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rookie comic checking in. i've been hitting mics in new haven, ct since may 1st. if anyone is reading this thread nervous about trying it out, i guarantee you couldn't be as nervous as me. i had to choke back puke on my way up to the stage and spent my first five minute set pacing nervously back and forth while holding onto my belt like a child's blankey and cursing entirely too much as a defense mechanism. but now i can't go a week without doing it. it's my stress release, and the comic community is loving awesome here. you can't really match the feeling of walking off stage after a set and hanging out with other guys who just battled the same demon in order to go up there and risk humiliation in order to make people laugh. it's loving incredible.
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Jun 15, 2013 02:22
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Smeed posted:I'm a little north of you and Torrington and as far I know there is no standup scene here at all. It's cool to hear people are cool close by. I'd assume everyone would be going to NYC. How many open mics can you hit on a weekend night in New Haven? there's no open mics on weekends that i know of. i've been hitting the wednesday night one at jokers wild, which is good. a lot of talented people pop in, and the atmosphere is good. there's the funny bone in hartford too. then cafe nine does a comedy show on every third monday, which always features one or two rookies on it. i got a card tonight from a lady who might give me some time in bars in new haven as well. most of the pros around here do travel to nyc a ton, like you said, but there's plenty to do locally.
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Jun 15, 2013 09:15
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I did my first guest spot last night opening for Tom Hayes and Joseph Anthony. not huge names by any means, but real pros, and I learned a lot from watching them deal with a crowd who kept switching from hostile to indifferent all night. While I didn't lay a complete turd, I did realize how little I know about crowd work. I had a couple of moments where I connected, and really, I couldn't have asked for a better learning experience.
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Jul 1, 2013 04:14
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Ccs posted:This may not be the place to ask this, but what's the deal with Patrice O'Neal being considering a "comedian's comedian". it's because he did it with charm. a huge portion of his audience was women, and he would use his clownish logic to make them laugh at things that should have been totally offensive.
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Jul 13, 2013 20:42
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jimcunningham posted:Seriously, I applaud all of you whole-heartedly for taking this risk and trying to make people laugh. I wrote twenty minutes of material last year, I think solid stuff, but threw it away because Im a loving pussy. just do it. no matter how good the material is, you're gonna do some bombing, because not every crowd is gonna be your crowd. and bombing actually becomes kind of liberating and fun if you just run with it. when i bomb, which has been a lot since i'm only three months in, i use it as an excuse to act as belligerent as i want. i did a show in easily the most hood bar in new haven, ct this week in which everyone bombed. one of the more experienced comics was trying to do some crowd work and these two girls just sat there with their arms crossed and wouldn't even answer his questions. it was amazing. and on the flip side, i also had the best set of my life this week in front of some really talented and experienced comics this week, which earned me some respect and two bookings.
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Jul 27, 2013 15:49
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Barracuda Bang! posted:I have another friend who said the same thing you did. I'm not ready with a set yet, but I'll keep it in mind and reach out if I go in that direction. Thanks, though, that's a cool offer. I hope to take you up on it one day you probably have a set already. i'm sure there's a lot of material you use in your day to day life that you can get stage-ready for your first mic.
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Aug 8, 2013 16:40
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Smerdyakov posted:In my experience, a good "storytelling" approach works approximately the same as the "lots of jokes" approach in terms of the overall number of potential laugh lines. Even if they don't all land, there should be a punchline of some kind planned every 15-30 seconds or you're going to lose people. this is something i'm working on dilligently right now. i've got this story i've been doing for like a month and getting decent to good reactions. i'm trying to come up with two or three punches towards the end and i think i'll have a really solid five/six minute bit. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9BKbJTF2q9Q
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Sep 4, 2013 04:59
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FactsAreUseless posted:My thing never ended up happening. I still have not ever participated in an open mic. Here's the story: I tried to go to an open mic night at a bakery only to discover that the person who was supposed to be organizing and hosting it never showed. Two weeks later I came back for their next one, which they promised to have a store employee set up. He was "too busy." So I just said "fine, I'll just host the next one, how hard can it be?" The person in charge told me to show up the first week of October. I did, and showed up to meet a handful of other comics and no audience. One of the comics said "Everyone thought it was next week, we just showed up to figure out what the deal was." Since we had about a 1:1 comic:audience ratio, it got moved to the following week... which I couldn't make. don't worry about the comic to audience ratio. even in nyc a ton of the mics have no audience. you can still do good work.
