The “delete” button is the most important button on your key
board.
Often less is more. Simple is best.
By cutting stuff out, the things that remain have more
impact.
I’ve learnt this from putting the finishing touches to my
Edinburgh show. I’ve had to cut jokes that work, jokes that I like because
they don’t fit into the show. Perversely by losing the laughs I have made the
show better.
Delete is the hardest button to press, so get help doing it:
get notes from a director (like I did), do a draft and give it to someone else
to edit. Other people have a distance from your work that you cannot have. They
can give you rude truths that you might not see, or choose to ignore because
you don’t what to throttle your baby.
I’ve not just cut jokes but also simplified the message. You
can say too much, diluting each message, and also confusing the piece. By
saying everything you say nothing.
The takeaway: your editing is as important as your writing.
Another part of the power of delete is your decision when to
jettison a creative project, an idea, a joke. You should be ruthless in what
you cull from your output. By getting stuff that is crap off the slate you have
more time to come up with something better. Don’t waste time on something that
is average: kill it and come up with something else. When a joke I do dies at a
new material gig I don’t view that as a creative failure, I view that as a
creative victory: I know that joke is rubbish. I can let it go and try a
different one. People are slow to chuck stuff they have made away, but they are
just slowing up their progress. Put yourself under pressure to produce.
1. Be prolific.
2. Be ruthless. Delete your way to excellence.
You shouldn’t just delete stuff that isn’t working. Delete
stuff that is working brilliantly after a set cut off point. Create a creative
obis to force yourself to come up with something new. You only get better by practicing,
by raising your bar, by putting yourself under pressure. How do you put yourself
under pressure? Take away the comfort zone of your body of work, prove yourself
all over again. Louis CK was meandering along, an average club act, but got
massive by deciding to turn over an hour long show every year. At the end of
the year he throws it away and starts from scratch again, working up stuff in
low level clubs. He is like an open-mic guy again, and his bravery is rewarded:
he gets better and better.
That’s why I chose to do my first solo show this year. I was
totally unprepared in terms of material and skill-set in September 2011, I knew
that if I wasn’t ready it was going to be a month of embarrassment. So I have
got myself ready. Other comics say “I’m going to wait till I’m ready”. How about
forcing yourself to be ready? If your ambition was to be physically strong, you
wouldn’t say “I’m going to wait until my strength gradually improves naturally”
you would get in the gym and do weights that were too heavy for you until the
muscle got bigger.
That’s enough preaching. My show better be good after that!
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