When the Law of Attraction Collides with the World of Stand Up Comedy

I am a big fan of The Secret.  Ever since my first viewing of the tremendous video of the same name, I always seem to have a bit of "universal attraction" floating in the back of my mind.  If nothing else, it's just plain fun.  I tend to have strong focus (sometimes more than I'd like judging by the number of rescued dogs in my house) and a clear picture in my mind of the goal I am trying to attain.

     A couple of weeks ago, I had one of those "secret" moments which really caused my jaw to drop!  As I drove in my car from errand to errand throughout the northwest suburbs of Chicago, I listened to WGN Radio.  I am fascinated by the humor and interaction of Bill Leff and Wendy Snyder.

     As I listened to the two co-hosts interact I imagined how absolutely wonderful it would be to co-host a show on WGN Radio.   I absolutely love being a guest comedian on WGN Radio and whenever I leave the Chicago radio station after an interview, I feel like the kid who has to leave the birthday party early.  To me, being a guest on the radio is very much like having an endless conversation with a girlfriend on the phone.  Chat, chat, laugh, chat and laugh.  What's not to like?!  Let's just say I was basically consumed by these thoughts of co-hosting on WGN Radio as I ran errands this afternoon and could not let them go.

     When I came home from running my errands I sat down at my computer and there was an email from Rick Geiser who is the publicist for Zanies Comedy Clubs.  Right there in front of me in black and white was an inquiry as to whether I would like to co-host an hour home improvement show called The Down and Dirty Show with Frank Fontana!  Would I?!

     Have you ever had the Universe work so diligently for you?

Discovering Your Special Gift

I understand it now. I understand how to recognize a unique "gift" within oneself. After years of soul searching I have been able to share my insights with my children and other adults. I find it funny that a personal gift should be so difficult to recognize. To our friends it can be quite apparent. It is best to listen to friends and family as they praise our uniqueness. It is difficult for us to recognize our own gift because we assume everyone shares our talents.

With my own children I was always on the lookout for clues. It was a daily fun exercise to notice repeated patterns of actions or words that were unique to each child. My oldest son, Brendan, was only six years old the first time he asked me, "Mom, what do you think of black holes?" Was I supposed to be thinking of black holes? My heart raced for a correct answer that wouldn't scar him with my lack of knowledge on the subject. Black hole questions were followed by comet and constellation questions. None of my other children were that inquisitive of the night sky. Today Brendan is an astrophysicist.

Our senior babysitter noticed our second son's gift when he was only 11 months old. "This kid is hilarious and he knows just how to make you laugh. He is the funniest baby I have ever seen." Steven established a pattern of making us laugh to tears. Today he lives in Los Angeles and is in an internship program for comedy sketch writing.  Last week, Steven came in first in a stand-up comedy competition at Flappers Comedy Club!

Our youngest, Christine, was a quick study. At nine years old she would take graph paper and draw sketches of the interior of her room. Every piece of furniture was measured and labeled. I said, "Christine, are you doing that for school?" Christine used graph paper for fun! Being a "math-o-phobic", I knew the clues were adding up quickly. Christine is now in San Francisco getting stellar grades. She is majoring in Architecture.

In retrospect I see my own life story was formed by the time I was eight. My parents signed me up for piano lessons and I began to teach myself to sing. I didn't stop singing. I started dancing and twirling and I loved making people laugh with my miniature shows. My older sister started bringing me to audition at community plays. Because of my lack of voice and dance training I did not get the parts. I worried I had no special talent. Fifteen years later, I walked on to the stand up comedy stage of Zanies Comedy Club in Chicago as a new talent. Within minutes I experienced the joy of being on stage and I knew I wanted to make people laugh. I discovered my gift and knew I was home.

Sally Edwards is a professional Corporate Christian Comedian who tours nationally. Sally Edwards' clean comedy has been featured on A&E's "Comedy on the Road" and Showtime's "Comedy Club Network."

Sally Edwards is the president of The Humorous Speakers Bureau in Chicago. For booking information see: http://ComedyBySally.com

Re-invent Yourself Mid-life!

A Comedian's Perspective - Reinvent Yourself at Mid-life

Why do adults plunge into a mid-life crisis?  Perhaps it is the naming of the personal phenomenon.  Afterall, "crisis" does not conjure feelings of great joy and happiness.  Rather, it causes one to imagine greeting cards with pithy sayings about being "over the hill."  Let's step away from that doomsday picture for a minute.