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Oct 29, 2013 04:51
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Barracuda Bang! posted:So, I've been trying to work on my actual joke writing skills lately, ostensibly in preparation for giving stand-up a try in a few weeks. Been trying to write a joke a day on twitter. Anyone else here use it and want to start a little name exchange? just followed. @freudmayweather i had my best week yet in comedy this week. fitting as it was the last week of my first year in comedy. first, i got a shout-out on the tuesdays with stories podcast by two of my favorite comics in the world, joe list and mark normand. then i got to open for luis j gomez on friday. then last night i showed up for the semi-final round of a lovely contest i'm in at joker's wild in new haven, but no crowd showed up, so all the comics got drunk and ate sally's pizza together while watching WWE Extreme Rules. happy anniversary to me.
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May 6, 2014 05:18
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Evil Sagan posted:How often do you repeat your own material? Like, if you went to four different places on four different nights in the same month, would you tell mostly the same jokes? Or would you, heaven help me, come up with a new 15-30 minutes of funny every week? you have to repeat the same stuff all the time. fifteen to thirty minutes a week would most likely be awful stuff. i work on new stuff at open mics and sprinkle it into bar shows, and when i work clubs i give them my most polished stuff. the repetition is what takes jokes from good to great. little tweaks you make on stage. knowing your material inside and out helps you work out and play with your timing, your body language, and cadence. everyone writes at their own pace, though. i'd just rather have a really solid 10 minutes than an undercooked half hour. those minutes may be the difference between hosting and feature spots, but it can also be the difference between having a smooth, consistently good set or having to battle the crowd all the time.
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May 21, 2014 03:31
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Karl Ontario posted:I know this thread isn't the most active, but I'm looking for some advice. I feel I'm a strong writer, and I've been told as much from some people I know in the area, but I am struggling to get my actual performance to match up with the writing. I'm very laid back on stage and I think it's preventing me from getting more consistent and potentially larger laughs. Any advice to come out of my shell a bit? To become more active on stage? Besides just "do it". i got real confident real fast by doing every lovely mic and bar show during the week, then weaseling my way into guest spots at clubs every weekend. the poo poo shows make you develop thicker skin and get so comfortable with getting nothing that your confidence is through the roof on good shows. being laid back is fine, as long as you do it confidently. i got to host for ted alexandro back in may and that guy is as laid back as it comes, but he commands attention through confidence and body language like no one else.
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Aug 12, 2014 02:57
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Love Stole the Day posted:They only did this after they were super duper famous, though. Look at Galnifinakis' first comedy central special. No beard. you're being a real weirdo about beards. dan st germain has a big beard and he's blowing up. sean donnelly, mike lawrence, literally a ton of guys who are climbing the ladder right now.
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Aug 31, 2014 12:54
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XIII posted:That said, I think we can all agree that, no matter your stance on beards, ponytails, or whatever, no one should wear shorts on stage. you gotta pay me for the privilege of not seeing my fat legs.
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Sep 6, 2014 21:06
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Sataere posted:Even though this thread is mostly dead, I'll try another question. How long do you feel you have to use "topical" material? What is a good shelf-life? depends how long the topic is relevant. i see a lot of guys still making chris browne/rihanna jokes and, even when it was relevant it would still be pretty hacky, but five years later it's insufferable.
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Sep 24, 2014 21:11
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XIII posted:Any goon comics want to exchange twitter names? I'm fairly choosy about who I follow (don't want a feed full of poo poo), but I'd be happy to follow fellow thread members. Mine is @zacfelts. I'm not good at it, but I try. i gave you a follow. i'm @freudmayweather if you wanna follow back.
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Sep 25, 2014 20:57
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Sataere posted:Oh, I get what you are saying now. Yeah, I definitely go through a big purge of words. I especially try to cut out as much setup as possible, or to at least make the setup as much of a joke in itself is possible. The big thing I've noticed with good comedians is that their setups are almost as funny as their punchlines. It is just a constant build. one thing that's helped me with this is tweeting anything funny that goes through my mind and then reading through my twitter as i'm writing in my notebook. that way if you're working on a joke about Subject A, you have a bunch of sub-140-character thoughts about Subject A which can add beats to your set-up.
