More to Stand Up Than Jokes and Laughter

There’s so more that goes into doing stand up than just writing some jokes that trigger laughter in dark clubs that require a two drink minimum.  I’m sure it won’t come as any surprise to say that it also takes a measure of courage to stand in front of a group of people and talk.  But it takes real guts to expose your fears, vulnerabilities and all the goofy things that make you, you. 

Going to class every week, I had the rare privilege of watching other people in the class evolve.  I found myself wondering what it would be like to run a school like this.  I saw that my teacher juggle multiple roles: part Sherpa, part parent, part therapist, full-time comic and sometimes drinking buddy.  Class was like the Our Gang clubhouse where “girlz” were allowed.  The studio was a place where people aired out their lives in complete safety.  For some, what started out as a bucket list item became the flicker of a new career dream.  For others, it was the “me” time they needed away from family and work demands.  Most of us discovered new friendships that were instantly and deeply important.  What about the school teacher/grandmother who is raising her grandkids?  She found a place to be blue and we laughed until we cried.  It was safe and wild at the same time.  We dug around in our lives for something to joke about and confessed all the unfunny things that were happening to us in the days between class because we knew that’s where the comedy gold was.  Almost everyone struck a vein worth mining. 

Despite our differences, we found each other’s stories compelling and relatable.  There’s the girl who smokes a little too much pot and has a boyfriend no one particularly trusts or likes.  Hard to resist her reaction -- No one else has to fuck him, so why should you care?  She’s right… unless he breaks her heart and she winds up sofa surfing until she gets her feet back under her.  Perhaps the most profound event was also the most heartbreaking and brave.  One comedian lost his dad quite unexpectedly and he managed to share the story of pulling the plug as one of the most honest, real and funny things any of us ever heard.   Everyone who heard him felt what he was saying.  It was, indeed, a privilege.

People survive divorce.  People survive cancer.  People survive, but not without wounds that get broken wide open when they decide to stand up and joke about it.  Should you try your hand at comedy?  If you aren’t willing to be truthful about who you are and accept that you are an average fucking snowflake that’s unique just like all the other fucking snowflakes out there, then no.  You don’t have the guts. 

But I double dog dare you to give it a try.