Stand-up offers full creative control, improv offers collaboration

March 15, 2009 by vongsundara · Leave a Comment 

As a hardcore advocate for stand-up comedy, it took me a little while to warm up to the idea of improv comedy. If you’ve been reading this blog, you’ll know that I took the Level A class at Second City (which was great by the way).

I really enjoyed the class, and it made me want to look deeper into the world of improv. Despite this, I didn’t quite understand what it was about improv that appealed to me. At first, I thought improv would be a great outlet for me to help improve my stage presence and allow me to add extra dimensions (such as characters) to my stand-up act.

I still feel the same way for the most part, as stand-up comedy will always be my first love, but now I’m beginning to take improv comedy more seriously.

Thinking about it some more, I figured out why I so enjoyed my time with improv: creative collaboration. Now, this is somewhat contradictory for a stand-up comedian to believe, as the best part about stand-up comedy is the lack of collaboration. The entire stand-up piece is the comedian’s alone, no censors or network writers to get in the way. After getting over that initial mental hurdle, I came to realise that I rather enjoy collaborating with others.

I’ll always have my stand-up comedy as my primary form of expression, a place where I can express myself and my views on the world as a whole without dilution, but I must admit that I am going to have to make some room in my life for improv.

I’m still a ways off from forming an improv troupe or anything like that, but I am definitely going to work toward that goal. Stand-up comedy is necessarily a lonely process, but I’m happy to know that I can make some room in my life for some collaboration.

Filed under: Performing
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A stand-up comedian’s Christmas can be a lonely affair

December 25, 2008 by vongsundara · Leave a Comment 

Another year, another Christmas spent alone, thus is the the life of a stand-up comedian. I ended up having a somewhat boring day, but at least there was some great NBA basket ball on television; Celtics vs. Lakers is always a fun matchup (unfortunately, my Celtics lost).

I suppose a bit of loneliness is never too terrible a thing. Being alone today reminded me of the sacrifices I’m making to pursue my career out in Toronto and be separated from my friends and family. Now, don’t get me wrong, I’m having a great time in Toronto, but today reminds me that I have to focus on why I am here in the first place, otherwise I’m separating myself from my family for no good reason at all.

I got quite a few updates done to my website. I re-intregrated Twitter feeds and fixed a few of the WordPress and Facebook interactions. I’ve also been researching Podcasting and will be introducing those into my blogs hopefully very soon.

The most important part of today, though, is that I’m finally going to get off my ass and start writing again. I’ve been resting on the material I wrote while in Calgary, and as proud as I am of that material, I know I can be much, much better.

I’m sure everyone makes lots of New Year’s resolutions, but I think my re-dedication to comedy in the new year will stick. All it took was a bit of loneliness to remind me why I’m out here.

Filed under: Performing
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Why am I so boring at my dayjob when I’m paid to be funny at night?

November 24, 2008 by vongsundara · Leave a Comment 

I went to a work outing tonight at a local pub, and I was incredibly boring. I mean, totally, completely no personality at all. It was almost exactly like I was at my dayjob. It’s strange, because I know that having personality can be quite helpful at work, and it’s not like I don’t have personality (otherwise, why would I be a stand-up comedian?).

I think my mindset comes from my inclination to compartmentalise different aspects of my life. The way I am at work is similar to how I am around my parents. The way I am on stage is similar to how I am with my friends. It would be helpful if I could find some middle ground between my ghetto personality and my boringness at work. In fact, more than a few people at work have said I need to come out of my shell (these people of course did not know much about my night life).

When I’m in a party situation, and also when I’m on stage, I have enough personality to take over an entire room. It’s basically my job to do so, and it comes rather naturally. My nickname in university was “The Vong Show,” because I basically brought the party with me wherever I went.

It’s a shame then that working in media where there are a ton of personalities, I can’t seem to express myself other than being 100 per cent business-like at all times. There’s no easy fix, as my behaviours are ingrained, but I do hope that someday I can come off as something in the middle: not boring and not the centre of attention but someone who’s interesting.

Filed under: Living, Performing, Working
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