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Oct 7, 2014 06:02
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Keven. Just. Keven posted:Hey quick question, if this thread is active: Does anyone know some good open mics in NYC?
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Oct 8, 2014 02:43
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Smerdyakov posted:A friend of mine gave me good advice once: he said "Don't try to be the Louie CK of open micers." It's good to always be writing and most old material just sounds stale after a few years, but don't skip the polishing step. If there's no one but comics in the room and they've all seen your act a dozen times, do some new stuff, try some riffs, whatever. But if there's any non-comic crowd at all, practice your best material. I used to not do my best stuff because I wouldn't want to risk my ego or second guess my showcase material. That's stupid though, because even the best bit falls flat sometimes for reasons you can't control, and the more polished it is the more likely you can kill hard with it in good rooms and not totally bomb in bad rooms. this is really good advice. i put more priority in being able to deliver a bulletproof guest spot than having tons of time. show the guys booking shows in your scene that you can deliver a consistent 5 and you'll get tons of guest spots to keep polishing that five, then you can use mics to build other material around that five and start moving up the ranks.
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Oct 25, 2014 13:40
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Sataere posted:So any advice on how to just practice riffing? I feel like my next time out, I'd like to spend time just trying to get audience reaction and talking. It seems like a good way of practicing being myself on stage. my advice is to not even think about riffing. just keep hammering out that same five over and over again, and once it's polished up and second nature you'll develop riffing skills during your recoveries when your nice, practiced, strong jokes don't work. (which might be like 20-40 percent of the time, depending on how many poo poo shows you're able to get yourself onto.)
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Oct 26, 2014 19:10
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XIII posted:I just bombed so hard that a random person bought me a shot and a beer. I'd call that a win. my two favorite kind of sets are as follows... 1. doing so well that a crowd member buys you booze 2. doing so terrible that a crowd member buys you booze and sometimes at bar shows you can pull a hacky power move where you ask if everyone's drinking, and when they get excited you say "well somebody send me a shot god drat it, you know how broke comedians are." i might have a drinking problem.
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Nov 8, 2014 16:21
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XIII posted:Haha, I've had a few people buy me a drink after a good set, but I've had more "that was rough, here's a beer" situations, sadly. Last night wasn't actually that bad, it was just one of those shows that couldn't have gone well. It was at a bar where we host an open mic and the owner asked if we would do comedy during the intermissions for a band at their monthly art show. The crowd was so loud that, of the 75 people in there, maybe the 5 immediately next to us could hear anything. Going into it we knew it wasn't going to go well, but they gave us all a $25 bar tab, so I would do it again. people have been trying for so long to alternate music with comedy that you think they'd get it by now. i've done shows that were comedy and then music, and that's swell. but when you listen to music at a bar you're doing it passively while bullshitting with your friends, and you can't follow that up with a form of entertainment that requires your full attention to work. even worse, i once did a show that was karaoke followed by comedy. basically an hour and a half was spent telling bar patrons that they are the stars of the evening and then they expect them to sit quietly through a comedy show? people were walking up trying to grab the mic out of comics' hands. it was awful. Sataere posted:EDIT: If anyone wants to comment on my video, feel free. I'd really love the feedback. i'd just keep working on the structure of the jokes and play with your timing and cadence. don't be afraid to sit on something for a minute so the crowd has a chance to catch up. you don't need to rush through the set.
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Nov 8, 2014 18:09
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do you guys have any lines or jokes that you hold onto for your own sake, despite nearly no one getting/liking them? i have a line in the middle of a joke where i say the most regrettable pick-up line i've ever used was "my dick is like hagler/hearns. it's short, but it's action-packed." usually 1-3 people remember the fight and laugh, but i can't stop myself from doing it every single time.