Now imagine that mid-life is inherently regarded as a fantastic life hurdle that one has just crossed. I see self-confident adults who dare to reinvent themselves. These adults are having fun, traveling and discovering new career pathways of adventure.

There are so many options for living in this world. Why do so many human beings label themselves as only one thing? The obvious answers are need, money and opportunity. Once a person is established in a successful career, it is not a popular and/or intelligent choice to simply walk away from it all. A successful career is great for the ego, the stability and of course, the family. However, what happens when retirement is on the horizon? Does it have to signal gloom and doom?

A counselor once told me, "It's not what happens to you in life. It is how you interpret it." This is one of the most invigorating statements I have heard. With just a change of thought process, an individual has the personal power to turn everything good. All that is needed is a positive attitude! I approach midlife crisis in the same positive manner.

Midlife crisis can be viewed as a midlife "dream." Take that extra energy and put it into projects or plans for the future. I had my own midlife crisis when I realized I was overwhelmed in the world of stand up comedy from having to perform up to ten shows a week. With my husband's encouragement, I became a corporate comedian for women's events. Now I am able to perform one show per week that is as profitable as an entire week of standup comedy in a club. As a clean corporate comedian, I am asked to appear at luncheons and banquets. This is much more conducive to my early to bed, early to rise schedule and it presents the challenge of performing entirely solo. I am on the other side of my midlife crisis discovering a new type of audience and new performing platforms.

If you're approaching any type of "crisis" you may wish to redefine it. Referring to a midlife "crisis" as a midlife "discovery" may give you an extra edge in enjoying various life stages. Interpreting life in a positive manner will open exciting paths of self-discovery.

Clean Corporate Comedy for Women's Events

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Sally Edwards is a Clean Female Corporate Comedian who tours nationally. Sally Edwards' clean comedy has been featured on A&E's "Comedy on the Road" and Showtime's "Comedy Club Network."

Sally Edwards is the president of The Humorous Speakers Bureau in Chicago. For booking information see: http://ComedyBySally.com

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/7624286

Stand up Comedy - Your First Appearance on the Comedy Stage

Tips for Performing Stand-up Comedy

You think you're a funny guy or girl and you've gathered enough courage to perform on New Talent Night at a local comedy club. How should you prepare to face a room full of strangers and make them laugh? First, you need your arsenal of funny material. Take time during the day to sit down and write a joke with a simple joke structure. The simplest and most basic form of joke writing is "set up and punchline". "Setting up a joke" is providing basic information about an experience or topic. It establishes a place, a feeling and a presence. The punchline element produces the surprise and the unexpected ending. A genuine surprise elicits laughter from an audience which proves your joke is effective. 

 Memorize your jokes and rehearse them either mentally or verbally. Create a visual picture in your head of the subject matter and your first jokes will be more easily committed to memory. Continue rehearsing your jokes daily until they can be recited out loud and with confidence. Achieving a relaxed conversational tone will demonstrate command of the stage and put an audience at ease. Many new comedians assume they can stand on stage and be an "off-the-cuff" guy or girl. This can be a dangerous assumption. The first time on stage can be intimidating and it is very possible that increased nervousness will steal your mental reflexes and response time. You will be facing lights and strange faces as the audience stares at you, and you alone. Most likely, you will feel robbed of your humorous creativity as you know it. Having a solidly memorized "set" of material will give you a performance safety net on stage. It is better that improvising skills are utilized once an audience is engaged and laughing. 

 The first time on stage triggers the primal fear of facing a roomful of unfamiliar faces. You are taking on a very formidable challenge when standing on the comedy stage. Don't be too hard on yourself. Congratulations on conquering a fear that is only second to death. It does get better and more fun as you feel more comfortable on stage and as you get to know your "character". Performing on a weekly or nightly basis will make the joke writing easier and the performances will appear more natural. Taking those first few steps on the comedy stage are giant leaps in terms of personal goals and a lifetime of effort and enjoyment.    

