Our Stand-Up Comedy Journey

Ever Bombed on Stage or in Life? We Did. But Here's Why It's Hilarious Anyway (and How It Can Help You Too!)

Embrace Your Funny Bone & Conquer Fear: A Self-Help Stand-Up Comedy Adventure

Feeling stuck in a rut? Want to break free from negativity and unlock a more positive mindset? Join us on an unconventional self-help journey as we dive headfirst into the world of stand-up comedy! This episode of the Living Lucky® Podcast with Jason & Jana Banana is a treasure trove of insights on conquering fear, embracing challenges, and harnessing the power of humor for personal growth.

Here's what you'll learn:

• Why laughter is the best medicine (for your mind and soul): Discover how humor can dismantle negativity, boost your vibration, and create a more positive outlook on life.
• Taming the fear of judgment: Learn how to silence your inner critic and overcome the fear of being funny in front of an audience.
• Stand-up vs Improv: The Mindset Shift: We explore the key differences between stand-up comedy (punchlines and timing) and improv (spontaneity and collaboration), revealing valuable lessons about navigating different situations in life.
• The 4 Pillars of Living Lucky in Action: See how our core principles of self-belief, supportive communities, humor in the chaos, and trusting a higher power fuel our stand-up adventure and empower you to embrace your own challenges.
• The Power of Imperfect Storytelling: Learn how even fumbles and "unfunny" moments can be stepping stones to growth and connection.

This episode is more than just stand-up tips; it's a roadmap for personal development disguised as hilarious anecdotes and relatable struggles. We challenge you to face your limiting beliefs,  step outside your comfort zone, and discover the transformative power of laughter. So, grab your metaphorical microphone and get ready to laugh, learn, and start Living Lucky®!

Keywords: Self-help, personal development, limiting beliefs, mindset, positive thinking, stand-up comedy, improv, fear of judgment, humor, storytelling, personal growth, self-belief, supportive communities

Transcript

Finding Humor and Overcoming Fear

Jana Shelfer 0:00

Are you ready to create a life you crave? Let's spin that doom loop of negativity into an upward success cycle and start Living Lucky®.

Jason Shelfer 0:14

Good morning.

Jana Shelfer 0:15

I'm Jana,

Jason Shelfer 0:16

I'm Jason and we are Living Lucky®. You are too.

Jana Shelfer 0:20

We often talk about getting outside your comfort zone, facing your fears. Well, today, jason and I did just that.

Jason Shelfer 0:28

And how.

Jana Shelfer 0:31

Tell them what we did.

Jason Shelfer 0:32

We took a stand-up comedy class, the first class of eight classes.

Jana Shelfer 0:37

Nine.

Jason Shelfer 0:38

Nine classes.

Jana Shelfer 0:38

Nine-week course. Well, that makes it better. We have seven more days to be funny.

Jason Shelfer 0:43

Maybe it'll make me funnier.

Jana Shelfer 0:47

Do you think you're funny, do you?

Jason Shelfer 0:48

think you're innately funny. I know that I have moments of funny and in the past-.

Jana Shelfer 0:54

When you tune into it.

Jason Shelfer 0:56

Yes, and in the past I was most wittiest in high school.

Jana Shelfer 1:02

I'm going to be real with you. You have always had this ability to tune in to your funny, subconsciously it's without even knowing. However, as of the last-, Year. More so.

Jason Shelfer 1:17

Wow, that's hard.

Jana Shelfer 1:20

Really.

Jason Shelfer 1:21

No, I hear you, I'm hearing you, I see it in myself. So yes, I know.

Jana Shelfer 1:28

We've gotten very cerebral in studying and helping people and we've lost that quick wittedness. And when it really shows is sometimes when we go to dinner parties. It's like we're rusty.

Jason Shelfer 1:42

Yeah, well, it really shows for me like I see it, because when we're working with people, helping them, like, live their best life, there's a darkness or a cloud in there that they haven't been.

Jana Shelfer 1:56

And then also there's this wanting to learn and understand how to live their best life, and so then it gets, so it's not really the time or place to be funny.

