Comics + Water + Self-delusion = Success!

Last month I had a great run of shows. I did 20 minutes at the BackBar, then did a few other shows that went really well, and I felt super confident. This month has been different. I’ve been trying some new jokes, but my lack of confidence in them has affected my performances. I did BackBar on tuesday and fumbled through jokes, and lost the crowd early on. Jokes that normally do really well failed. I could blame the audience, but my lack of success that night was all me. I performed at LOL last night and the same thing happened. Early on I lost confidence telling jokes I know front and back. I was actually unable to finish two jokes because words didn’t come out of my mouth, just gibberish. I played it off best I could, but it was weird. I felt like that reporter who due to the effects of a migraine couldn’t form words. I don’t know what happened. I’ve been pretty dehydrated lately, so I might be able to chalk it up to that, but I’m sure lack of confidence in my material didn’t help either. Last night after my set I came home and read this interesting article on io9 about a study which claims

“overconfidence actually leads to better results in a number of situations”

I think from a comics perspective this article is great. Self doubt is for losers. From now on I’m gonna deliver every joke old or new with the utmost confidence. And I’m gonna drink more water to avoid any potential mini-strokes on stage.