ComedyBySally.com

Comedy in L.A. with Ray Romano

     Just took a trip out to L.A. and had a super time.  My husband, Bert and I, planned the trip to see our children who are in L.A. and San Francisco respectively.  However, we did spend some time at The Comedy Magic Club in Hermosa Beach because my husband is a friend of the manager Richie Barrett.  Our son Steven, who is also a comedian, joined.  (Of course that was the best part for me.)

     Richie was an awesome host and made us feel very much at home.  We ate dinner in his company in a private room and really received the super treatment.  It was a special thrill for our son because he is relatively new to the comedy scene and he got a real bird's eye view of backstage.

    As is customary to the Comedy Magic Club the stars were out.  Although I have met most "wow" comedians from their visits to Chicago, I had never met Ray Romano and he made a special guest visit that evening.  It just so happened that there was a benefit that night and the audience was all women.  Believe me, I wanted to be on that stage but Ray handled the same sex crowd with finesse.  They loved him!

      We exited when Ray's portion of the show was over.  On the way out, I passed him in the hallway and shook his hand.  He was very gracious and I told him I was big fan of his show that still airs daily.  If you want to know what Ray Romano is really like - watch "Everybody Loves Raymond."  At first glance, it does seem to provide a true reflection.

Smile - You're Doing Stand Up Comedy!

I am a stand up comedian who did not smile. Not only was I a stand up comedian who did not smile, I was a wife, mother, friend and stranger who did not smile. The odd thing is that I thought I was smiling.

Five years ago, my husband said to me, “Sally, you’ve got to learn to smile on stage!” I said, “I do smile. What are you talking about? I’m very happy.”

I saw the videotapes and realized I was wrong. Five years ago, I began to teach myself to smile. I made it my mission and passion. I wanted to communicate correctly how I was feeling. If I met someone, I thought to myself, “Make youself smile!” When I greeted my children when they came home from school, I thought, “Make yourself smile!” And, of course, on stage, it was a constant, “Make yourself smile!”

At first smiling felt very insincere because it required a constant mental and physical effort. However, as I continued my efforts, I realized that, in fact, it was much more sincere to be happy and communicate that emotion. It changed my life so greatly for the better. If you are not a natural smiler, now is the time to make the change.

I’m convinced that smiling is hereditary. Some people have such an easy time with it. They’re smiling all the time from an early age. Consequently, they seem to have more friends, successful careers and happier children. Truly they have unknowingly harnessed the power of this great secret.

Does your dog smile? Mine does. And I’m willing to bet that you’ve noticed that your dog smiles too. Doesn’t a dog’s smile make you feel great? A dog doesn’t smile often but when it does, everyone notices and everyone comments. A smile counts and it goes a long way.

Now it’s your turn. Even if you smile only as often as your dog, you have the ability to teach yourself to communicate more effectively and sincerely. It requires a concerned effort and will feel very unnatural at first. It will feel like you’re not being “you”. That’s the good news! You’re becoming a better “you!”

Smiling comes very easily to me now. I feel as if I have made a great discovery and I am truly enjoying it. The other morning as I walked my two dogs in the park, I ran into a friend and he gave me a wonderful compliment. He said, “Sally, it’s good to see you. You always look so happy!”

That’s because …. I am.

Mom Stories - "Mom, Who Am I?"

   I don’t know what goes on in kindergarten but I can tell these kids are doing a heck of a lot more than me when I was five.  I know that “David” was the longest name I’d ever seen and I still had no idea was “M,N,L,O,P” was when I entered first grade.  Kids today are reading at a third grade level at a time when my father would simply look at me and say, “Don’t flunk sandbox.”

            This was never more apparent to me the day Christine came home from kindergarten and said, “Mom.  We’re going to play a game.  Standing in a white lace dress and ankle socks, Christine looked like an angel and she spoke with the innocence of someone who didn’t know they were about to challenge the incredible competitive character known as “Mommy.”  Christine continued in a soft voice.  “I’m going think of something in the world and you get three guesses to figure out what I’m thinking of.”  Maybe this heavenly being knew a little more about playing the big slots than I gave her credit for.  It seemed that the “world” is a pretty big playing field and the human component of “thinking” could not be scored in a fair and honest manner.    I became aware that the odds of winning were stacked in her favor.

