Michael Somerville

I always enjoy when we have a working comic talk to our stand up class and critique our material. It's a bit intimidating to tell your silly little jokes in front of some dude that is making it but it's also creates a relaxed feeling--this person isn't dramatically different than me. They're just farther down the road I'm on. He has his own show on the FLN network called Wingman. Here's his website:

www.michaelsomerville.com

Michael shared some advice which I'll briefly recount...

• Find what your strength is and build on it
• You can't write pure comedy gold every time you pick up a pen. Maybe 10% of the jokes you write will end up being solid material. Get okay with that and start churning ideas out.
• When you watch your old stuff and it makes you cringe, that's a good sign. It means you've learned since then.
  
• As you meet people in the comedy business, always be nice and friendly. Everyone wants to be around people they like so be likable. (Separate topic for later...how incredibly nice and supportive people I've met in NYC are.)
  
• Learn from comics you don't like. What is it that you dislike? Why? How can this knowledge help sharpen your approach?
• The secret to success is to just keep doing it over and over. He suggested setting a goal for ourselves of doing 100 hours of standup or 100 shows before stepping back to say "How good am I and where is this going?" Don't judge, just do.
• Start following comics around local clubs. Introduce yourself.
• The time you learn the most is when you bomb. Don't see it as failure.
• Typically, any comic's first hour of truly solid material is usually their best. Think of Chris Rock's Bring the Pain and Bigger and Blacker. Sharp, cutting edge material. Which he took a long time to craft. (If it didn't take him a long time I'm going to be pissed because those are incredible shows.)
  
• Hone your unique voice, get good at it, and good things will happen.
  
• Agents come calling when you don't need them anymore. Get good and get seen and things will fall into place naturally.
  
• NYC vs. LA--For standups, NYC is the epicenter. "Go to LA when they send a limo for you at the airport."

When I started the one year comedy program I was hoping I'd meet some high up person in comedy who could pull back the velvet curtain and let me into the inner circle. As if I could circumvent the struggle. That's why I flew to New York to try out for Last Comic Standing. Surely Kathleen Madigan will recognize my comic genius and pluck me from obscurity.

Not only is this complete hubris, it's not even desirable. If the top comic agent in the world shook my hand today, I wouldn't really have any favor to ask. I need to craft and build my material and develop my voice. When I have 20 minutes of solid material that consistently does well with diverse audiences I'll know I'm getting somewhere. Until then the onus is all on my shoulders. It's actually empowering knowing the only possible constraint is your own motivation and abilities.

Knowing what needs to happen is a good feeling. I didn't have that a year ago. Moving to NYC has been completely worth it if only for that knowledge.