Dear Clare,
You don't know me but I'd thought I'd chime in with some voice of reason anyway.
One) Your sequence of posts read like someone publicly having a nervous breakdown.
Two) Leaving a troll comment on Bussell's video like that is bang out of order. F**king bang out of order! It paints you as someone who is potentially vicious and currently in the death throes of a red-wine-soaked mid-life crisis.
Three.) Will Cam is not relaxed, he's a bland, yet ultimately harmless, background character with very little spark or posts of any value, who publicly accuses all and sundry of being trolls then privately pm's them with apologies once the mods have disproved his suspicions, and he's already pretty much driven away redzed (a Zoetrope comp winning writer away from the boards after accusing him of also being Teddy P, some other other dude who came and went, and me)
Four.) I've encountered you and your work elsewhere. I love the fact you've picked up a camera and shot stuff yourself and that puts you on the road and above people who talk about doing things without actually doing them.
At the moment, in critique, I'd peg you as a "first thought" comedian, basically sticking with the first idea that pops in there.
To enhance your rep and quality of your work above that of an A-Level media studies student I'd broadly advise focusing on the craft of writing. It's an art form, if you're filming gags for a bit of a laugh then no harm done, if you're serious about being the best you possibly can be then these are all good for rough drafts but maybe not as audition pieces. As said, I deeply respect anyone who picks up a camera and shoots. Along with pen and paper it's your biggest tool to utilize.
Five) I'm in no position to be specific or objective about placing value your work because it's not my thing. I consider pun based stuff, innuendoes and weak groan gags to be fine enough, but personally I like my comedy to have a passion, or bloodlust or point of view, or something that marks it out as original authorship. People on these boards have made money out of stringing together various puns and spineless lightweight whimsy, so, maybe my opinion is restricted to me and my own comedy.
Six) When a person gives you advice - by good-natured default, they're telling you how to be more like them. Such is the nature of advice.
If you want advice, you most likely just want someone to reassure you of what you already know. If they tell you otherwise you'll either discount it, or you'll take it and no longer be following the instincts that got you into comedy in the first place. So either way, advice means little.
Seven) Learn to be your own biggest fan/critic. Thinking you're always right, and everyone else is wrong and out to get you is placing a severe limitation on yourself, and all that fufilling talent really is, is seeing beyond limitations and finding a way in no matter what the cost.
Eight) Don't take websites so personally, this is a good, well run and well put together guide and the forums have lots of people who do stand up, who submit sketches and screenplays and who have a lot of fingers in a lot of pies. Some are just here to discuss their favourite sandwich filling or whatever and a very small minority are just the usual harmless, internet lunatics you encounter all over the www. Forums are fun but time consuming, I used to spend a couple of hours a day here uploading sketches etc and in just five days away from the intenet I've won a stand up comp, finished a screenplay, visited family and caught up on all sorts. All through not going online and following random links until 3 in the morning. Get a pen, download Beethoven's 'Allegretto from Symphony 7 in A' and write, re-write and write some more.
Nine) Relax. Stop stressing. Life is short. Accomplish every dream you have, no matter how stupid or slight, just do your absolute best. If you want to make a short film, do it. A podcast? Easy. Open mic, easy. Draft a novel, sketch a comic strip. Stop being so negative because you'll lose and carry regret into old age. If you have a good idea, chase it. Don't stutter or put it off, chase it like a motherf**ker because the second you give up, that's the story of you... what could've been.
Ten) Start using the space bar in your posts.
In keeping with the positive karma, here's my last bit of lightweight food for thought before I wander off again:
Good luck, and calm down.
Quote: Jack Daniels @ July 20 2011, 12:04 AM BST
If you're going to try, go all the way. Otherwise don't even start. This could mean losing girlfriends, wives, relatives, jobs, and maybe your mind. It could mean not eating for three or four days. It could mean freezing on a park bench. It could mean jail. It could mean derision. It could mean mockery, isolation. Isolation is the gift. All the others are a test of your endurance. Of how much you really want to do it. And you'll do it, despite rejection in the worst odds. And it will be better than anything else you can imagine. If you're going to try, go all the way. There is no other feeling like that. You will be alone with the gods. And the nights will flame with fire. You will ride life straight to perfect laughter. It's the only good fight there is.
A great night of comedy, you could'nt write it, fabulous!