            I began to guess.  “Christine, you’re thinking of your big red doll.”  “No!”  “Christine, you’re thinking of your baby doll.”  “No!”  “Christine you’re thinking of that lamp right over there.”  “No!”   I’d lost – but by how much?   I had to know now.  “Christine, what may I ask were you thinking about?”  Christine looked at me in the eyes as if she was pulling in her poker chips.  …. “Mount Fuji!”  … I wasn’t even close.  “Christine?”  “What.”  “I want to talk to your teacher.”

A Female Comedian's Insight - Understanding Your Children's Gifts

I understand it now. I understand how to recognize a unique "gift" within oneself. After years of soul searching I have been able to share my insights with my children and other adults. I find it funny that a personal gift should be so difficult to recognize. To our friends it can be quite apparent. It is best to listen to friends and family as they praise our uniqueness. It is difficult for us to recognize our own gift because we assume everyone shares our talents.

With my own children I was always on the lookout for clues. It was a daily fun exercise to notice repeated patterns of actions or words that were unique to each child. My oldest son, Brendan, was only six years old the first time he asked me, "Mom, what do you think of black holes?" Was I supposed to be thinking of black holes? My heart raced for a correct answer that wouldn't scar him with my lack of knowledge on the subject. Black hole questions were followed by comet and constellation questions. None of my other children were that inquisitive of the night sky. Today Brendan is an astrophysicist.
Our senior babysitter noticed our second son's gift when he was only 11 months old. "This kid is hilarious and he knows just how to make you laugh. He is the funniest baby I have ever seen." Steven established a pattern of making us laugh to tears. Today he lives in Los Angeles and is in an internship program for comedy sketch writing.

Our youngest, Christine, was a quick study. At nine years old she would take graph paper and draw sketches of the interior of her room. Every piece of furniture was measured and labeled. I said, "Christine, are you doing that for school?" Christine used graph paper for fun! Being a "math-o-phobic", I knew the clues were adding up quickly. Christine is now in San Francisco getting stellar grades. She is majoring in Architecture.

In retrospect I see my own life story was formed by the time I was eight. My parents signed me up for piano lessons and I began to teach myself to sing. I didn't stop singing. I started dancing and twirling and I loved making people laugh with my miniature shows. My older sister started bringing me to audition at community plays. Because of my lack of voice and dance training I did not get the parts. I worried I had no special talent. Fifteen years later, I walked on to the standup comedy stage of Zanies Comedy Club in Chicago as a new talent. Within minutes I experienced the joy of performing and making people laugh. I discovered my gift and knew I was home.

Sally Edwards is a professional Corporate Comedian who tours nationally. Sally Edwards' clean comedy has been featured on A&E's "Comedy on the Road" and Showtime's "Comedy Club Network."

Clean Comedy Events for Women's Groups with Keynote Speaker Sally Edwards

It has been a wonderful week booking Clean Comedy Events for Women's Groups.  Clean comedy that is non-offensive allows women to laugh without the fear of embarrassment.  We have a great time and everyone is a winner!  Upcoming Clean Comedy Events for Women's Groups include:

Catholic Women's League of Rockford - Sept. 18th - Keynote Speaker and Comedian

St. John Neumann, St. Charles, IL - September 27th - Keynote Speaker and Comedian

St. John United Methodist Church, Louisville Kentucky:  Nov. 14th - Keynote Speaker and Comedian

Christ Community Church, St. Charles, IL - Dec. 14th - Keynote Speaker and Comedian

Keynote Speaker and Comedian Sally Edwards

Clean Comedy for Women - Sally Edwards' Keynote Speaker

http://ComedyBySally.com

     In mid-July I was desperate to practice a five minute set.  I was preparing for The World Series of Comedy Competition in St. Charles.  The material I chose was very familiar to me but I had not yet put it together to assure myself that it did indeed equal five minutes.  The World Series of Comedy wanted a short and sweet five minutes.

    After scouring the internet, I realize the only "new talent" or "showcase" club feasible for me to practice this five minutes was in Schaumburg at the Laff Out Loud Theater.  I had heard that comedians could do brief sets every other Sunday at this club.  Generally new talents show up and go up.  I had this in mind when I went to the theater's site to find showtimes.  What happened next stunned me and saddened me.

    In order to perform five minutes at The Laff Out Loud Theater, it is necessary to sign up and pay $5.00 by credit card including $1.26 in tax!??!  (Tax?  Taxing what?)  In order to do five minutes of standup comedy after 30 years of stage experience - I had to pay?!  Wow!

