An Album of Open Mic Sets because… Why Not?
by Shawn Wickens
Someone once told me, “The creation of any work of art is an invitation for people to hate it.” I can’t remember who said that, maybe a teacher or fellow comedian or a friend. But as an artist – someone who appreciates and even longs for approval, that quote rings true. We all want to be laughed at and applauded and celebrated but fear harsh rejection.
On the other hand, we’re also told to tread new ground. Remember to think outside the box, break the rules, and push boundaries. But push too hard… your audience might push back. If it’s too different, people might just not “get it”.
Approval vs. Artistic Integrity is a tough balance to maintain. In 2012, when my good friend Gavin Starr Kendall and I decided to start a theater festival – we landed on a name that energized the both of us: Bad Theater Fest. Theater is supposed to provoke so “BAD” felt right. It felt “New York City-ish”, we loved that it conveyed a certain amount of safety to the performers so they could experiment and try anything, it cleverly undersold the audience and… it got press. The name alone got us local, national and international press. But back when it was just an idea, several friends and colleagues warned us that Bad Theater was a horrible choice for a name. Five years later, the festival continues to turn a modest profit, the participating shows make a little money (most festivals won’t even give you a dime) and it easily spawned a Bad Film Fest.
When I decided to put out my own album of material, various sets recorded at different NYC open mics, I received similar advice:
– don’t do it
– that’s a horrible idea
– it’ll never work
The decision to record and release my open mic appearances was a happy accident. In January of this year, I spent a lot of time and effort to record a 15 minute set for comedy festival submissions. The video was completely unusable which was disheartening. Later that week I dragged myself out to a new open mic and overheard two comedians discussing recording their sets with their phones. “Do you ever review your material?” “Nope. I never listen. I don’t even know why I record them. I never do anything with the files.” With that, I had another “bad” idea.
I didn’t care that the recordings were a little inferior or the sets weren’t perfect. I didn’t even care that I bombed (a little… on track 5). It doesn’t matter that my very first album is not perfect because… it doesn’t have to be. Over 4-5 months I recorded over 20 sets across NYC. I chose my favorite seven tracks, my friend Marshall York recorded a song to close out the album (also cause “why not?”) and just like that… SILLY JOKES @ SORRY OPEN MICS is up on Spotify, iTunes, Amazon, Tidal, Youtube and more.
So far it has one review. Comedy Cake called it “Pure, unadulterated comedy at it’s finest.” Pretty good. Maybe it’ll get more, maybe not. Personally I think it’s a pretty ballsy experiment in presenting some unpolished material. Plus maybe the second album will be even better. Some people will like it. Some people will probably hate it too. Comedy is hard. Sometimes people don’t laugh. That’s no reason to give up. You just need to try harder or try something a little different.
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Shawn Wickens is originally from Cleveland and now lives in New York City. He just sold out two shows in his Fringe debut at the Rochester Fringe Festival. It was a stand-up show called GOOD JOKE/BAD JOKE BINGO that several friends also had told him sounded like “an idea that would never work”.
@shwickens
BadFilmFest.com
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