The last two weekends have been a whirlwind of work, a performance retreat (Wildfire) and a working burn-style event (Be the Strange). At both of these events a common thought popped up at both of them; the differences between artistry, entertainment, and performance. I have given my thoughts on them before (Performance evolving to entertainment; followed by art) but another thought crossed my mind as well. One's wit and one's intellect.
We use wit and intellect interchangeably or at least it seems that way in our society (I might just be wrong), but I feel that they are very separate creatures. Deep thoughtfulness that leads to exploration of ideas is how I use the word intellect. One applies ones brain to an issue until that issue is resolved correctly. Wit or Cleverness is the capacity to look at a problem and to quickly come to a solution or response to that problem.
To paraphrase someone I know, "My Job is to be Clever". After taking comedy courses and theater classes I know that a lot of time is spent create thoughtful intentful comedy routines or acting choices. To paraphrase my comedy professor (yes there is one), "someone spills a drink on the stage and "NO ONE" stops to pick it up; so much for suspension of disbelief". There are also plenty of comedians who have been roasted over open flames for saying something extremely inappropriate (The Host of Tosh 2.0 and his rape jokes comes to mind).
I honestly find it more than a little difficult to be thoughtful and clever at the same time. When I am in the mindset of being an entertainer (which is more and more as time goes on) I find that I can either be clever regularly and rarely thoughtful or I can be rarely clever and regularly thoughtful. But the truth is that I don't get paid to be thoughtful. I am paid to be clever ((Making David Carodeen jokes as I have a rope dart wrapped around my neck comes to mind)).
Within the communities that I belong to there is a lot of reliance upon music and non-interactive skills (one of the best jugglers within the industry Vova Galchenko actually has stage fright problems). In other words artistic endeavors in which social interaction is done within the frame of music, entertainment is done through other means (I have made comments on the nature male/female performances), and or sheer talent (there are plenty of amazing seven club jugglers who are so amazing they do not require the ability to speak or interact).
But on the other hand I have seen plenty of performers who do not react to a crowd or how a crowd reacts. Or I have spoken with people who have plenty of room to criticize but are incredibly bashful on stage. I honestly would have to liken it to any form of partner performance in which danger was involved such as whip targets, knife throwing, or interwoven fire poi. It takes a certain amount of skill and talent to be able to do that and when it goes well it is an amazing experience and when it goes badly, it's on youtube for life. And honestly it isn't the amazing experiences that get as much air time as it is the horrible experiences that are passed around (two girls one cup and any other number of videos that are out there).
The point is, is that there is a difference between being witty and being intelligent. I feel that one should keep that in mind before lambasting a performer on how one should do ones job. It is easy to think after an event how one should have responded to said event but hard to do so during said event.
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