notebook of ideas
If you're like most comedian, you have a notebook full of ideas, premises, half jokes, dialogue snippets, and random thoughts.
Currently, I have 34 Ipod audio files, 45 pages, and countless scraps of paper full of AMAZING IDEAS!!! At this point in my life , in the middle of a party, dinner, and even sex, I would write down or record an idea from a Eureka moment. But, have I read them or listened to them? No.
So, my new years resolution, I decided to get out my old notebooks, dig out my audio files and go over my ideas. It was sad listening to the endless enthusiasm of myself recording an idea that, in the light of day, was either vague, hack, stupid, or nonsensical. At best, some had merit, but would take weeks and sometimes years to develop, write, shape, rewrite, and then, what? Rent a theater and produce a one-person show? Spend five years shopping around a screenplay?
That's when I realized that it's not ideas that are worth while - it's what one does with them. They all need "work." Everyone has ideas, but like eggs, you've got to sit on them, hatch them, feed them, and then endure the disappointment of spending your time on something that will, most likely, never get off the ground.
So now, I'm going to break up with my files of ideas. And as I meet new ideas, I'm going to let them go with the ease of a 20 year old frat boy leaving a one-night stand. Hello idea, work it out, test it...if its C or D level material, I will drop it...goodbye bad bit. You are not going to make my A level set. I'll drop you off at as Facebook status entry, or maybe drop you into a line at my next open mike. And if you keep coming back, well, let's see if either the idea or my talent for finding the funny is ready this time around.