Posts tagged 'Introversion' (6)

Performing while being a naturally shy person

It’s pretty much the fact that I’m kind of a shy person. I’m in the business of comedy, obviously, and it’s not the place to be shy, but I’ve always been shy, and I let myself start to be shy on stage. I kind of ran with that, and it was a bit of a mistake, I think. I started to close in on stage, and it kind of became more comfortable for me to close my eyes and not look at people. First I looked at people and I kept my eyes open; for a long time I did. But then I started to close in and that became more comfortable. Now that’s kind of saaad because now it’s hard to snap out of that. On stage there’s a combination of me being the entertainer and me being a bit shy, so it’s a sad thing beca...

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Being an introvert can hurt you in this business sometimes because "networking" (EW GROSS WORD) is definitely a thing unfortunately. I've gotten better at socializing. A lot of comics reached out to me early on and said I seemed standoffish but I was just shy and afraid haha.
Being an introvert sucks. I get off stage and I’m a wreck again. People always wonder, “Hey, if you’re an introvert, then how can you perform in front of crowds?” But stand-up is perfect for an introvert. I get to prepare what I say to you, it’s all worked out, you listen intently and if you talk, you get thrown out. Then I get paid! What a perfect gig.
Of course, all the time! I have really bad anxiety and I’m an introvert, and as a comic sometimes you can’t find it up there and you lose it for a second. You’re just telling words to an audience but there’s no connection, and that’s when you bomb.
I think 90% of comics are introverts. It’s a lot of defense mechanism. Comedy is just preparing funny things, and that’s what we [introverts] have been doing our whole lives, preparing something to say to everyone we have to go meet. That’s all stand-up is, just professionally.
I want to sell a show. I’m working on a show now about introverts—it’s called The Introvert’s Survival Guide, and each show is a different scenario, and how to deal with it. It’s a fun idea. Introverts have no spokesperson—I want to be that guy.