So yesterday I had to perform an original joke that I wrote in front of my teacher, The Professional Comedian, and all of my classmates, AKA “We Who Are Now TOTALLY Convinced That We Absolutely Are. Not. Funny. At All.”
I pretty much spent all of last week having an extended nervous breakdown, dying 1000 tiny deaths every day and feeling as though my skull was slowly pulling itself apart into painfully sharp pieces that then lodged themselves deep inside my brain.
I was completely unprepared for this class. I felt that because I am comfortable performing in front of people, and because I can make people laugh pretty easily, and because I write a humor blog that I would of course be an immediate expert at stand-up comedy.
It was a bit tough, the fitting of My Inflated Head through the classroom door last week. However I soon realized that, deny it as I might (and Oh, how I did!), I really had no choice but to admit that I was going to suck at stand-up comedy for a while, until I actually learned how to do it. And since I would rather swallow jagged shards of broken glass than ever suck at anything, this has proven to be quite a challenge.
Especially when I tried my very first joke out on my husband, and there was Total. Silence. This did not bode well for either of us, nor did it do anything to sway me from my belief that all of my joke writing attempts up to that point warranted Immediate Death By Stoning.
However I did survive last night, and my joke even got some laughs. So when our IT department gets back from its ski vacation, and if I can watch the recording without hemorrhaging from the eyes, we might see what we can do about adding some video to the site.
Lynne Morrell says
Congrats Jenny! You are a brave babe!
Administrator says
Thanks so much, Lynne 🙂