With the launch of ITV1's new comedy talent show Show Me The Funny, Alan Davies talks to James Kettle about stand-up
ITV1's latest talent contest Show Me The Funny ? Stand-Up Showdown offers some 10 aspiring comedians the chance to headline a nationwide tour, as well as their own DVD and a �100,000 prize. Here, comic-turned-judge Alan Davies offers his top tips for getting a live audience to laugh with you ? not at you.
Learn to live with your nerves
Nerves are really crippling at the start of a stand-up career. And they don't really ever go away, they're just something you have to learn to live with. If you're not nervous about going up in front of people and trying to make them laugh, you're probably slightly barmy. But the nerves do make a mess of your day. If I had a gig in the evening, I used to get nervous at about four o'clock in the afternoon and then I was good for nothing until it was over. They're the thing that makes you realise what you're doing is abnormal and maybe you should have made another choice!
Don't worry too much about heckles
Hostility to the audience is a mistake. If someone comes up with a belting heckle and you can't top it, the best thing to do is to repeat it ? you've got the microphone, so you get a big laugh with it as well. The thing about heckling is that it really isn't the thing to think about. People very rarely shout out from the audience, and when they do it's normally very easy to deal with, because they're shouting out because they're drunk. The thing to think about if you want to be a comedian is being funny, not being ready to deal with a hostile audience.
Listen to the crowd
Most of the material in my act developed from a relationship with audiences, because I'd go on and tell stories, and how the audience responded to them would dictate how they evolved into routines. I was never the kind of comic to go onstage to set out my ideas and expect an audience to be challenged by them. I would frankly pander! And that was the way I got through it.
Be prepared for hard work
I don't think that you can succeed as a stand-up comedian unless you're very focused ? I hate that word, focused ? on it above all else. Its not something you can dip in and out of: "Oh yeah, I've been trying stand-up." "How many gigs have you done?" "Nine this year." No. You have to be onstage as many nights of the week as you possibly can. Don't let a night go by without a gig. That's how obsessed you have to be. I remember being in Edinburgh and trying to get 20, 30 people in to see me at midnight ? meanwhile Jack Dee's selling out a 600-seater and he says, "Do you want to usher for me? It's the only way you're going to fill a theatre."
Don't be scared of the competition
When I started out no one had agents and there weren't millionaires in front of you a few gigs down the road. Everyone was doing it because they wanted to do comedy. It's a different world now, but in the end, you still have your time onstage with the microphone in your hand. That's your time. And if you're really funny, then provided you're not punching people when you come off, or stealing people's belongings, then you'll get a gig.
Take feedback when it's offered
In common with all the other judges on Show Me The Funny, I'm not entirely comfortable with judging other comedians. Generally as a stand-up, no one talks to you about your act. But you do get the odd nugget; I was doing a routine about working in a warehouse, and it wasn't working, but a comic called Bob Boyton said, "I know it didn't get many laughs, but that's interesting stuff. You should stick with that." I'd have dropped it if he hadn't said that, but within a couple of years it became a mainstay of my act. If we can give that kind of useful feedback to one of the Show Me The Funny contestants, great. The flipside is that if we give them advice that isn't very good, we could really mess them up!
As told to James Kettle. Show Me The Funny ? Stand-Up Showdown, Mon, 9pm, ITV1
Source: http://www.guardian.co.uk/culture/2011/jul/16/alan-davies-stand-up-comedy
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