Andrew J. Lederer

who's out of town and had promised to put something together at a London venue for that very night. Elise, who runs a good gig for newer comics called "Ship of Fools", got some acts together and we did the show, just acts performing for acts, so that the venue would feel there were people in, buying drinks, etc., and not look unkindly at my out-of-town friend if he wants to do a show there in the future.

One of the acts Elise gathered was that night to do his first "proper" gig, as he called it. In his blog, he complained that it had not been a proper gig but that the two paying audience members at a show the next night meant that gig was a "proper" one.

I don't know. That bothered me.

Not the fact that he was looking forward to and prizing his first appearance in front of a "real" audience. That's natural.

But his dismissal of the legitimacy of a room foll of people sitting there listening to what he had to say. That bothered me.

This was my response to his posts:

It seems to me you are defining "proper" gig in a way that only a non-pro would.

I admit I feel a bit put out by your distinction, since I ran the im-proper -- by your lights -- gig on Thursday. But the truth is, a show is a show is a show. You didn't know all those people on Thursday and they sat listening to you attentively, so they were a "real" audience, no more different from your 2-civilian Friday "crowd" than a given audience ever is from another one. (One night a Red Cross function, another composed of visitors from Leeds, another in a place frequented by students, etc.)

"Ah," you say, "but on Friday, TWO PEOPLE paid money to see the show."

Well, okay. But there are plenty of people who'll tell you you still didn't play a "proper"gig since nobody paid YOU any money.

The truth is, those people -- and you -- are wrong. In modern comedy, "professional " is defined by professional-level ability and experience and not, as in the case of a "professional bricklayer", the simple act of being paid.

Someone told me recently about a relatively new comic who was bragging about his importance/success by parsing, in every way possible, the value of his occasional paying gigs. What could mark this fellow as an amateur more than this pathetic reach for validation?

On the other hand, some years back in L.A, virtually the entirety of the live-performance scene for many of the best comics, and not just new ones, was unpaid . The shows were open to the public but were frequently free and were seven times out of ten (ballpark figure) attended only by other comics.

Even the high-profile, prestige shows that drew civilians usually didn't result in any cash crossing the palm of anyone other than the organizer

Yet these were some of the finest comic talents in L.A. and many of them like Zach Galifianakis, are now -- in a time where the comedy audience is considerably bigger -- becoming names. Were none of their gigs "proper" until the scene grew more favorable or they grew sufficiently known. Over a period of YEARS?

Maybe you'd feel better about the "improper" gigs if you realized they really are not attended only by comics -- they're attended by people who self-identify as comedians. In reality, how many of them are in any meaningful sense?

Really, these crowds are full of ambitious comedy fans, some of whom will be or are comics but others who aren't and never will be. FANS! the very soul of a proper audience. (Feel better?)

Fact is, if you had said you didn't "feel" like the Thursday show was a real gig or you "felt" the Friday one was, I wouldn't have put fingertips to keyboard. But when you write "is" or "isn't" -- well, right there's where I get mad. (I think I've just quoted the Tex Avery cartoon, "Uncle Tom's Cabana".)

Good luck with the laugh-making and here's hoping some day soon you're not so concerned about which of your performances is at a proper gig. At that point, they probably will be.