The Comedy Society

I want to be a stand-up comedian. I want to be many things, but I feel that a stand-up comedian is one of the most possible and achievable. I'm not settling, I'm sure I'll still write episodes for Doctor Who, but for now, comedian.

I did a gig in London before going to university in Aberdeen, I drank a lot and the reception was mixed. And drunk. Therefore, I feel that taking anything from that would be fruitless. Either way, I needed improving. Improve-ing, not improv-ing. I have only just realised that those two words are spelled the same. Hmm.

I digress. I thought that I would be going to Edinburgh University and going to the Edinburgh Fringe Festival would be a natural step, but I went to Aberdeen. Not a complete disaster, as I found out that Aberdeen had a Comedy Society, just like the great universities. I mean, Oxford and Cambridge do have famous ones which have luminaries such as Stephen Fry (who I find tedious) and Josie Long (funny in her own way, but still tedious in many other ways). So this could have been a big step in the right direction. It still might be.

ONE PROBLEM: The Society is in its first year. Not a huge problem, but the society lacks credibility, money and members. Not the best situation to work with. There are also a fair number of lazy members who do not write anything and do not contribute. Dead weight. There is a core collective that turn up to every meeting, usually with stuff in hand, and make good contributions. However, we need more of that sort of person, hopefully ones that are not on the committee also.

I became a member of the committee as they needed a first year representative and I was the only first year that volunteered. The same way that Stalin got into power. The people on the committee are nice enough people and I can't really say anything bad about them, though their comedy is a bit pretentious and not funny. However, their ideas are good and I cannot knock that.

I say this as a comedy genius. Ha.

There is also another member that is out Script Official, who is supposed to check that we do not plagiarise and keep the scripts together when we get a few together. However, he feels that he has the right to edit them as well, which is a major problem. The Society gives advice on how to improve sketches and the like, but we cannot force them to change it. We can judge whether it's funny or not, but to force them to change it implies that we acutally know better. Which we cannot prove. And it's a major dick move. We just tend to say that we would prefer this not to be in our show until it is improved. Hard to say when most of our material is absolute crap, but has to be done. The Script Monkey is a perpetual thorn in our sides.

He also wishes to go to the Fringe this year. I have nothing wrong with ambition, I hope to go to Edinburgh with the Society next year, but only next year. We are not ready to be slaughtered by the audience and the press. We're not even known in Aberdeen, never mind known for an international festival. This debate comes up every meeting. It's frustrating. Now he wishes to take his own "splinter group" to Edinburgh. Good luck affording the costs without a grant from the University, dick. It also gives us a reason not to give him our scripts, as he may take them to Edinburgh with his own troupe. Not helping himself. He probably will run for President of the Society (or Conquistador of the Punchline as we officially wrote in our constitution). Luckily, for the Society, I am also running.

Fucking bring it.

I will write about our first gig in the next post, it was a real barn stormer.

Yeah, right.