Jason Shelfer 2:06

However, it is funny anywhere is healthy Like it's a good thing.

Jana Shelfer 2:11

It raises everyone's vibration.

Jason Shelfer 2:13

Yes, and it also takes you out of like that, woe is me, the woe is me, the, the, the hurt of it, the shame of it, the guilt of it, any of that and like you said, raises the consciousness, raises the vibration, raises that energy level to really a much more productive level. And here I'm doing it, right now I'm not allowing the funny, because we're talking about a serious subject and you can talk about serious subjects and still be funny, and that's what I want to learn to do again.

Jana Shelfer 2:43

That is where, for for some reason, we have made this an either or instead of a yes, and oh, I love that.

Jason Shelfer 2:51

Yes, and I used to. We took improv classes 12 years ago.

Jana Shelfer 2:55

Yeah, the improv classes were across the hallway. I'm going to say I think they were having a lot more fun in the improv classes.

Jason Shelfer 3:01

Well, and I don't know that they had the fear, because in improv you get to work off of each other.

Jana Shelfer 3:07

Right.

Jason Shelfer 3:09

So there's a team element to it, and this was hey, stand up in front of these nine people and tell a joke. And tell a joke.

Jana Shelfer 3:14

I'm like don't put me on the spot, we had to tell a joke, and when you start by saying, oh, I got a joke for you, this better be funny.

Jason Shelfer 3:22

Right Start by saying oh, I got a joke for you.

Jana Shelfer 3:23

This better be funny, Right? It raises the expectations of oh my gosh, this.

Jason Shelfer 3:27

And it also throws up these little levees or dams or barricades where people are like all right, let's see what you've got and let me judge you on it. Did you feel judged? Of course, I was judging myself and I realized that we're all doing the same thing. We're just taking our turns, like being in the limelight and learning. Yes, so it's like, but still in that moment I speak all the time. I speak with big crowds, I speak with the two of us. It's a. There was a moment where it's like I'm alone here in the spotlight and people are going to decide whether or not my delivery here is funny.

Jana Shelfer 4:11

Yeah. And it really is about your delivery because they they the assignment was. You can even read a joke off of your phone or a site it wasn't make up a joke, it was find a joke. That's already been written.

Jason Shelfer 4:25

It's already been told, already been written, already been performed, and just give us your version of it, deliver it. It can be the same exact version, you can make it a little bit your own, but we want the punchline to be the like. We want the joke to have the actual elements that were created in it to be in it.

Jana Shelfer 4:41

Okay, so I love story joking. In it to be in it. Okay, so I love story joking. Is that the kind of Storytelling it's? Storytelling but in my own humorous fun way.

Jason Shelfer 4:52

Yes, Comedy, funny storytelling.

Jana Shelfer 4:54

Where I lose the audience is the punchlines. I'm not great at delivering punchlines.

Jason Shelfer 5:02

The aristocrats.

Jana Shelfer 5:02

Unless I literally go oh, you know, like really give it a.

Jason Shelfer 5:06

Give it a Andrew Dice Clay. Yeah, like oh. That's what I'm talking about, andrew Dice Clay. Some of you are going to have to Google him, so he hasn't been around for a while.

Jana Shelfer 5:15

It's like I need to tell the audience it's okay to laugh.

Jason Shelfer 5:18

Yeah, this was a joke, this was funny, this was meant to be funny, yeah.

Jana Shelfer 5:22

Because, if I do say so myself, my story was pretty awesome. It's just nobody laughed and people were like is that the end?

Jason Shelfer 5:28

I think they were trying to keep up with it because it was detailed. It was like there was a lot in it.

Jana Shelfer 5:34

Yeah.

Jason Shelfer 5:34

And it was a good story. And I think that's one of the funny things about telling a comedic story, especially when you can left turn somebody.

Jana Shelfer 5:44

Yeah.

Jason Shelfer 5:45

And so that's it was, I think thought you did a great job.

