Writer, reviewer and all round good egg Alan Shaw has agreed to take on a series of Fringe-related challenges for Entertainment Now. Here he learns about the art of comedy with the help of Adam Bloom, author of Finding Your Comic Genius – described as the most advanced book ever written on the subject.
ARE you one of those people who, after a wedding speech got a few laughs and didn’t end with you being rugby-tackled to the ground by irate in-laws, thought, “I could be a stand-up comedian”?
I know I was.
But I think attending one of Adam Bloom’s comedy masterclasses would soon have disabused me of that wholly wrong-headed notion.
Based on his groundbreaking, best-selling book Finding Your Comic Genius, Adam has held masterclasses across the world including one at Just the Tonic, in the stand-up-rich environment of the Edinburgh Fringe.
The book isn’t a “how to be funny” guide, it’s all about “how to be better” and that’s probably why so many actual stand-ups sign up, though anyone can put their dollars down for the six-hour class.
“It’s predominantly people who are already doing stand-up comedy and have between one and six years’ experience,” explains Adam, an award-winning comic and writer.
“We cap them at 12 people so they’re intimate and what’s exciting for me is that they’re all different. There are a couple of questions that come up every time but the rest is different which is great because I’m never on autopilot.
“Comedians on tour might get bored of the sound of their own voice but I’m getting different questions each time.
“And I’m actually learning about comedy, too, because I’m answering some pretty in-depth questions and sometimes thinking, ‘I hadn’t thought of that’.
“But what’s really exciting is that from thousands of emails and messages it’s become very apparent that I’ve changed the way thousands of people are thinking about writing and crafting comedy.
“I’ve had a couple of E+MC2 moments that are making people rewrite their jokes, and that’s more rewarding than any royalties I might make.
“I’m often asked about finding your persona, and the harmony between that and your style of comedy. Jack Dee’s persona is grumpy and cynical and his style of comedy is sarcastic so there’s harmony there.
“I have a mischievous look in my eye when I’m playful and that suits my style, you can see why I’m doing those practical jokes.
“So I’ll ask people in the masterclasses what three words describe their persona most and then we’ll gravitate towards those.
“Ricky Gervais described me as having an ‘intense and fragile honesty’ and that does describe me though I’d probably choose intense, playful and mischievous or childlike but once you find your three words it’s a lot easier to work towards material that enhances your persona.
“When Jack Dee walks on stage with his head in his hands looking pissed off, that’s his persona and the jokes back that up.”
As well as being a comic writer, it sounds like Adam’s a student of comedy, too.
“Yes, very much so and I’m always learning. If you talk to any great comedian, talk to Harry Hill, Sean Locke rest his soul, Rich Hall, none of them will ever tell you you’re overthinking something because they’ve done it, too.
“When I watch a great comedian it’s just all beautiful and I regress to being five-year-old me hearing my first joke. People ask why I analyse comedy, I don’t, I analyse it when it’s not good enough!”
Now, it’s been 17 years since Adam did a Fringe show but just a couple of hours after his masterclass finishes each day he’d back on the boards in Edinburgh for the first time since 2007.
The show’s title is Bloom Mic Moments, a play on his self-invented phrase “boom mic moments”.
“A ‘boom mic moment’ is when a comedian reminds the audience that they’ve done this material several times before,” Adam explains. “I’m not a fan of that, it’s named after those times a boom mic appears in a film and it takes you out of the film.
“I invented the phrase ‘boom mic moment’ but I’m not the first comedian to point out you shouldn’t keep referring to the time you did that joke before but it makes you more conscious of a thing if there’s a phrase for it.
“When your style’s really conversational and it’s meant to sound like you’re just having a chat but you keep reminding the audience it’s not, that’s a contradiction.
“Billy Connolly’s technique was to create the illusion that he was so conversational he forgot where he was in a show – he was fooling you, enhancing the illusion, that was an anti-boom mic moment!
“Jimmy Carr did a joke on a recent tour about northerners and said, ‘I’m looking forward to seeing how that goes in Manchester!’ but that’s fine because he’s doing two-line jokes, it’s not a conversation, and he got an extra laugh!
“I’d decided I wasn’t doing Edinburgh but my promoter said I’d be mad not doing it the year the book came out.
“I’ve given all my daytimes to the masterclasses, though” grins Adam. “To do nine in nine days is a little ambitious but I’ve already planned my nervous breakdown!
“I love doing an hour and the predominant reason I’m here is to enjoy doing an hour nine days running but my feeling my audience is going to be young comedians who’ve read my book!
“I just wish I’d thought of arranging a week off up here to soak up the atmosphere and go round a few shows.”
Perhaps seeing which comics have changed their stuff having attended his masterclass.
By the way, confession time. I’ve done three wedding speeches, two as best man, and each has gone well.
But that’s only because I adopted the lugubrious air of Scottish comedy legend Chic Murray and shamelessly built each speech around his bullet-proof material.
Only my Dad has ever twigged.
