I just want to hide in the back and avoid being part of the show or being used in crowd work. Do they assign seating?

As the title says, just wanted to share my experience just for my own sake, but maybe some other newbies can take some inspiration from this. Went up for my first ever 3 minutes of standup, didn't go super well. Got some laughs/chuckles, but probably would rate it a 3/10 in terms of crowd reception. It was frightening and embarrassing, but strangely cathartic. Most of it is just the fact that I went up and faced it like a grown-ass man, but also realizing I really don't care as much anymore about people disliking me (for lack of a better term) as I used to.

I obviously want to get to a point where I'm killing, but since I've most likely got a lot of shows like this ahead of me, I'm feeling strangely optimistic. Looking forward to getting up again and either bombing or doing better on my next mic.

I'm constantly going over material in my head and, every once in awhile, I'll find some little twist, tag, or modification to a joke I've already performed and refined many times. I'm just wondering if anyone has done this to what they think is a fully finished joke and actually made it worse. Is there a right time to just lock it down and say "no more changes"?

I’m no comedian (where did I hear that before) but I am seeing a ton of clips on TT of comedians doing crowd work. It seems to me, a person that is not a comedian, that doing crowd work is “easier” than having a set of jokes prepared. Lots of the crowd work is really just making people feel uncomfortable, which the crowd will laugh at, because that’s human nature. Or am I off base and it’s on par with the more traditional standup routine? Thanks for your thoughts.

I've been going through Adam Bloom's book "Finding your comic genius". Great read and would recommend it if you are looking at an aspect of comedy in-depth.

In the book he mentions about different comedy styles, a couple that I'm trying to understand is 'playful' and 'heartfelt'.

Could anyone who has read the book elaborate on an example of what playful or heartfelt comedy style would look like? Just so I can watch that on YouTube. 🙂

A local guy in my scene was nice enough to give me a spot on his show. He asked me to send him a bio. I'm almost 2 years in but I don't really have credits per se, besides having grinded mics for a while and performed on a few shows here and there. Any tips on how to write a good bio as a beginner?

We can probably all think of our favorite one liner jokes from Rodney Dangerfield, Steven Wright, Emo Philips, Mitch Hedberg, Demetri Martin, Anthony Jeselnik, etc. But what are your favorite “One Liner” type jokes from non setup-punchline comics?

A few of my favorites:

I couldn’t get tickets to the Olympic synchronized swimming. So instead, I watched a woman drown through a kaleidoscope. - Frankie Boyle

I never fucked a 10, but one night I fucked five 2s. - George carlin

My ex-girlfriend had a really weird fetish. She liked to dress up as herself and act like a fucking bitch all the time. - Bo Burnham

I've been playing this game with my friends for a few weeks. One of us says the setup to a joke by a pro comic. Everyone else has to guess the punchline. Each wrong guess reveals more and more of the punchline.

Let's do it here!

Here's the setup to a Ralph Barbosa Joke:

I love buying sneakers [for my 2 year old son]. Last week I went a little crazy and bought us like 8 pairs of shoes. 4 for me, 4 for my baby boy.

Hint 1:

!I love buying sneakers [for my 2 year old son]. Last week I went a little crazy and bought us like 8 pairs of shoes. 4 for me, 4 for my baby boy. He doesn't fit!<

Hint 2:

!I love buying sneakers [for my 2 year old son]. Last week I went a little crazy and bought us like 8 pairs of shoes. 4 for me, 4 for my baby boy. He doesn't fit into a size 9 yet!<

Hint 3:

!I love buying sneakers [for my 2 year old son]. Last week I went a little crazy and bought us like 8 pairs of shoes. 4 for me, 4 for my baby boy. He doesn't fit into a size 9 yet so I just wear!<

And here's the final joke:
https://youtu.be/Dtt3RAn2W9Y?t=184

If you thought of an alternative punchline, please share it!

This is the one we did last week

I don't mean "what are THE rules?", like don't run the light, don't blame the audience.

What are YOUR rules that you privately hold yourself to?

I feel like a lot of us must have these.

Any Crowd work analysis/ breakdowns or a book on how to get better ?

I posted a while back about doing my first open-mic and what to do from there. So I watched the video and did the following:

• Same set, but a new joke early on. Kind of a longer joke (1-minute).
• Paused more instead of rushing through material.
• Got rid of "Ummm" and filler sounds.
• Got up on stage and waited a few seconds to "gather the room".

I did everything better than first time, imo. Did everything above. BUT I got way fewer laughs? Some other comedians said I was technically better but sometimes the crowd just doesn't dig what you're saying. Are they just being kind? :D

Here's what I think happened (with all my vast experience in stand-up):

1. It wasn't my first time so people weren't as nice (the MC told the audience it was my first time last time).
2. The new joke that I thought was hot shit bombed and I lost momentum.
3. I might have come across as too rehearsed compared to the first time?

My set is pretty much exclusively related to my ethnicity and origins, which feels like a hack and idk, predictable? Would like to switch topic but I know I have some good bits in the set so it would be like starting over. Maybe better to start with a new set now rather than later?

Appreciate any advice.

EDIT: Obviously I'm joking about quitting.

Hey y’all,

I started doing comedy as a hobby again this year to keep from going stir-crazy while I’m unemployed (after doing like 3 open mics before covid hit). I put together a backyard show and did an extended set to capture my favorite stuff I’ve done from this year. I’m looking for feedback specific to my style, delivery, etc.

https://youtu.be/28E2u-oEzr4?si=mRaiSKpNTcY0Cvxd

I’m also looking for open feedback on how to structure a show that at least isn’t gonna cost me money to host. For example, an idea I thought about is $5 entry includes a beer and submitting a topic into a bucket that comedians riff off of for 2-3m of their time + tiered stage time to entice comics to bring more people. I’d love to do backyard shows more regularly but it was a lot of work and cost me a bit.

