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Pete Legend Inner circle Ireland 1401 Posts |
Hey lads,
I don't know if ye remember but I posted clip of myself and conn's double act a while back. It was I guess a tad ropey...lots to improve on without doubt! Anyways here's another gig of us...I'd give it a 7/10. As you will see some parts worked while others got silence ha! We did a 45min gig three days before this particular one and we died on our a%%! So far though the response has been mostly good! Here's part 1 : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mch6l1Xu7RU and here's part 2 (last 3 mins) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FKnHbnmNf44 Any feedback negative/positive or any idea's thoughts be much appreciated! We are working on it the whole time...we'll eventually get there! ;D Thanks for watching lads! Cheers, Pete P.S. We have performed soley in comedy clubs so far.... |
Stephen Young Inner circle Thought Illusions 3933 Posts |
Well I liked it!!!
Steve |
Pete Legend Inner circle Ireland 1401 Posts |
Ha cool thanks Steve!
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David Thiel Inner circle Western Canada...where all that oil is 4005 Posts |
Hi, Pete...
I had a hard time understanding everything, partially because of the accent -- and partially because of the poor sound quality. But it clipped along at a good pace. Here are just a couple of thoughts for you, offered with respect, because you asked. 1) You guys NEED two mikes. Passing the same one back and forth is distracting and makes the act look very small, destroys the sound quality and is awkward. 2) Consider slowing down your delivery FIRST -- and THEN aim at the rapid fire pace you seem to be striving for. It seemed very forced to me. You guys are funny. You need to relax. You need to pause and process what you say to each other. The line about your girlfriend was very funny -- but you didn't give me or your audience a chance to appreciate it...you just barreled onto the next topic. RELAX! Take your time. I kept having the sense you guys were trying to get through a PILE of stuff. 3) I expect "what's funny" may be different in Ireland. In Canada the jokes about beating up women etc. would get you booed off the stage. I cringed when you made them -- but, again, I stand to be corrected. What plays in one place doesn't play in another, so I may be way off-base. 4) I found your treatment of your volunteer appalling. Again -- it may be different in Ireland. No offense intended. But I've always thought that a volunteer needs to be treated with complete respect...since the volunteer represents the audience. There were moments when she looked quite embarrassed and seemed to be communicating that to someone in the audience. I found myself empathizing with her instead of being taken on a journey by you guys. 5) When you were doing the effect, your partner was hugely distracting. He actually ruined the effect by splitting my focus. There's a time to mug for the audience and a time when he needs to be quiet and watch along with them...maybe making an observation or two about what's happening. As in this act, he just detracted me from what you were doing. I think this is the overall issue with the act: there is a lack of focus. Decide where you want me (the audience) to look. Then make me look there. You guys are going so fast and doing so much that I really only have an impression of what's going on -- which is a pity because you have some very good material that gets blown by. 6) You really need to define the relationship you two have as on-stage characters. Try to go beyond the expected: he's the dumb guy and you're the smart talking guy. You can use these as the basis, of course...but take them into the realm of being actual people. Having played a lot of comedy clubs, I can usually classify the quality of an act by the number of times they use sexual humor to wring a laugh out of the audience. Again -- things may be different where you are, so it's difficult to offer concrete thoughts, but I'd suggest you think through each sexual reference and decide if it really fits or not. There was a lot of movement from both of you that, I expect may have been from nerves. When you move on-stage there should be a REASON to do so. Your partner doing that "stretching" thing was utterly meaningless to what was going on. Movement on-stage either makes sense or it doesn't. You two have something -- and you have the potential to be very, very funny. There are brilliant moments in the presentation. Slow down. Relax. Again -- these are honest impressions and they are offered with respect -- because you asked. David
Whatever doesn't kill you makes you stronger. Except bears. Bears will kill you.
