Hi there,

I've just uploaded a video of one of my recent Cabaret performances:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pHztGiTi7tQ

Hope you all like it! Please comment, rate and enjoy!

Take care

Mark

Really? No comments at all? I thought someone would at least want to say how bad they thought I was...

OK....It didn't suck. I think many are hesitant to comment for fear of discouraging or upsetting you with criticism. Here are a couple of my opinions. Do with them as you see fit.

The material was pretty stock. You seemd to mostly be delivering lines rather being actively in the moment as a performer. I recommend taking some acting or imporv classes to help with this. Some of the international juggling bits would probably not fly very well here in the US. Too unPC. But if it flies in England go for it. (IMHO...in comedy everything is fair game)

I had to FF through most of the knife routine. I personally would not have picked a woman to do this. In my show I have routines that I will only do with a male and some that I'll do only with a female. And I also didn't like them laying on the floor without something underneath them. She had a beautiful long gown on. There could even be some comedy there as well in placing down the mat.

You did get laughs. And you did get paid (Hopefully)

All the best,
Kevin

Hi Kevin,

Thanks for your honest criticism! It's only through comments like these that I can improve, so thank you for offering up your views.

I would probably agree with you on most of these points, and looking back on it I can see where I might improve. As far as the advice to undergo some acting classes, I actually come from an acting and theatre background, but I can still see your point and maybe I need to look at being more fluent in my performances.

Once again, thanks for your comments and I will try to take them all on board.

Take care

Mark

Hey Mark.

Really nice to see you doing some comedy in your performances now.

I agree with Kevin, Its a really good start for you, but now you need to work on finding that stage prescence and personality. You'll find after a while that it will naturally come through...You need to pick the jokes that suit you also...

Try and come up with at least one or two of your own jokes also, sit down with a pen and paper and brainstorm. Find double meanings in words with the props is one way.

Also, if keeping that stock material, try and adapt it to be yours, find your own way to deliver it, rather than just saying it.

Give your volunteer a towel to lay on, A lilo, or if your a big budget show - a bed! and definately for the 'walk of death' use a male! (many more jokes there aswell!)

You need to try and make everything flow a bit better, so one thing blends straight into the next, find a line (joke or just a line) to go from routine to routine much better.

Nice to see you performing though buddy, I remember just seeing videos in the backyard! so nice work!

James

Hey Buster!

Thanks for the encouragement, means a lot coming from you! Haven't spoken to you in a while, maybe we should catch up sometime. Do you use MSN?

I can see exactly where you're coming from, and I know I need to start mixing things up and stop using stock routines. But hey, we all start somewhere I guess...

Hopefully will have improved by the next time you see me!

Take care

Mark

Hey Mark.

I am on facebook sometimes when I have a chance. I am glad to see your going well like I said. Would love to help you out a bit more if you wanted, send me a message on facebook or something......

Your right...it all takes time, I started with a completely stock standard routine also. You need to work on your personality like I said, and with your background in theatre it shouldn't be too hard!

Just stand in front of a mirror, pull some faces, move your body, and see whats comfortable to you (the physical side)

For the speech (comedy) side of it, use YOUR personailty. How do you make your friends laugh, family etc? It takes a while to find it, but you will, just keep working at it.

For instance, when I started performing I tried to be quite a serious guy in a way about "hey look how talented I am". But now the personality comes accross as "natural" (hope that makes sense) in other words, I'm not faking or acting a character any more its just me.....

From people walking out of my show in the past and saying "Great Juggling" to now getting the compliments that you want of "Hilarious" "Really Funny" etc.....

It depends what you want? If you a prim and proper in real life, try that?

When I am with people I don't know I am quite a shy guy, put me with my friends and I am always out for a laugh.......I mix these two together to create that personailty I am trying to explain.

I hope I made a tiny bit of sense!

James

Mark,

Great little show mate. I like it.

I agree with what's been said so far with regards to the walk of death and using a guy.

I also agree with the comment of making a routine your own. I perform the walk of death in my school show... please stay with me...

I present the show as a scientist (as you can see in my avatar). Each routine is an "experiment".

For the walk of death I dress a male teacher (or a young female one wearing trousers if a male teacher's not available) in safety goggles, helmet and gloves. They then lay down on a camping roll mat.

I talk about how its the person on the floor's job to stop anything that comes falling towards them from hitting the floor. They are my safety team.

I chat about how they've seen me juggle lots of things already, and the chances of dropping three balls is quite slim. And if I did, so what. So I lose the balls and remove eggs.

I then say that eggs are enough like balls that still the chances of a drop are quite small... So I remove my glasses.

Not satisfied with the level of danger and difficulty I then place on a blindfold.

You can learn to really juggle blindfolded (like I did) if you want or use a gaff. The effect is essentially the same. I like doing for real because my acting is quite rubbish.

I then perform the walk of death (a stock routine), yet it feels like its mine.

Of course once you've made it over the volunteer there's no reason why eggs can't be dropped on the floor and allowed to break. That is after all what the audience want, to see if the eggs are real.

Do you do street shows?

If not, maybe you should give them a go. You'll go from strength to strength in a very short time frame. If you're not good then your crowd will leave... Which isn't a problem because you just build a new one. And keep building new ones until you find what works and they stay

One last thing. Exaggerate your tricks a bit more. With tricks like chops, although you pulled it off flawlessly, if you put more body movement in to it then it would look more like something from a kungfoo master.

But all-in-all I enjoyed the show, thanks