‘The most realistic submission I could write would be…’I am not really sure what this show is about yet…but trust me it’ll be good…I think.’
I just finished submitting to Edinburgh Fringe for a new solo show, the festival begins in August which means opening night is approximately 6 months away. The most realistic submission I could write would be…’I am not really sure what this show is about yet…but trust me it’ll be good (I think).’
Back in 2017 I submitted for the festival and chose the name of the show before I ever performed and it’s proved to be a productive way for me to work. When I named my first show The 30 Year Old Virgin, I knew once I started working on the show I would have to talk about that. It took 4 months after getting into the festival to do my first preview because I was so scared. My friend Elizabeth invited 20 friends over to her apartment and I got up in the corner of the room with some notes and worked through that first show, when I got to the final story, the one I had been terrified to tell, I asked for a glass of wine and stumbled through the story about when I lost my virginity and the roller coaster that ensued.
This moment for me, at a friend’s apartment, standing in a corner, micless, standard living room lighting, was important for me. At the time it only felt like the beginning of something but it was actually the culmination of something as well, something I had desired for a long time. I wrote this in my journal the year before.
‘I’d like to take some of my stand up and form it into a show with an arch that is funny but has some emotion to it.’
The living room show felt like the beginning because I was preparing the show for a big festival in another country but it was a culmination because the people in that living room got some of my stand up with an arch and some emotion to it and that was the goal.
I have done a number of these shows now, 4 to be exact. I have always named them before working on them, solely out of necessity when I am making a poster or an Eventbrite or submitting for a festival. But it gets me thinking about what I want to talk about and what I think might still be interesting in 6 months or a year. What stories and themes will still carry weight after telling them 10, 15, 72 times.
That is about how many times I ended up performing The 30 Year Old Virgin.
15 times before Edinburgh
27 at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival
30 times after in various bars, theaters and living rooms across the country.
The final two times were filmed and edited together for the quote perfect unquote version of the show that was released as an official Comedy Special TM. But I also filmed the very first living room version of the show on my iPhone 6s. In that first performance I finish all the material I had practiced and performed in comedy clubs and at bars and then I get to the final story, the one I was terrified to tell, the story that gave the show it’s name months before. I ask for a glass of wine and pulled out my notes and I told it. It’s the same story as the one in the filmed special but the nerves are present and sure maybe the fish I caught was a little smaller in this version but that’s storytelling.
I am going to release that version of the final story of the show here on Moral of the Story later this week.
And I am going to start work on my new show After Endgame next month.
According to vocabulary dot come ‘An endgame is the very last part of a strategic game, like chess or backgammon. The last few moves you make in your chess game are your endgame.’ So this show is about AFTER that.
I love working on these shows, I love trying to craft a funny, moving story together based on what has happened in my life and I have increasingly grown fond of performing in odd places with the lights on and I can see everyones faces, laughing, scowling or jaw dropped in shock.
If support me here at Moral of the Story for $5 a month or $60 a year…You will get EXTRA essays and EXTRA stories and you will also get a free ticket to After Endgame.
You can come to any of the previews, we can schedule a private zoom show, you can fly to Edinburgh Scotland in August and I will have your name at the door of my theater.
Every single penny you give to support my writing here will go to pay for the development of this show and taking it to Edinburgh Fringe, so you will truly be funding the creation of this new show.
Because of this I am also going to be open to hearing any thoughts, notes, insights, reactions to the early versions of this show. What impacts people, what didn’t make sense. I remember when I first performed The 30 Year Old Virgin I thought what if it sucks or worse, what if I am the only one who has ever experienced this. The opposite happened, people shared their own intimate stories with me after shows, I received emails and messages from people who related to the show and it connected me to others in a special way. In light of that, I hope this show changes and morphs with you and your thoughts and your input and that the final product is in someway not just mine but ours.
The first show is February 16th in Manhattan and I am only releasing 12 tickets so get them here now.
The final story of The 30 Year Old Virgin will be released for paid subscribers Thursday morning in audio and video.