3:23 p.m. - Sunday, Dec. 10, 2023
Trying stand up comedy
I'm alive!!!! Not much had changed since that last depressing post until recently. In the summer I decided to join an acting class just for fun and a social life. It's mainly for English learners who want to improve their English but they let me join anyway and I performed in a play, well a scene from School of Rock. I played the headmistress. It was pretty easy though I did forget one line and broke character by laughing. No biggie, there were only about 10 people in the audience.
I was just so sick of working from home and not interacting with people, I felt invisible, like a ghost wandering around Madrid. I do have a flatmate now, a friend moved in for what was supposed to be a few months until he finds somewhere but it's been a year now and I wonder if I'll ever get rid of him! Then my friend moved here from Belgium and he's a compositor too and invited me to work from his place if I wanted company and that was a real relief. We have a laugh together. I thought I had a crush on him, well I did but I got over it luckily and saw that he's not for me and it's always easier to be friends anyway.
I also started ceramics classes again and really enjoy that. I've just been throwing shit at the wall and seeing what sticks. I've never been one for social hobbies but I realised I had to make changes in my life if I wanted to make friends and maybe meet a guy, coz I hate online dating. The problem is in all the activities and meet up groups I do it's alway 99% women. And I miss having funny friends. Hobbies are a bit too wholesome for me for friend making. I like hanging with weirdos and oddballs. I couldn't find my tribe here... but then I got talking to a guy from London in a nightclub and he told me he had tried stand up in English here and invited me to an open mic at a small intimate basement club below a Mexican restaurant in La Latina. The comics were terrible and I thought, "hmm you know what, I think I could better than this."
But I was quite scared of doing it, stand up is one of those things that I have thought is one of the most terrifying things you can do. Which makes me wanna try it. I believe happiness lies on the other side of your fears. So I pondered it for a few months and then I went to another open mic near me which runs on Mondays and really enjoyed it. Loved the vibe and started going every Monday and have got to know a lot of the comics and the host and seen newbies put themselves out there and so I started writing a 5 minute set a few weeks ago and I've gone from being terrified at the thought of it to being desperate to do it. I'm having my debut slot tomorrow! It's been so much fun this last week, but also exhausting as I've gone to see comedy almost every night, mostly to support my new friends. It's a great community and I actually feel part of it even though I haven't even performed yet. I've made good friends with a Jewish comic who was evacuated from Tel Aviv after Oct 7 and he's helping me tighten up my jokes. Sadly he's going back to NYC next week, he's been doing loads of shows.
I really hope it goes well but more importantly I hope I enjoy it. I'm not nervous because I know 90% of the audience will be the other comics, everyone is coming to support me. I think I'll be more nervous doing it the second time in another venue.
I don't have any work at the moment because of the Hollywood writers and actor's strike and I was just focused on improving my Spanish but because I don't have my home studio right now coz of the flatmate - I was getting creatively frustrated. So writing is perfect, I don't need anything, no space or materials. I can write in the shower, on a walk, sitting in a bar. Also you get instant feedback. I adore comedy and my dream job is to do something related to it, I just never thought that I could do stand up. Madrid is a great place to start because I could never do it in London. The crowd is too tough, but here I have to say the standards are quite low and everyone is so nice. But let's see, maybe my humour is too sophisticated. However I do start with a dirty joke to get an early laugh because I know my audience. Like literally I know them now. Haha.
It's crazy how I feel like I am finally part of something and I love the idea of doing something unconventional and being in complete creative control and hanging out with comics is fun, only problem is they are mostly guys and one of them has already asked me out. He's only 30, I'm 45 now... and I don't wanna ruin my new friendship group by sleeping around. Also I don't fancy him.
The other great thing is the scene is so diverse here. There's Turkish, Moroccan, Indian, Tunisian, Nigerian, Jewish, Venezuelan comics here but I haven't yet seen a female English comic so I may be unique in that respect.
I'm actually worried that I'm going to enjoy it so much that I'm going to regret not doing it sooner.