freud mayweather fucked around with this message at 22:18 on Dec 13, 2014 |
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Dec 13, 2014 20:05
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Stealth Tiger posted:Just got on stage for the first time tonight and I want to hear from some people more experienced. I guess I bombed, not too much laughter. I didn't get a feel like the crowd was really getting hooked by anything I was talking about, so I cut off a couple of my stories short and tried a few different things. I started two stories I wasn't planning on telling. My buddy I dragged there to watch me said one of those stood out as pretty good well, you've just called your jokes "stories," so you're well on your way to a successful career of seasonal organic open mics where everyone is super supportive, no one is ever forced to leave their comfort zone, and jockamo IPA's are only $4! XIII posted:Don't ask how they are. counterpoint to clarify for buffto: you've gotta greet the crowd in some way, even if it's not asking how they are. just starting jokes cold can be off-putting and start you off in a small hole unnecessarily. freud mayweather fucked around with this message at 03:35 on Jan 20, 2015 |
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Jan 20, 2015 03:32
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buffto posted:Hey now, at least I didn't declare that the crowd's first response was insufficient and requested a louder reply of how they were doing. that's a great trick on a real show, especially if you're hosting the show. some things are hard to get used to because they're so obvious and played out, but they've been proven to work. there's a lot of horseshit fuckery you've gotta swallow your pride and do because of your responsibility to all the people who paid for babysitters, tickets and drink minimums to be entertained.
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Jan 20, 2015 05:10
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I like the fact that everyone here is a stickler for resetting the mic stand. I hate when I'm hosting and someone hands me the mic when they're done. Or when an "Urban Act" drops the mic. Reset the stage, you diva! Also, if you can't find space to slip "this is my last joke" into your set, you're probably not being conversational enough. freud mayweather fucked around with this message at 22:12 on Jan 28, 2015 |
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Jan 28, 2015 22:09
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Those shows are great opportunities to riff around and have fun. gently caress the set list. Challenge yourself to change the atmosphere of the room. That will serve you better as a comic than polishing up 5 minutes that you won't be using a year from now.
freud mayweather fucked around with this message at 19:48 on Mar 3, 2015 |
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Mar 3, 2015 19:36
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Sataere posted:So interesting little anecdote I thought I would share. I was at an open mic at a bar this past Friday with the televisions on. In case you are unaware, it is March Madness, so the bar was packed full of people completely disinterested in hearing jokes. As you can imagine, it was a terrible night for everyone. One of the guys there, in anticipation of the lovely night, decided to just read excerpts from Mein Kamp from his iPhone, clearing out half the bar when it was his turn to be up. Walking the room during a bar's busiest month sounds like a great way to get the mic canceled. Some comics don't understand that at bar mics, 9 times out of 10, comics are imposing on the crowd's good time. Not the other way around.
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Mar 25, 2015 15:20
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buffto posted:Well, I had my first bomb back on Tuesday night. A non-receptive crowd coupled with all of the comics before me not doing well and myself having sub par material just made it a perfect storm of poo poo. No one did well that night. I suppose going on stage 5 times before having a bad outing isn't bad, but I really wish I could have that one back. Now you just gotta do it a hundred more times until you can have fun bombing and then you'll be bulletproof.
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May 5, 2015 11:55
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Shovelbearer posted:Friday night was one of my best experiences in stand-up. I went to a house show/party that a couple of my friends organized, just expecting to watch. It was mainly these three guys from Denver (Ian Douglas Terry, Zach Reinert and Matt Monroe) touring as "The Tighest Dudes You Know" but I saw that Mary Mack was a special guest and I really liked her album Pinch Finger Girl so I knew I'd at least enjoy her. Turns out that not only was everybody great, but I got to do 10 minutes right after the host, and that went well too. Nothing quite like doing a 10 minute set on 10 minutes notice, and having it go pretty well, in front of more veteran comics whose work you enjoy. I did have a moment where I drew a blank and had to look at my note sheet, but I was able to use "last-minute addition to the show" as a saver line. And the show was split into two parts with an intermission, with my buddy that I started comedy with hosting the second half, and his host set was the best 10 minutes I've ever seen him do. It was really cool to have both of us do well and hang with the more accomplished comics. It was a great night. It would be a great life if every night were a comedy show at someone's house with good comics and no dickheads invited. That's rad. Doing well in front of established comics is the best way to start getting paid work. I got hired at a club here because Nicest Dude In Comedy liked an audition set I did and texted the bokker while I was on stage. Then he mentioned it on his podcast and two local comics gave me bar show spots for it (which I promptly ate poo poo on, killing my 5 minutes of local buzz). Have you Denver comics worked with Kronberg before? I did a show with him where a jazz band played behind us and he had one of the greatest sets I've ever seen. He adjusted his delivery and cadence perfectly with the music and riffed some of the funniest poo poo I ever heard. freud mayweather fucked around with this message at 02:36 on Oct 27, 2015 |
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Oct 27, 2015 02:31
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Odddzy posted:I watched the set of a comedian that<s getting pretty big in my province. I'm a huge Norm Macdonald fan and I found out during the set that the comedian stole one of norms joke and just changed some small elements to it. When is it considered stealing? Are you also a comic?
