Comedy | Courtney McClean

0 SHOWS! And… ooops.

December 9, 2016
by dirtycurls
· Courtney McClean · Live Performance · Upcoming Shows

Hey SoCal McCleaniacs!

I have TWO shows this upcoming week!

dec-2016-shows

I’m so excited to tell you I’m BACK at El Cid as the featured performer on Monday!! Get there by 7:30 to get a good seat. It’s only $5 cover and there’s no drink minimum, but you shouldn’t deny yourself the incredible sangria.

If you miss Monday, I’ll be back at Canteen Points at The Good Nite in North Hollywood on Thursday, Dec. 15. That show starts around 8pm, and if you’re a comic, you can sign up for the open mic! It’s a lottery for 5 slots. (get there at 7:30 for that… you might have to wait outside for a second if they don’t haven’t opened the doors yet)

So, remember when I was committing to a shitty first draft each day? And how it lasted 3 days until the election and then I went into a kind of anxious depressive shell like a lot of us did? And I recorded 2 more, wrote 1 more after that? And it’s been crickets since?

I’m sure the only person counting on me doing this every day was me. But… fuck it. Butt-fuck it, even.

But now I have 6 shitty first drafts of brand new songs. And now I know that I can write a song really quickly within the creative limitations . I did realize after the first couple that most of my creative time was towards brand new stuff, and not working on the drafts to develop them or practicing anything else, mostly because I didn’t make the time for anything else. But I have to remember that even the shitty first drafts are practice: getting my hands on the banjo, writing, singing. “No practice is wasted.”

Old Courtney used to beat herself up about not being able to commit to something like this, but now I realize that is a waste of energy, and if I’m not feeling that kind of creative output, I’m not going to do it well. We all do things our own way, no matter what books, people, assholes are going to tell you differently.

But seriously, I better get to some practice for Monday’s show. Keep your chins up, McCleaniacs, and keep fighting the good fight. See you soon?

0 Sexy Shitty First Draft #3 “TKO”

November 8, 2016
by dirtycurls
· Courtney McClean · Sexy Shitty First Draft · Videos

I don’t want to give away who this song is about right away, but HAPPY ELECTION DAY! #vote

0 “Sexy Shitty First Draft” A thing I have committed myself to because I must

I'm doing the shitty first draft of a new song every day, for at least the next 30 days. I'd like to make it a year.

November 6, 2016
by dirtycurls
· Courtney McClean · Sexy Shitty First Draft · Videos

CURLFRIENDS! MCCLEANIACS! Thanks for your patience with my leave of absence, blah blah blah, like the guy said at his weird hole-in-the-wall Periscoped open mic, I have been putting too much weight on, well, most everything. Like, I don’t want to wear shorter sleeves because my elbows have these weird bumps (I think it’s a form of psoriasis. Doctor? What doctor?). My point is, who fucking cares, you know? We’re all disgusting skin bags.

It’s a metaphor for this project I’m doing, which is no different than a lot of other “1 A Day” things that people do. I’m going to write, record, and post online for your enjoyment/satisfaction your life is better than mine, the shitty first draft of a new song. I’m not sure for how long I’m going to do it, but maybe I’ll just get through the first 30 days, hey?

So, here’s the first one. I’ll keep talking about what it means to me below:

I gave myself an hour on this one, although I’m already at just under 3 hours with posting and blogging about it and other distractions. But I’d like to get it down to 30 minutes. Like Morning Pages: bust out the shitty first draft in 30 minutes. Every day. Just bust through; do it, let it suck, the best is yet to come. If you care to follow along, you can do so at http://www.youtube.com/thedirtycurls.

I’ve had a hard past year. I know, you have too. I don’t know about you, but I forget sometimes how much being creative makes me happy and centers me. Especially right now in the United States with the election; it’s easy to get sucked in because you’re getting impassioned, and getting impassioned feels good. But getting angry just begets more anger… I know because I am super guilty of letting my anger get the best of me. But also, creativity begets creativity. So, maybe it’s best I let my creativity get the best of me.

So why don’t I just spend 30 minutes a day on a song? Why make us sit through your shitty first drafts? The internet has enough CRAP on it.

Accountability, my babies!!! You, my friends, are now my captive (well), expectant audience. And I fucking don’t want to flake on you. So, I’ll see you tomorrow.

(Thanks to the amazing Dan Goldman & Lili Higa for the little push I needed this morning with the help of some coffee and paleo brunch… and to Anna Sawyer, whose 100 bad songs project has been bouncing around in my head lately)