CK in the UK
Isn't that clever, how I took the CK and the UK and put them next to each other? Seriously, isn't that amazingly clever?
Here's some more clever things that I wrote for the Engilsh newspaper the Guardian.
So I have just started a one month tour of the United Kingdom. Home of the original white people who spread disease to every dark continent and enslaved the majority of the world's population for centuries but are now a relatively benign and decent folk with very strong currency.
I've started my tour in Dublin, Ireland, as part of the Carlsberg Comedy Carnival. Carlsberg is a kind of beer. So there's that. After this weekend, I go to the Soho Theater in London for two weeks, then I am in Edinbourgh for the Fringe festival, then back in London for another week at the Soho. So this is a lot of not being in America, and instead being in places that aren't America.
I have been getting a decent ammount of press. There's this piece in the London Times, another piece in the Irish Independant, and something that I wrote for the Guardian.
That's a lot of attention. Also a lot of pressure. I've been anticipating this trip for many months and have been excited about it. I'm in the middle of putting together my next Hour Special for next year and I figured that a long stint in Europe would be a great way to get out of my element and change things up. I've been extremely lucky that Ricky Gervais has been supporting me and helping sell some tickets.
So now it started, here in Dublin. So far I have done one show, last night. And I pretty much ate it. I mean I fucking really bombed horrrrribly. I mean it was the worst set I've had in years. Years and years again. I mean holy nigger tits did they hate me. I did half an hour. Fifteen minutes in people were just chatting like I wasn't there. I opened weak and closed weaker and in between I sweated about four me's onto the floor. I can't believe I'm still alive. Toward the end, a very vicious man, yelled out simply "You're a loser!" and I said back to him, "Yes, sir. I am." and then more silence. I took a breath and continued. Rare, rare moments of deep, hot, sweaty, shave a few days off the end of your life failure.
How do I feel about it? Last night I felt awful. That's part of bombing. I walked away with my head spinning. "This is a nightmare. They're going to hate me in London too. I'm over here for a fucking month!"
But today I'm okay with it. I'm owning it. So much that I'm unneccicarily spreading the word through my own website about how bad it went. How stupid is that?
I have to say that, for bombing, I bombed well. For the first ten minutes or so, I lost my composure, I gave them my timing and had salt in my eyes and throat. But then I slowly pulled back on the stick and righted things. I got back into the pocket, to where I know what I'm doing and I know I'm doing it well. I got my timing back to where I wanted it. I felt lucid and honest, which is how I need to feel on stage. But the show didn't get better. It was a very strange sensation that I have NEVER experienced. Usually, bombing is sort of chicken and egg. It's a spiral. They don't like you, so you lose confidence so you start sputtering and doing badly so they don't like you so you lose confidence and down and down and down.
But this was different. Because I recovered, I pulled out of the spiral, which is something that I can do just from sheer experience. I've been there a million times. But every time I"ve pulled out of the spiral, I've been able to take the audience with me. In this case, I came out of it, felt great, and yet they still hated me. It was strange. I did the rest of the show that way and then said goodnight. I think someone clapped at the end. He might have been beaten to death.
As I walked away, hands shaking, I looked at my phone and saw that Ricky Gervais had called me. I am always so happy to hear from him and it cheered me up. But when I called him back, he said he was calling to ask me to stop pocket-calling him. Apparently my phone kept ringing him during the show. He said that, from inside my pocket, it sounded like I was doing great. I told him, in detail, how awful it was and he cackled and screamed in delight. What a pal. He told me I should film my next special with a camera that fits in my pocket.
I would like to mention that the Irish comedians here, besides being very funny, are very nice people. They all told me afterward that it was a unique situation. I was given a million excuses. "They were a bunch of cunts out there tonight. It wasn't you." "It started raining as soon as you got on stage and it was making a terrible noise on the roof. so they were distracted." Very nice of them. But I avail myself of none of their excuses. It's always your fault. you can NEVER blame the crowd.
Moreover, I don't want any pity when I bomb. To me, bombing is a pure positive. Because it's a rare experience and it's a great education. Every great show, when you kill, is pretty much like any other great show. But every time you bomb, it is completely unique. I've never bombed the same way twice. And they stay with you, the bad sets, like Lyme disease or herpes. So I thank the people of Dublin for that.
In any case, I have two more shows here. Tonight, I do another half an hour and then it all culminates in my own solo hour show on Sunday night. If things don't get better, that is going to be, for me, a historical evening of pain. I am torn in terms of what to wish for. I would love to have a great set tonight and to call last night an anomaly and to go into Sunday with great confidence and leave Dublin a happy man, taking that momentum to London on Tuesday. But there's part of me that wants to go 0 for 3. To be able to just leave here saying "Dublin hates me."
We'll see. I'll let you know how it goes.
LCK
Posted by Louie in Misc on July 26, 2008 | Comments [ 3 ]
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Hey Louis,
Not to say that I like hearing that you bombed, but as a comedian noob (three years in), it's cool to hear that it even happens to the great ones.
So, thanks..
Rock On,
Aitch
Hey Louis
Was at your Edinburgh fringe show on 15th Aug which was brilliant. Will the 'Chewed Up' tour be on DVD any time soon????? I hope so!
Take it easy
Mark
Props for being so open L-CK. It's nice to know that successful people are human like the rest of us and have the same insecurities. It sounds douchey but the adage "with great risk comes great reward" holds true. I sometimes wish there was a documentary made for every single successful person in their field just so people realise and respect that it takes a lot of dedication and hardwork to get anywhere in life.