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Dec 15, 2015 02:48
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Odddzy posted:No why? I was just wondering, because it seems like a broad enough idea where it could be parallel thinking, or a premise he took unconsciously. And if you were a comic I was gonna use sarcasm to make fun of you for calling him a fraud hack over something that he easily could have came to independently.
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Jan 12, 2016 02:05
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4 months in, you probably shouldn't be doing 5 minute bits on anything. Try to make it short and to the point, and if it hits keep using mics to add little twists and beats to it.
freud mayweather fucked around with this message at 16:12 on Jan 30, 2016 |
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Jan 30, 2016 16:08
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Mescal posted:My defense mechanism was to develop a masochistic enjoyment of bombing. I recommend that. It steels you. Once I started having fun bombing, I started bombing less because my fun time starts drawing people in and I began developing the ability to riff some good save lines.
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Feb 12, 2016 00:57
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Sataere posted:I think a set that will kill in a room full of comics will bomb most other places. I agree with your overall point of not writing for comics, but this sentence is super inaccurate in my experience. All my most consistent bits worked in a mic full of comics before anywhere else. It's how I know I'm onto something. The hardest place to get laughs, for me, are mics that only have a handful of comics and bar shows where the people didn't know there was gonna be comedy, so anything that works in those environments has to have legs and ends up working great at good shows. freud mayweather fucked around with this message at 15:35 on Jun 30, 2016 |
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Jun 30, 2016 15:33
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literally this big posted:Right now I've got a bunch of premises, and I need to work on turning them in to fully fledged jokes and fleshed out bits. Any advice on how to do that? Do them on stage over and over again, tweaking and experimenting with them every time.
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Jul 6, 2016 11:59
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Odddzy posted:are there good podcasts on the theory of comedy? Or rapid fire joke showcases? Features that go into why things work and how they should be done to get good? I listen to a ton of podcasts that are set up like comic hangs, like The Bonfire, YKWD, Race Wars. I have a long commute and when they start riffing on things I play along in the car. It has helped me become quicker and use funny reflexively. The stuff that helps you get the crowd on board up front and recover when a joke doesn't land.
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Nov 16, 2016 18:31
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Has anyone from your local scene ever been in hilarious trouble with the law? I found out today that this local joke theif/catchphrase comedian robbed his friend at gunpoint, then got caught because he forgot his wallet at the scene of the crime, and then texted the kid threatening him again to give his wallet back. Here's the story: http://m.ctpost.com/local/article/Bumbling-robber-faces-20-years-10897012.php We also have a comic in jail for stealing $250k worth of wine, and a couple years ago an open miccer tried to rob a gas station with a katana and the police killed him.
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Feb 17, 2017 20:03
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Smeed posted:If the criminal were any smarter I'd be surprised they were from Bridgeport. Very true. Greek Tragedy posted:He told the guy "everyone is food". Amazing. I actually read about that. The article was passed around amongst comics here. Where was it?
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Feb 19, 2017 08:10
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XxGirlKisserxX posted:I noticed in the first set, you talked about the "dot or the feather" and then you said "...which I loving hate." I think if you "loving hate" something, you should talk about why you loving hate it instead of just saying you loving hate it. Maybe return the favor, like "what kind of white guy are you, fedora or puka shells" etc. I guess in general the point is that a statement like "I loving hate this thing" should be backed up by more. Same with "I loving love this thing." But I'm not a comic yet, just a fan of comedy making an observation, take it with a grain of salt. This is very smart advice. Best of luck on your journey of disappointing townies.
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Apr 29, 2017 20:53
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Why is anyone hugging other comics at shows? Whether it's a condescending or creepy dude, or even when it's a woman who insists she's a hugger. You wouldn't hug your coworkers at your day job, right? Also, the host shouldn't be trying to piggyback any of your jokes or stories after you've closed the show. Whether it's weirdly sexist or not, no time after the headliner.
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May 4, 2017 10:57
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