My books are here: www.magicpendulums.com www.MidnightMagicAndMentalism.com |
Pete Legend Inner circle Ireland 1401 Posts |
Hey David,
F*** YOU!!! Just kidding! ;D Thanks very much!! Excellent thoughts and I seriously appreciate you taking the time out to give me your opinion. Pure gold! Thank you sir, That's exactly what I was looking for. We actually could have used two mic's for this particular gig but since we don't have that option for many shows we thought we go for what would normally be available. It forces us to be closer and less distracting for the audience...creates a single focus or at least we thought so anyways! ;D " kept having the sense you guys were trying to get through a PILE of stuff" Your 100% correct! We wrote this particular piece for a longer slot but that night we had 17mins MAX..Actually 17 mins was stretching it! Totally get your point about pacing though. I guess the whole beating up women is a bit of a personal taste thing ha! The way it's said and the character I play I hope it comes across as pure ridiculous. I use them in my solo act so I would be to blame for those! To be honest I've never experienced a negative reaction to these lines but you could have said what the audience were thinking but then it makes me laugh so It's a tough one.. Really appreciate your comments about the onstage spec, I didn't think we were overly bad but since you mentioned it I'll have to go over it again. Everything said to her is in complete tongue in cheek and anything that could be deemed as offensive would hopefully be ruled out due to sillyness of it all but again point taken and well made! Again great point regarding focus. 100% spot on! Defining the relationship is quite hard with us sometimes as slots often range from 10-25mins and getting who we are across has'nt been easy thus far but Im sure it will come.It's a brand new act so there will be a lot of tweaking and also the excess movement could have been down to the act being new (neither of us have ever done a double act before) I should point out that we are both fans of anti-comedy so we will usually split a room especially in our double act, it's kinda where we want to go. Again thankls very much David, your comments,advice along with your time are hugely appreciated. By the way you can never offend when you give honest feedback, like I mentioned earlier it's pure gold and will help us grow and develop plus it will give us things to think about things that maybe we would have never considered. Thank you we owe you one. Cheers, Pete |
Shrubsole Inner circle Kent, England 2455 Posts |
Firstly Well Done! Straight Comedy is bloody hard to even want to get up and do.
Some points already mentioned about having two mics is a must. But when you have two mics, it will have to be more tightly scripted as every little mumble will be heard and if you talk over the top of each other, things will be lost. The part when standing in front of the woman: Try more of a 45 degree angle to each other instead of side by side, head on to the audience as you are meant to be talking to each other. That way you can look at each other and talk like having a conversation and still have your faces seen by the audience. (Occasional looks out to the audience so that they feel included in your two-way conversation is a good idea) Also looking at each other you will be able to ad-lib better as you can see each other to work off of, without interrupting each other. This personal interaction between you will also help define your act and the relationship between you. As for content: The other side of the pond does seem over-sensitive sometimes but I don't mind any subject matter as long as it's delivered well and funny. So a joke is a joke and I found the content funny. Loved the accent! (Insert Father Ted reference in here) Reminds me why I don't do comedy as I'd be terrified!
Winner of the Dumbringer Award for total incompetence. (All years)
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Pete Legend Inner circle Ireland 1401 Posts |
Hey Shrubsole! Thanks for the reply! Great advice regards to the part when standing in front of the girl, sweet! Actually did'nt occur to me to stand at that angle..I can be kind of slow in the best of times so no shocks there!
I guess when it comes to content of material, everyone has their opinion and is perfectly entitled to it. I like the dark,quirky stuff and Im 100% sure it would be everyone's cup of tea but that's the joys! ;D Myself and Conn have done stand up comedy for a while...though only recently as a double act so were still learning with every performance. Thanks again for the reply and thoughts! Pete P.S. Father Ted ahh the memories! |
Shrubsole Inner circle Kent, England 2455 Posts |
A double act will take time to gel. It's like two singers singing a duet, it's entirely different to singing on your own. You have to blend and fit rather than being two separate parts. That can only be done over time and can't be rushed. (But looking at each other will force you to interact and bounce off each other)
I do humour, but I'm never doing comedy as it scares me to death.
Winner of the Dumbringer Award for total incompetence. (All years)
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IAIN Eternal Order england 18807 Posts |
The only person from Ireland that could speak slowly was Dave Allen...
go on yer, Pete...
I've asked to be banned
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Shrubsole Inner circle Kent, England 2455 Posts |
I have a Scottish friend who talks slowly as he is here in England and is understood, but you should hear him when he gets with his brother and they talk at their normal speed. Also when as an English person I go to France, even with French people who understand English, I have to slow down to be understood. So any native in their own country is going to speak normally!
Having said that, I had no problem understanding every word. And I genuinely love all accents. (Apart from my own)
Winner of the Dumbringer Award for total incompetence. (All years)
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Mark Roberts Special user Nottingham, UK 597 Posts |
Loved it! Well done, Pete
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Pete Legend Inner circle Ireland 1401 Posts |
Ha Iian just googled and then youtubed Dave Allen...not sure if I ever heard of I'm before! Watched one of his clips and kinda enjoyed it actually!
Shrub : I had a few Scottish friends living with me along with a few English lads, poor english lads were lost most of the time. Think Irish and Scots have the same way of talking when together..incredibly fast and hard to catch. "Were always mumbling" was a common phrase used by those same english lads ;D Thanks for the comment Mark! |
Stephen Young Inner circle Thought Illusions 3933 Posts |
After living in Holland for so long, listening to Pete was a doddle.
Steve |
innercirclewannabe Inner circle Ireland 1597 Posts |
The "I know your name is Mary" was a classic!
Tá sé ach cleas má dhéanann tú sé cuma mhaith ar cheann.
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