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You’ve always done PowerPoint presentations at your comedy shows. Did you consider not having one this time?
Yes. That was originally my plan. It would have been easier to stage, and given me more options about where to put on the show. But I needed photos and/or videos for most of the things that I wanted to cover. If I’d just talked about my Big Brother audition tape, I probably could have got a laugh or two, but trust me – it will be much funnier to see and hear it.
I’ve cut from the script a number of stories that didn’t need photos or videos. I hope to use them in a future show that will just be myself, a spotlight and a microphone – if that. But if you want to see PowerPoint presentations, don’t worry. I plan to do more of them as well.
What did you work on first: the script or the PowerPoint slides?
I started with a script, but then I worked on them in tandem. Sometimes, I cut things from the script because I didn’t have a good enough photo or video to go with it. At other times, after picking out a photo, I thought – this needs some explaining, so I added to the script.
Are you happy with the two venues you’ve chosen?
Yes. I’m looking forward to seeing my antics enlarged on a cinema screen at The Backlot Perth, which is appropriate when the show is called Shamelessly Seeking Attention. The Geographe Room at the State Library of WA is intimate and central.
You’ve previously performed in pubs. Have those experiences helped you now?
Yes. They taught me not to waffle. A pub normally doesn’t have the conventions of a theatre and often has competing background noise. Which means – if you don’t get people’s attention straight away, and hold it, they might start scrolling down their phones or talking to their friends.
Will there be any swear words in the show?
Maybe if I trip over something, which is always possible, as I’m a bit of a klutz! Otherwise – no. Click here to find out why not.
How much do performers need to stick to the script?
That depends. If they’re in a musical at Crown Theatre, unless something goes wrong, or it’s been planned in advance, they’re normally expected to give exactly the same performance every night, down to the last hand gesture. The orchestra, technicians and other performers depend on it.
I had a friend perform a one-woman comedy show, where she played both her normal self and her inner voice of doubt. When she was the latter, the lighting changed and she used a voice modulator. She had to stick to the script, so her technician knew when to change the lighting and switch on and off the modulator.
On the other hand, some comedians talk for an hour with just a spotlight and microphone. They’re free to go all over the place. Even then, material that sounds off-the-cuff and natural may have been carefully scripted and honed over a long period.
In Shamelessly Seeking Attention, I’m somewhere in the middle. I don’t have an orchestra, lighting changes or other performers to worry about, but I do have a PowerPoint presentation with slides and videos. That limits how spontaneous I can be. The important thing is to know my material so well that I can relax and have fun with it, rather than focus on remembering what comes next.
In one of her memoirs, Julie Andrews explained that amateurs practice until they get it right; professionals practice until they can’t get it wrong. I’ll do a separate post about how I’m rehearsing my show, to get it to where it needs to be.
You’re performing fifteen times over a two-and-a-half month period. Do you think that’s better than doing it all in just a couple of weeks?
I guess I’ll find out, but as I live in Perth, I think it is.
Sometimes in this town, you hear someone say – ‘I saw such-and-such a show and it was so much fun’ – and then you look it up and find out it’s just finished its run.
By spreading things out, if people go away for a few weeks or even a month, they still have the chance to see my show. I can also have a greater proportion of performances on Friday and Saturday nights. I’m giving chance for word of mouth to spread – though that means it had better be good!
How are you promoting Shamelessly Seeking Attention?
In the past, I’ve used paper flyers and posters, but I think that nowadays, they’re not worth it, at least not for what I’m wanting to do.
I’m still using a method that has worked well for me before. I have a long mailing list. I send out individualised messages to people on that list (usually via Messenger or email), telling people about my show, including links to my website and the booking pages.
I’m also posting on Facebook.
The Backlot Perth is also promoting it to their subscribers.
Plus, of course, there’s my michaelfromperth.com website, but as you’re reading this on that very website, you’ve probably worked that one out already!
Do you wish that you could just concentrate on writing and performing, and not on promotion?
No. Writing all those messages is time-consuming, but it’s worth it. A bonus is that I get to communicate with people I like, but don’t always see that much of. And then I often see them at a performance.
When I write my own publicity material and talk to people about the show, it makes me think – what’s this show really about?
Do you get nervous before you go on stage?
I get nervous in the weeks leading up to it. That’s not such a bad thing, as the combination of stress and vanity means that I normally lose five kilos in that time. I want this to happen again for Shamelessly Seeking Attention, so that I can fit into my favourite pair of jeans on opening night. I sort of can at the moment …
I’m not too bad on the day of a performance, until the last ten minutes before the show, when I tend to use the bathroom four times. It does help avoid unexpected calls of nature during my routine.
I’m glad that none of my performances are before noon. Last year at an international congress in Buenos Aires, I gave an eighteen-minute talk in Spanish at nine o’clock in the morning. I’d never done anything like that before. I was petrified that I’d sleep through my alarm. When I didn’t, I was petrified that something would happen on the bus to the venue. Once I arrived, I was fine.
Do you know in advance when the audience will laugh?
I have some idea, but not always. In my show about learning Spanish in Argentina, there was one line that I didn’t intend to be funny, but I needed to say it, to set up the next part of the story. It got a big laugh every night. I still have no idea why, but I was happy to take it. Another line, which I thought was funny, met with silence. You never know for sure. If something falls flat, you have to move on to the next thing. If the audience likes you, and you aren’t horrible or offensive, they’ll forgive you if the odd thing doesn’t work the way you hoped it would.
Will you be singing live?
Not this time. I tried writing a rap number, but it works better as a poem, particularly with the slides I’ve chosen to go with it. I think it’s rather fun, and it explains a lot of things in a short space of time.
Some of you know that one of my career ambitions is to ruin every song in The Sound of Music. So far, I’m up to two. That ambition has been on hold for some time, and will remain so this year. But there’s always next year …
Click here for sessions, times, how to book and more!
