Becoming an Commentator?

[Calaquinn]

The big question I have is how to become a commentator. . . Personally, I think I'm okay at Sm4sh with a pretty hype Bowser/Lucario. I know I personally am "OK" but I'm not amazing. I'm not Cosmos or ZeRo good. I really want to commentate. I know a lot about the game and I study frame data as much as I possibly can in college. I know matchups decently well and know many attributes of many top players and characters. My big issue is the jump in known to unknown. I want to reach out to some YouTubers, Nairo to be specific, and request to commentate on their matches on Twitch etc. I know this may be a big jump but my main fear is that in the time it'll take for me to A) Get out of college and B) Become known in the community as a funny, intelligent, and entertaining commentator, Sm4sh will have fallen by the wayside. I mean people like EE, Scar, D1, even Mango when he commentates are funny and have been in the community forever. I don't know where to start is all and I'm wondering about possibly starting on Twitch watching Online matches and getting known like that but there's not a market for it. My next big option is going to Locals but those aren't streamed so there'd be no way to really get myself known. Looking for some suggestions.

 

[KirinKQP]

To get known as a commentator, you basically just have to commentate a lot and actually be informative yet interesting. To actually commentate a tournament, you're gonna have to register to be one for a local tournament that has a stream, but as you said your locals don't stream.

It is really tough to get any kind of recognition as a commentator just by messing around on Twitch and making other viewers accustomed to you. This COULD be helpful if you make friends then say you're commentating at (put stream/ tournament here) and that they should watch. This could bring in more viewership for the stream and for yourself. In the case of D1, people may watch the tournament just because he's commentating.

On the issue of having the time to commentate with college and being able to actually speak and to be engaging, those are personal problems that can't really be apprehended quickly. Commentating is tough of course and is public speaking which with a big group of like, 40 people can be slightly unnerving. You could practice by yourself by recording yourself commentate over a muted tournament match and post it on here and have people critique you. Once comfortable, you as a player will have a better idea as to how other players think, find options that are available that you didn't notice before, and understand playstyles. Thus, your overall quality of talking about the game will improve, making your commentation more appealing and informative.

In that case, you have two options if you're going to register as a commentator for tournaments:
1.) Make your local tournament scene have streams so they need commentators which you can fill in. This is tough as someone bringing their setup is unlikely and that's usually the TO's job.
2.) Go out of your scene and search for other tournament scenes that do stream and need commentators and go there regularly. This makes it so that the smash scene there knows that you are an experienced, reliable commentator that people can be familiar with over time. Though, this also depends on how well you can talk.