Jana Shelfer 5:48

Okay. So let me ask you this Is there any fear that in getting? I mean, we just found out today in our first class that at the end of these nine weeks we will be having a show.

Jason Shelfer 6:02

Yeah, a show, a paid show. We're not getting paid, but people are paying to come see it.

Jana Shelfer 6:06

And we need to develop five minutes.

Jason Shelfer 6:10

Of straight up straight through fluid comedy.

Jana Shelfer 6:12

Of our own individual original routine.

Jason Shelfer 6:17

Yeah, that freaks me out a little bit.

Jana Shelfer 6:19

Does it?

Jason Shelfer 6:19

Yeah, I love having conversations with people and working off of what they say. So coming up with just line after line of hey, go be funny.

Jana Shelfer 6:29

Yes.

Jason Shelfer 6:29

Makes me freak out inside.

Jana Shelfer 6:31

I think you might be great with crowd work. I really do.

Jason Shelfer 6:35

I think I would enjoy crowd work, but this is one of the things like even the coaching containers that we're in or that I'm in um. When I get in there and I'm alone with um let's say, two or 300 students if they aren't there to get out of it what like what I want them to get out of it or what they're hoping to get out of it then the crowd has to work with you. So it's not like you're going to. I wouldn't be the comic that goes in there and starts like hammering people in the crowd. I would be in there wanting to work off of something yes, and making something a bigger story, a better story, a more creative version of that.

Jana Shelfer 7:14

You know where I think you really shine and I'm going to be real and I don't know if this is going to be taken as a compliment, even though it is.

Jason Shelfer 7:23

You shine in the poop humor.

Jana Shelfer 7:25

No, no, I think you really shine sometimes in our morning coffees. We have morning coffee on Monday and it's virtual, so anyone can join us. It's just on our Facebook page we go live and I feel that you shine when I am carrying the conversation and you can get in those one-liners. They're one-liners but there's sometimes they are, yeah, they're underneath the layer, yeah.

Jason Shelfer 7:59

They're underneath it, or they're way above it, or just it's around the topic.

Jana Shelfer 8:04

Yes.

Jason Shelfer 8:09

And I was going to say I knew where you were going as soon as you said morning coffee, because it made me immediately think of like the three or four mornings that you weren't available. You had something else to do. You weren't feeling well, there was something going on that you weren't available. You had something else to do. You weren't feeling well, there was something going on that you weren't there. And you're like well, we told everyone we were going to show up and we are consistent, if nothing else and so I tried to do it myself. Right Now. There was one of them that I was funny, and the reason I was funny is because I had put my underwear on backwards.

Jason Shelfer 8:35

And I remember that distinctly because I was like I didn't realize I had my underwear on backwards until I had to go to the bathroom two or three minutes before the show, Okay. And then it's like, oh, where's the opening?

Jana Shelfer 8:48

And I was like In the conversation, well, in the bathroom.

Jason Shelfer 8:51

Or in your underpants yeah, in my underpants. I was like where's the opening in the conversation? How, yeah, in my pants. I was like where's the opening in the conversation? How do I get this conversation going? Hey, I'm chasing. Good morning.

Jana Shelfer 9:01

How do I?

Jason Shelfer 9:01

open the show. No, it was when I unzip my pants and I start digging and I was like I can't pull out the elephant in the room because the trunk space is in the back. Okay, yeah, we all visualize what's happening here and it was like I felt. So I'm like embarrassed for myself, but it took you out of your.

Jason Shelfer 9:27

It took me out of my seriousness, my mind space and allowed me to just be honest and open with the and silly with everybody on the on the Facebook live. And I was like this probably has never happened to anybody here, but it happened to me this morning and I just want to go through that and get it, get it out of me, like, get it out of my head and get it into the world of the internet. And it was a good, funny show and just the comments lit up.

Jana Shelfer 9:55

Yeah.

Jason Shelfer 9:56

Maybe we should start the show tomorrow, like that.

Jana Shelfer 9:58

Maybe I'll wear my underwear on the outside, okay, so let me ask you this then what is your biggest fear?