Peace and love, Armen the Armenian

[Title]

Disclaimer: respect to any comedian who gets enough bookings to go on tour. They are go-getters and deserve whatever they earn. I don't think I'm better than them.

I've been seeing posts of various new-ish comedians with their multi-city tour dates. However, with some of these people, when I listen to their jokes on YouTube or Instagram, I barely even get a single chuckle out. I see much funnier amateurs with several months of experience at open mics.

What happens to these people on tour? Do they lose money from low bookings, or do they usually end up doing well regardless? And how are they getting multi-city bookings with such low skill levels?

Sup guys,

I recently started doing open mics in NYC, I did a few mics got laughs and people generally liked me. I thought I was hot shit but brought a friend to film a few sets and bombed horribly. Like people were coming up to me and telling me it took a lot of confidence to get up.

This in itself isn’t a big deal, I’m excited to grow and learn to land my delivery better but the annoying part is I got booked to do 8 minutes that I invited my parents and close friends to come to. I can barely get through 5 and I’m lowkey panicking. Any tips on easy things I can talk about that can get laughs? Any advice helps. I’m planning on either doing some easy lighthearted stuff on everyday stuff or just forcing my way through some edgy material but idk.

In Paris, they’re often in the front rows, and it can be awkward to have them there, especially when the show touches on sensitive or darker topics.

Anyone know who this is? TIA

Hi everyone! I'm rounding out my second year of standup, first year of producing, and I'd appreciate some advice on how you've had the best returns on marketing your productions.

Context, I work with a local club and produced eight shows there in the past year. They are typically showcases, and I have a reoccurring, themed showcase I run every other month. I have a lot of interest of comics (which feels great!) but only move 1/4-1/2 the room. I make my own event promo, individual promo for the comics, and then post across our socials. The club hosts the Eventbrite and generates an email blast the week-of.

Any advice on marketing channels, posting timelines, strategies etc. would be welcome as I pitch another year of productions to the club!

I'm already hip to the open mic scene in my city. I'm making connections with other comedians.

I see the most common advice is to keep doing open mics, is that really the key? I just keep doing them and hope someone sees it and books me? I don't mind at all. I'm loving every minute of it and the practice never goes to waste, but if there are other avenues I should be pursuing, I'd love to hear it.

When i say clash I don't mean they hate each other. I mean now we have a time where comedians are trying to be extremely edgy and go against cancel culture and some are getting extremely politically correct to survive well in it. Correct me if im wrong

One day you too could bomb so hard you derail an election.

Saw Attell at Cobb's last night, and he crushed. On the way home, uber driver said he was a comedy fan too but had never heard of him. Said I should check out Gary Owen who's "a real A-lister".

I'm sure Gary's great but definitely not A-list much less on a level anywhere close to Attell. I needed to vent that this guy's an idiot. Thank you.

This is a sub about standup comedy. His "set" can be discussed, but post your takes in one of the existing threads so this doesn't become a sub about him in particular.

Yes, this is of course in light of Tony Hinchcliffe’s big time fuck up at the Trump rally yesterday. I just remember getting into standup comedy because of people like Carlin, Stanhope, Hicks, Maron, Mooney; all people who were challenging the system rather than being a part of it. The conservatives were more the exception, of course the more glaring and explicit one being Nick DiPaolo. Now it seems like there’s a huge conservative presence in comedy. Articles have come out accusing comedians of being alt-right, podcasts constantly flirt with conservative figures (Jordan Peterson, Alex Jones, Sam Hyde, Steven Crowder, Gavin McInnes, etc, etc….) I know political correctness might have something to do with this, but I can’t understand why comedy has turned so significantly.

Like if you can change something's about the occupation and genre as of now what would you change ? And what needs to be changed?

I am a 19 year old college student. I’m studying business and absolutely hate it. Not even the academic portion, (I’m a fairly good student) but really just the thought that my life after college at this rate will be in a cubicle working a miserable 9-5 that isn’t fulfilling. I’ve been in love with standup for at least a decade now. It’s been a part of my life everyday, whether it’s consuming it or creating it.

I finally feel like I’m at the age where I can be taken seriously on stage and have been working on some material that I think is really solid. A recent love for KillTony has also accentuated my passion for comedy and after watching and listening to so many minutes I think I can handle myself on stage. It has also really fueled my desire to perform and practically everyday I dream of myself on that stage.

I guess what I’m really getting at here is am I delusional? I feel like my dreams are too big but at the end of the day I think that the regret of failing will no where near compare to the regret of not knowing.

I plan on going to my first open mic on Wednesday and I am also interested if anyone here has some advice that they wish they had heard before their first time on stage. Another thing that I’ve always been curious about is how do comedians make it? Like is it just a matter of being at the right place at the right time? Do people go to open mics to scout new talent? Or even a mix of both. At what point in people careers (in this sub) did you start getting paid gigs?

One of my biggest pet peeves when listening to standup is when the comic is so overly rehearsed that all emotion is lost: When I get on stage l want to be someone, I don’t want to just rehearse the words I’ve written, I want to perform them. What is a good way to avoid this roadblock? How can I familiarize myself with my material well enough without performing a speech. (I understand that I am writing the stuff and it is all memorized, I’m more so getting at transitions between jokes and having my set be fluid)

Before anyone tells me, I know I’m way in over my head. 😂 I just really am so passionate about this and want to give it my best shot.

Hi all,

I hope you’re doing well! Lately I’ve been drinking a Celsius and a spoonful of Kratom before I go on stage and feel zoned in. Anyone else like drinking caffeine (either coffee or energy drinks) before or when you’re on stage?