{"id":1160,"date":"2020-07-08T13:41:36","date_gmt":"2020-07-08T20:41:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.scot.fun\/damentals\/?p=1160"},"modified":"2020-07-08T13:56:37","modified_gmt":"2020-07-08T20:56:37","slug":"unable-to-entertain","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.scot.fun\/damentals\/unable-to-entertain\/","title":{"rendered":"Unable to Entertain"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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This is for entertainers pivoting.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

I’ve been a “Hard to follow act” for a long time, and maybe I’ll write about that at some point, but right now, I’d like to talk about what if you’re the act that hasta follow?<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

Right now, a lot of bold people are shifting into a new way to entertain and it’s tough. If, for example, you’re moving from doing live magic shows (where audiences have seen maybe two live magicians in their life) to doing zoom magic shows, you’re following a hard act. Zoom shows are a combination of video games and tv, so you’re kinda following all the great video games and tv that has come before. You don’t have practice, you don’t have the resources of a big studio. You don’t even know what it’s supposed to look like.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I want everyone to be awesome<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Being in a lot of lineup shows at comedy clubs, burlesque, circus, whatever… I love killing. That’s the reason I do it. It pisses me off, though when an act after me in the lineup decides that I’m a hard act to follow and they give up. They decide it’s impossible to entertain. I don’t give up when someone kills. Badasses that follow me don’t give up when I kill. We say to ourselves in some way “This act has just expanded what I can do with this audience. I can take everyone even further now!”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I followed Dane Cook at the improv and had a total blast after people were literally falling out of their seats.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

You can be competitive<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Entertainment is not a race. As far as a competition, it’s kinda a science fair judged by the attendees who are all drunk and will forget. There isn’t a set of rules. The goal is to entertain, but that’s not a place or a time or an image.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Step 1: change the channel<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

You need establish immediately we are not playing the same game. If I’m making a TV show and people think it’s trying to be Seinfeld, they’re gonna hate it. No way around it. If a standup is following a magician who just brought down the house with insane visuals (as often happens at Scot Nery’s Boobietrap<\/a>) that standup will change the channel or drown.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

To change the channel, we need to send signals that are new to the audience or so contrary to the other signals that it’s impossible to define what we’re watching. As soon as an audience can label a thing confidently, they will be in a critical mindset which is not fulfilling<\/a> for you or for them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When I’m following Dane Cook, I change the channel. <\/p>\n\n\n\n