Hosted byTammy Hart, and Zachariah Durr, SuperShow! has become a local hit comedy event series. Hopping around Brooklyn venues, you can catch their acts for FREE every second Thursday. WU HOO – you should TOTALLY GO!
Last night’s show climaxed with Reggie Watts‘ act. Reggie, who, per usual shattered the boundaries between comedian, musician, performance artist, cliché, chameleon, mixing in one-liners, spoken word, beat box, impersonations, poetry, metaphor… Basically I was quite impressed by all he was throwing out there (which I presumed must take large amounts of talent) but somehow I just had to ask myself, is he just messing with us? But even if he was – I guess it was a heck of a good time being messed with…
Transition (excerpt) from Reggie Watts on Vimeo.
For some on-lookers, primal reactions kicked in, swooning after this strong performer, but for why? What is it about a confident person that communicates: “healthy mate” or, for that matter seems like a desirable trait at all? Confidence is often misplaced! So why does it have such a strong allure? (No dis-respect to Reggie, he is a talented performer, but I am just mystified at the kind of draw he had, just standing on that stage with some small bits of technology – was it merited?)
Perhaps idealism presumes that a confident person (in a romantic relationship) will be less of a burden, less complicated, with more energy to help fight your battles for you. The fact, though, is that confidence can often be a front. (Not to get all psychoanalytical on you when we started out just talking about comedy, which is great for your general health, by the way, both mental and physical…) To use one of the most cliche examples of all: I could act confident about my singleness, and my autonomy, but might it be simply a mechanism to deal with my circumstances, and because it is simply easier?
True confidence is a great thing if you can grasp it for yourself, or find it in another, but humans should never be taken at face value. We all have our fragility and foibles. Surly there is solidarity that comes from confidence in another source? …alright, alright…