2012, can it be better than 2011?

Well people, it has happened. The new year celebrations have come and gone, resolutions have been made and everyone is now suffering the new year blues. We have to return to work, make money and lose the holiday weight gained.

In looking back, I have to ask one question. How can we make 2012 better than last year?

We can try different things, sure. We can meet new people, yeah. But at the end of the day, will we be repeating the same mistakes we did last year? Will our attention be on making money and not freaking out about everything else?

I have chosen to focus on making this year the best that I can. This will not be a big change for me. I don't see myself changing the world, but just changing things in my own life. I will gig all that I can. I will try my best to make the acting career a reality and I will try not to let everything get on top of me. In short, I will not freak out over things outside my control.

This is not to sat that 2012 will be full of negative elements. As a movie fan, this year is full of movies that will make me weep with joy.

The Dark Knight Rises
The Avengers
The Hobbit, Part 1
Django Unchained

And these are just a few. There will be many more to see and I cannot wait to see as many as I can

As for the acting career, I have been accepted into The Bridges Acting Agency. They are Edinburgh's only co-op acting agency, run by actors for actors. I have been working for them and they for me. I will continue to work hard for them and hope the rewards come flowing in for us all.

The comedy is slow but I am getting myself back out there, after a break at the latter end of 2011. I am hoping to try out my new material soon and hone it into something that I can put into my tried and tested material file. Thanks to a good friend of mine, Billy Kirkwood, I will be aiming to make it to our show:

Billy and Des's Geek Comedy Night
http://www.ticketsoup.com/tickets/billy-and-dess-geek-comedy-night-2012-13403/default.aspx?id=26

We will be focusing on nerdy topics and pop culture references. We want to make the nerdy funny! Support us if you can.

I will also be helping a Glasgow based sketch comedy group called "Man Vs Woman" during the Glasgow Comedy Festival. Details will follow so watch this space.

I would like to end this update by wishing you all and very happy 2012 and no matter what you do this year, have fun doing it! Don't focus on changing the world, simply focus on making your world a better place for you are your loved ones.

Thank you all and I hope to hear from you soon.

Your friend in time
Des O Gorman

Edinburgh Fringe Festival 2011. What A Year!

Hello all!

Sorry for the lack of blogs for I was attending the Edinburgh Fringe Festival 2011. Its a special time of the year where the whole of Edinburgh is filled with performers, actors, comedians and tourists. Its is a busy 4 weeks and I have seen so much. I have seen good shows, bad shows and a LOT of people.

This was a special time for me as I did a lot of gigs for a lot of my comedian friends. I would like to thank Ric Carranza, Gareth Waugh, Billy Kirkwood, Masud Milas, Aaron Truss and Nelson De Gouveia. These people make my Fringe fun and exciting. Google these people and see them in action whenever you can.

This fringe also marks the debut of 1.21 gigawatts. This was a impro comedy team made up of myself, Masud Milas, Nelson De Gouveia and Aaron Truss. We performed 3 times at the White Horse to 3 different but equally amazing audiences. I think this is the start of something amazing. We maybe doing a show next year so watch this space...

Anyway, the fringe was amazing. I got to see some truly amazing shows and my comedy hero, Dave Gorman, do his new show. I feel reinvigorated and full of ideas for my own comedy. Sometimes, living in Edinburgh has its upsides.

I will be back to write some more blogs but for now let me end this entry with a photo that I love. It combines my love of Ghostbusters and Comedy.  Enjoy.

  



































Just in case you're confused, That is Damian Clark (Very funny Oz comedian that is big in Ireland) on the left and Me (Des) as a ghostbuster on the right.

Could I talk about what I find interesting and make it funny? Discuss

I have discovered, in the past couple of months, that I have focused on my comedy and I keep coming up with ideas that are, to put it bluntly, crappy. That is because I think it’s funny but I have no interest in it. They are just throw away lines.

The one thing that I have been taught about doing comedy is that you need to be interested in what you are talking about and have passion about it. If you don't care about what you are saying, why would the audience? But I do have interests that not everyone follows. People’s tastes on books, TV and film differs with each person, so I have to find a way of getting them interested in what I am saying. A common thread or emotion that the audience can relate to.

So, I have chosen to look at what I find interesting and to develop it into my comedy in some where shape or form. This is where the blog comes in...

For the next couple of weeks, I will be uploading topics that interest me, I will comment on the pros and cons of this topic and why I love/hate this topic. It allows me to get some focus on what I want to talk about, you get to see and comment on what I talk about and you get to add your two cents about my comedy. All comments are welcome (but I should state that all negative comments will make me cry).

To give you a taste on what I will be talking about, my next blog will be about one of my all-time favourite movies. I won't give the movie's title away but, to give you a clue, I will end this blog with a question...

If there is something strange in your neighbourhood, WHO YOU GONNA CALL?

How I stopped worrying and started worrying about worrying...!

I have woken up, had some breakfast and I have stated my day worrying about how I am going to survive the world, what I'm going to do with my time and what this will do to me and my body. This is something that has affected me for a long time and trying to chance my P.O.V is proving difficult and thus leads me to worry again.

I worry about silly things that I have no ability to chance or time to alter. I think of all the things that I could do to improve myself but do not have the time to do so. I want to do these things to make myself fell better but money, time and, most importantly for me, the fun factor does not always agree with me and it makes me a little sad. Maybe that is why I do stand up comedy. In my comedy, I can talk about things that interest me, things that I remember about my childhood and things that I have seen in the world. It gives me a chance to ask the audience:

"Here is how I see the world. Do you agree or disagree with my opinion? If you agree, please laugh in my general direction."

Maybe that is just me but its the little things that keep me going. After all, I have so much other crap to worry about.