My son, David Mulholland, is a stand-up comic and runs the Soho Comedy Club in London. When I set off for his wedding to the brilliant comedian and blogger Kate Smurthwaite, my friend Carl Gottlieb, a great screenwriter and wit, emailed me that I was very brave going into a group of comics as "the Mother-in-Law."
The wedding was held in the oldest Unitarian church in London--built in 1709. It's where Mary Wollstonecraft worshiped and had her school for girls. If you don't know who Mary Wollstonecraft is look her up. She's the mother of feminism.
Anyway, the reception was held in a pub and was filled with comics. They were attractive and very smart. (You don't have to be smart to be an actor. You may be or not. After all you're saying someone else's lines.) But you have to be very smart to be a comic. I expected the evening to be very funny. It was fun, but the comics were not trying out material. They were professionals. Instead I heard lots of intense conversations on the craft of comedy. It reminded me of a time a few years ago when I was in Paris. An old school pal had become one of France's leading artists. He invited me for drinks with another artist. I expected to hear a high minded conversation on art. But no, the two of them talked about a hardware store in the suburbs where they could find the tools they needed for their sculptures.
Amateurs and fans talk about art. Professionals talk about the tools of their trade.
Author Loraine Despres will give you short takes on love, life's little ironies, and the world as she moves through it, with detours including how to attract men and keep them happy. That's easy. Writing, that's harder. The writer's life, that one is the hardest of all.
1 comment:
I love that--"Professionals talk about the tools of the trade." I think it is so true. I hope you had a wonderful time at the wedding.
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