Jason Shelfer 10:04

I think my biggest fear is that I like being funny. I love laughing Like I like to laugh until it hurts.

Jana Shelfer 10:11

Okay, you're not answering the question.

Jason Shelfer 10:12

My biggest fear is being told be funny.

Jana Shelfer 10:16

That's your biggest fear.

Jason Shelfer 10:17

Because then there's an expectation of it instead of just me allowing it and being it.

Jana Shelfer 10:22

Okay. Is it scarier to do stand-up comedy or to dance?

Jason Shelfer 10:28

Ooh, that's a tough one, I'm going to say. Stand-up comedy is going to be scarier for me because with the dance I give myself permission to be learning.

Jana Shelfer 10:41

Okay. And so why can't we give ourselves permission?

Jason Shelfer 10:43

Thank you for that reframe, because that's and excuse me, kind of talking this out between us. It helps me see that everything's okay. We're always learning.

Jana Shelfer 10:56

And again, when we're facing our fears, when we're trying new things, it goes back to a toddler or a baby trying to learn to walk.

Jason Shelfer 11:05

It's this performance anxiety that we give ourselves as adults or as teens or whatever age, where we start thinking about am I going to be giving what's expected of me? Am I going to be enough? Am I going to be a failure? Is it available for me?

Jana Shelfer 11:20

So, again going back to the baby analogy, when a baby's learning to walk, of course they're going to fall down. Of course they're not going to get it on the first try. Of course there's going to be some bumps and bruises along the way, some falls, and what do they do? They continue to get up and keep trying.

Jason Shelfer 11:38

And they have a great support system because nobody looks at them and goes you're a failure, baby, you suck, you'll never walk. Pack it up, go get in the crib. You're a failure, baby, you suck, you'll never walk. Pack it up, go get in the crib. You're never going to be a functioning adult.

Embracing Fear and Finding Humor

Jana Shelfer 11:52

So well, that's a good point to make. So I think, as long as we support ourselves, support the people around us and remember you know what? We're not going to be perfect at this right away. There's going to be some bumps and bruises, there's going to be some bumps and bruises, there's going to be some falls and we look at this as a challenge, a learning experience and enjoy the process. And let's laugh. That's why we're there. We're there to laugh.

Jason Shelfer 12:18

When I heard you going through all the things that we could do to make this the best experience, it sounded like the four pillars in Living Lucky® Believe in yourself, that you're on this learning path, believe in the people around you. Cultivate the right people to be in your corner rooting for you, cheering for you and saying yes, yes, you can, yes, you've got this. And then believe in all your circumstances because there's something funny in all of it, and then just believe that there's a higher power up there with you.

Jana Shelfer 12:54

But do you see how you just went into coaching mode again and it feels sometimes like if we can just allow ourselves to laugh and have fun and be imperfect and not worry or not, let it go, and I think of myself as a non-warrior.

Jason Shelfer 13:01

But when I have a coach like you next to me, I get to hear the worry and I get to see the worry in me. That's pretty cool.

Jana Shelfer 13:10

No, that sounded like a mirroring thing and that sounded like a whole different podcast.

Jason Shelfer 13:14

Yes, yeah.

Jana Shelfer 13:15

So what we're talking about, though, today, is facing your fears, facing your funny. Get outside your comfort zone, yeah, and I want to say one more thing before we wrap it up is sometimes that the biggest fear that we have in our lives is the universe's way of saying lean in, go there Because that is, that if you can get over that limiting belief, that is where you are going to thrive.

Jason Shelfer 13:48

Yes, grow there.

Jana Shelfer 13:52

Keep Living Lucky®. So did you hear the one about the farmer and the three dogs? No, I'm kidding, I'm just joking.

Jason Shelfer 13:58

Farmer's got a goat, a sheep and a dog.

Jana Shelfer 14:00

Thanks for joining us. Have a great day.

Jason Shelfer 14:02

Keep Living Lucky®.

Jana Shelfer 14:05

If the idea of Living Lucky® appeals to you, visit us at www. LivingLucky. com.