    Did I sign up?  Of course I did - out of morbid curiosity.

   Ten days later I drove out to Schaumburg and entered the Laff Out Loud Theater foyer.  I was surrounded by about 15 young comics - the average age was 21.  All I could think was, "Why?"  "Why is this club taking advantage of your drive?  Why don't you know any better?  Why did it come to this again?"

  I performed my short five minute set early in the evening and was out the door by 9:00.  I wanted to leave that environment because it caused my heart to ache for all of those young creative spirits.  If only they could understand how a respectful career in comedy really is supposed to be.

Comedians Pay - $2.00 and a Free Drink!?

     New young comedians are now paying to take the stage!  Certainly this must be a joke!  (Pun may be intended - it's your call.)

     As a new comedian, I was thrilled to perform.  I started at the Comedy Cottage in Rosemont, IL where comedians could perform for 5 minutes and receive $2 in pay, plus a free drink.  No one questioned the pay.  We were so happy to be on stage in a room that was "hot."

   The Comedy Cottage was an ideal size for stand up comedy and it had great acoustics.  It was a money making a machine!  Did I mention that the performers were paid $2.00?  Oh yes, I think I did.

  On both the east and west coasts, comedy was hot.  Jay Leno, Jerry Seinfeld, David Letterman, Drew Carey were just a few of the comedians getting their start.  They performed at places like "Catch A Rising Star" in N.Y. and "The Comedy Store" in L.A.  Their pay - $5.  The club owner referred to it as "gas money."  The stand up comedy club scene was on fire.  The clubs were raking it in.  Did I mention that Jay Leno (who has always been a superior comedian) received $5.  Yep.  I think I did.

    Eventually the comics cried, "Enough is Enough!" and the comedy writers and performers went on strike.  They demanded to be paid.  They demanded respect.  They wanted to be appreciated.  I can personally tell you that while the writers strike was on, television entertainment was at an all new low.  I sure missed the talents of my incredibly funny peers.

  The result of the strike was a decent paycheck for services rendered.  Comedy is a business too.  Comedians need food and shelter and they need to be appreciated for their talents.  The strike made the world seem right again!  (More tomorrow on the comedy scene.)

Best Case Scenario - Your Child Leaves Home - Hmmmmm

     They say that the sign of success when bringing up children is that they grow up and leave.  Can someone come up with another sign please?  This payoff doesn't sound so good.
     Mothers are torn between wanting to see their children accomplish great things and staying home forever and ever. Have you seen parents drop their children off at college for the first time? Bobby or Susie immediately blends into the sea of other excited Freshmen while mom and dad linger lost in their own aching hearts. Often, colleges will post the time for parent departure for fear that dad will don his old football uniform and beg his boy to throw around the ball just one last time.
     My first son, Brendan, just graduated from the University of Chicago with honors in Physics.  (Yes.  I'm beaming.  I'm a comedian and yet I gave birth to a physicist.  God has a great sense of humor.  No wonder he was such a tough crowd.)  We went to Brendan's graduation knowing what his exciting future held.  He'd been picked from the graduating class, along with one other physics major, to go to Switzerland to work at the CERN Nuclear Collider for one year - paid!  My husband and I couldn't be more proud.  We've high-fived, Facebooked, Skyed and Twittered from the rooftops.
  In my quieter moments, I was thinking something quite different.  (Bear in mind, I often think in ways to entertain myself.)  THEY JUST KIDNAPPED MY KID.  I did everything right, read all the Mommy books, attended the soccer games, made the chocolate chip cookies and bought him the expensive calculator.  The result of my efforts were an INTERNATIONAL KIDNAPPING.  How come Switzerland gets him!
  I Gmail Chatted with Brendan this morning as he watched over a number of controls at the CERN facility.  He's been in Geneva for two months now and is doing great!  To Brendan, this is an adventure of a lifetime and it will propel him even faster toward his dreams.  We are all so proud!  Secretly, I know I had the most wonderful adventure of watching this all come to be.  It started when he was six years old in the backseat of our minivan when he asked, "Mom, what do you think about black holes?"  Being a comedian I was speechless and thought, "Yikes.  This parenting thing sure would be a lot easier if I could just answer with a joke!"

