Sketch comedy

No one seems to be writing anymore. Especially sketch comedy. I remember the days of Monty Python. Brillant timeless scripts.  Or Comic strip presents with the likes of Ben Elton and Rick Mayall, or Little Britain.  Genuinely funny stuff. One of my goals over the next few years is to get kids to write. I think in years to come anyone who can generate content will prosper. Anyone who can make something that doesn't already exist on the net will have something of value. 

I’m starting with comedy. Im thinking a Saturday night live sort of a feel. When I was living in London a few years ago  I did a thing called News Review upstairs of the canal cafe. We met for a few hours a day and rehearsed scripts that independent writers had contributed. It was always based  around something that had happened in the news. We prided ourselves on “shockingly bad taste” that’s what someone said about it in a review. We would perform from Thursday though to Sunday and the content was constantly changing. I remember I always just barely knew my words. There was a constant terror that I was going to forget what would come next. The audience were so on your side and everything was so hit and miss. It was exhilarating. And brilliant training for an actor.

Scripts were sent in. If the writers script made it into the show they were paid for the script (beer money)  and often the actors would contribute  scripts as well. We would spend the day workshopping the ideas in the scripts. It was usually a synergy of ideas that made the script work. It was never one person’s thing. We always built on each others ideas. That happens a lot at EK. I bring in a really simple joke. The human cannon ball got fired….from his job… Then we would flesh out the characters. A boss and a human cannon ball. Then the human cannon ball  gets a personality. She rolls everywhere she goes. When she arrives she rolls forward. When she leaves she rolls backwards. The reason she is fired from her job develops. Eating too much and is too heavy for the gun. All of these contributions from different kids. The skit develops a life. There is a something now where there was just an idea before. 

So Im kicking around an idea for a comedy club for teens. I would have loved something like this when i was a kid. Kids are encouraged to bring in ideas and together we can flesh them out. It could an idea about politicians taking helicopter rides to parties for example. Obviously Im going to have to be careful with keeping the content suitable. Every few weeks or so we can have a little soiree with parents and friends etc.  It would just be so great to see a seed like that grow. It would be so great to empower teens to  do that sort of thing. Watch this space :)

Microphones

We recently, last few months, have introduced microphones into our microconcerts. What a head ache but in the end it pays off. But it is a trade off. Firstly kids love microphones. KIds LOVE microphones. As soon as the mics arrive they are excited. 

The mics we use are the shure  beta 58s, that's the chordless We have a few chorded mics too which we have used for the last couple of concerts.

We looked into an amp for a long time. I asked a few of my opera australia mates until I asked my friend Shanul who said "You've got to get an L1, man..."

By L1 he meant the Bose L1 which is basically a wooofer with a tall speaker. It comes apart and one person can easily carry it to and from a car.

What a godsend that was. It throws the sound around the room because it is comprised of small speakers at different angles. It s amazing. We use it for our corporate and private party gigs. see www.extraordinaryacts.com.au

THere's alot of management involved of course with kids and microphones. They have to be worded up on how expensive the equipment is and they love to tap them which is undesirable but uderstandable. But when they hear themselves they love it. You have to imagine a dot in the center of the top of the  microphone and you need to sing into that. I'm always correcting the angle for kids. The mic needs to be at around a 45 degree angle to the body. the temptation is to hold it parallel and sing at the side of it. You often see the CEO do that too after a corporate gig. The other temptation is to shy away when your voice is suddenly the voice of god. I said to the kids " this is designed to make you louder. If you sing less on the mics or if you don't sing on the mic then it defeats the purpose.:)