm, with Guest of Honor Geoff Ryman in the audience. If you happen to see him, ask him about "Terminator: The Musical"! ;-))
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