Live Your Private Dream

It's an interesting combination- piano teacher by day; standup comedian by night. To tell you the truth, I went for years denying my comic abilities, never telling the other grade school moms about the person I really was. None of them knew I'd spent most of my life, six days a week and sometimes threes shows a night, in smoky comedy clubs trying to make people laugh.

I didn't want to admit my recent past because I felt too many negative connotations come to mind in the words "standup comedian" - drinking, drugs, lewd material and perhaps irresponsible parenting. Living my teenage years at an all-girl's Catholic boarding school, I'd been engrained with a lifestyle that was not a match. And so I kept my past and dreams a secret.

I took off many years from standup comedy when my children were small. After my third child was born, I missed them all so much when I would go out to do a show at night. I continually thought, "Why am I here? I want to go home." Eventually the desire to be with my children at night combined with a healthy dose of exhaustion convinced me that I could leave standup comedy and lead a "normal" life. In retrospect, the lesson learned is - never turn your back on your dream - it will catch up with you, if you're lucky.

What happened in those years that I stayed away from the stage? I wrote and wrote and wrote. (Eventually that writing would become my first show entitled, "BIG PEOPLE, little people!") It was easy to write. I found my children endlessly amusing - let's change that to downright hilarious. I thought to myself, "What if adults acted like children?' "How long would it take for an adult who acted like a child to be committed?" Maybe less than a minute?

My son wore his Power Ranger costume to the grocery store. If I did that nobody would think I was cute. They'd commit me. They'd call the authorities. They'd call 911. They'd say, "Bag Lady in Aisle 6!"

What if I started screaming in church and tried to run up the aisle? Nobody would say, "She's kind of cranky today." No! They'd hustle me out and everyone would be very "disturbed".

What if I ate a spaghetti dinner and left the sauce all over my mouth and ran it through my hair? How do kids get away with this stuff!

And it made me laugh. And I wrote it down. And I'm still writing it down today.

The other day I was teaching a six-year-old girl a beginning piano lesson. In all her innocence, she started her own interesting conversation with me. "Mrs. Edwards. don't you hate it when you're on the monkey bars and you forget you have a skirt on, and your underpants show?" And I said quite matter-of-factly, "Yes. I do hate that! And I know just how you feel!"

Feature Spot with Kevin Nealon

Working with an "A" List Comedian who is featured in a very popular TV show ("Weeds") and formerly a very hilarious part of Saturday Night Live might seem like a dream come true. On many levels it is - especially since Kevin Nealon is a wonderfully nice person. However, in addition to it being an exciting venture it is also stepping into the unknown of basic audience reaction.

An audience that comes out to see a particular performer is generally locked into the appearance of that celebrity. The m.c. of the show as well as the feature act are on very shaky ground under these circumstances. The position of "feature" in case like this is glorified only on paper.
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The 7:00 p.m. show at Zanies was a feature act's dream. The crowd was older and more mannerly than the average Saturday night crowd. These folks seem to know Kevin from the good ole' days of SNL TV. I could not have asked for a warmer and more gracious audience. We had fun and it was a great set up for Kevin Nealon.

The 9:30 p.m. show was a different story! This cast of characters seemed to have walked right off the set of "Weeds" still waving the smoke from in front of their eyes. The average mental age seemed to be about 13.

Although a comedy club is supposed to help in crowd control this was not the case. Screaming, yelling, and ranting set the bar for attentiveness. They came at me from either side and I was ready. Well almost ready. I could only calm the craziest of the crazies. One bold heckler broke through so I gave him the microphone to see how he'd handle his dream of taking the stage. The audience "booed" and screamed "get off the stage." After that warm encounter, my heckling friend may reconsider his dream of telling jokes. I escaped unharmed and the night ended with Kevin Nealon pulling it all off like a pro.

Corporate Comedian - Chasing the Dream

I am returning with a vengeance to my stand up comedy career after raising three children with my supportive husband.

In order to gain a stronghold on the internet I met with Matt Kush at Mak Consulting. He is a wizard when it comes to search engine optimization! I love designing web pages and promoting them especially when it revolves my passion for standup comedy.

Web knowledge goes hand-in-hand for the corporate comedian who seeks out corporate events. Today was a true rebirth of my already strong knowledge of website promotion. I am eager to dive back into the corporate comedy scene and Matt paved the way towards marketing and promotion.