Age & Wisdom...

Paul Pirie

I saw the fantastic Paul Pirie headline Wimborne Comedy Club tonight, and he just completely smashed the room; it was mesmerizing to watch and so so funny as well. Beforehand he talked about his experiences in comedy and joked about me being only 18, and without directly offering any unsolicited advice (The sign of a classy act), I just felt like I was learning so much. Not only from his performance, but from his attitude and the way he interacted with audience members, acts, and the promoter. Undeniably, this man is an experienced pro.
It got me thinking a lot about my own youth, and relative inexperience. Life has been a bit of a whirlwind the last year or two, and I've not really had a chance to properly reflect on the important things I've learned. This will probably sound wanky, but every experience has been invaluable in some way, and one of the things I love about comedy is rubbing shoulders with the long-timers, and just growing as a comic because of it. There's this idea about the 'passion of youth', but I've seen comics 50, 60+ with just pure joy in their eyes as they perform, it's not a young man's game despite what some bitter comedians on Facebook like to rant. Comedy in its purest form is a level playing field, which lets anybody, from any race, sex, gender or age, just express themselves through a mic for however long.
Naturally, there's some politics bollocks regarding the 'industry' and making a living/making a name, but at the TRUE heart of it, it's just people and microphones.
Maybe that sounds even more wanky, but I feel it's been an important thing for me to realize and recognize with more experienced comics, that the love of the art form should always be the driving force. It's easy to get caught up in success, or failure, or other acts, but the wise and experienced will always say bollocks to that nonsense. Get on with your own thing and enjoy it, and that's probably a good mantra for most things in life as well!

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