How some comedians hit where it hurts by asking the right questions

Stand-up Comedy is as exciting as it is stressful. It takes years to prepare yourself, not just the material but the amount of work you have to do on yourself, responses to heckling, reflexes when some joke doesn’t land as you had hoped. I tried once, I was terrified and I failed miserably. But I blame it on myself. I didn’t work hard on the delivery, the crowd handling, and other aspects. But since then, I have been working on my jokes — trying to challenge the daily thoughts instead of getting laughs at a cheap joke. (I am still scarred from the last time to perform though)

A few days ago, I was watching a Stand-up routine by Daniel Sloss. He had intertwined his not-so-usual life, death of his younger sister, disliking the fact that his parents are highly educated and supporting (instead of abusive which is necessary to pursue art), his questions of life, and other parts of growing up into this absolute mind-blowing piece. Understanding his way to express himself in comedy, what I learned was — choose your style of delivering, the kind of jokes (the uncomfortable silences you want your audience to feel) — you might not find an audience initially but eventually, your audience will start showing up (thanks to YouTube)

I would highly recommend watching Stand-up to everyone (maybe everyone already watch it). Not just for the jokes, but the thoughts. I could easily list random bits of advice. I know taking advice from a Stand — Up comedy sounds ridiculous. But there are some comedians or at least a few parts of their perspective which are rational beyond words. If you do have time, watch the whole thing but if not, I will share one thought from Jigsaw by Daniel Sloss. This is going to hit hard if you let it. I warn you.

“Sometimes we have a very difficult question to ask ourselves,

Do I admit the last five years of my life have been a waste? Do I waste the rest of my life?”

This was about relationships, however, I felt it transcends the particular topic.

At times, I feel that I could have had achieved much more if I was not the kind of person I was, maybe even if I have had parents who were already engineers or doctors, many mistakes could have been avoided. There is so much I regret doing or not doing during the first two years at my institute.

It feels unsuitable that most (or mine) parents give us the solutions that have worked for them during their struggles. Although it might not come from a place of disinterest in the specificity of a problem in their child’s life. But as they have aged, they tend to see the real errors they committed and often blurt out simplistic solutions like if you can’t study, just start studying.

Of course, there will be room for improvements and it would exist in every possible life, towards the end of the day, our goal should be to minimize it. But if I say I wish I was a completely different person, I may not have been here in the first place.

These ideas can be differently interpreted, I don’t exactly mean just leave your room and start traveling as you always wanted to do. DO NOT. Stay in your home. But if you can, at least leave your bed and start taking small steps towards the life you want. No one can stop you but only yourself.

Donde Está la Biblioteca. (which literally translates to)

The key to change is self-realization.