Guest Blogger Margaret Johnson: How far
would you go in the name of research?
On Tuesday 21 May 2013 I went to London to
perform a 3-minute stand-up comedy routine at Up the Creek in Greenwich to an
audience of around 200 people. Why? Had I gone completely out of my mind? No!
It was part of my research for The Dare Club – the novel I’m currently writing.
The Dare Club is about a group of newly
divorced or separated people who decide to challenge each other to do scary
things as part of their recovery process. Colette, one of the characters,
decides to have a go at stand-up comedy, so I had to have a go at
stand-up comedy. Everyone tells her she’s very brave too!
I know what you’re thinking – you’re the
writer. You didn’t have to make her do stand-up. That’s true, I didn’t. So I
guess I might have had a deeply hidden desire to do it. Anyway, it was a
completely amazing experience. My 3-minute performance followed on from a
weekend course that taught me the basics of writing and performing stand-up
and, most importantly gave me the opportunity to speak into a mic in front of a
group of people.
I never really intended to go back to do
the performance, figuring that the weekend course would give me enough of an
insight. But I felt strangely compelled to complete the challenge. After all,
Colette was going to do it!
On performance day, we had a go on stage before the
audience arrived. It was a shock. The lights were so bright; you couldn’t see
anything at all! How the heck was I supposed to choose someone to deliver my
punch lines to? Then followed a period of tense waiting and feverish
practising upstairs. Finally it was time. We went downstairs – to find that the
comedy club was completely packed out! The audience were friends and family of
us rookie comedians, and some people had invited 30-40 guests! Mad! I’d only
invited one friend. I could see her right at the front, her video camera at the
ready.
While I waited to go on, I couldn’t sit
down. I was too pumped up with adrenalin. Just before the MC announced my name,
I did a few jumps and arm swings, limbering up. I expect I looked like a fool,
but that was the least of my concerns at that moment.
Then it was time. And amazingly, a feeling
of calm settled over me as I went up the steps to the stage. We’d been told to
take the mic out of the stand and to put the stand behind us. I did so – it
took an age. But then I looked out at the invisible audience, said ‘hello’ and
dived in.
Okay, it wasn’t perfect.
I didn’t have the mic quite in the right
place to begin with and I forgot to include one of my jokes, which meant the
one that preceded it didn’t work quite so well.
But I loved it! People laughed and
it felt amazing. I didn’t want it to end. And when total strangers
congratulated me later, I just felt so proud of myself. All the next day, I
couldn’t stop smiling. And on the train home, I was already writing the scenes
with Colette’s experience of stand-up in my head. I could never have made them
so vivid if I hadn’t actually experienced it.
Would I do it again? You bet your life I
would! In fact, I need to seek out opportunities to make it happen.
And Colette? How is she going to get on?
Well, she’s going to have a mixed ride. She’s got a particular reason for
wanting to do this challenge, and because of that, she’s going to choose to
ignore some of her tutor’s advice. So it could all go horribly wrong for her…
Well, it’s fiction, isn’t it? I can’t give my characters a completely easy
ride.
The Dare Club will be out later in 2013. If
you’d like to keep informed about my progress and the publication date, follow
my blog at www.margaretkajohnson.wordpress.com,
like my Facebook page: Margaret K Johnson Author,
visit my website: www.margaretkjohnson.co.uk
or
follow me on Twitter: @margaretkaj.
If you’d like to view my 3-minute stand-up
comedy performance, click the link below. But be warned, it contains some
swearing, some lies and some smut, so it won’t be to everyone’s taste. Give it
a miss if you think you’ll be offended.
The Dare Club is the follow up book to The Goddess Workshop, which is available on Amazon now.
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