Standup Comedy

General Discussion
21

What a world we live in where a Canadian is judging others on their English. You have to be the only former colony which England was okay with losing. Could be because talking to any of you guys nets you one of two people: a really angry french mime or Dudley Do-Right. It’d help if you guys could decide which is the language your country speaks. Right now its just Canada: The Anglophone Country with a Frog in its Throat.

This isn’t something that Darkstalker addressed but its important to keep in mind. You can only do material that you think people will find funny. Ultimately the audience is going to decide whether it is or not. This is related to the other things about writing jokes and whether to stretch or shorten. When you’re working on an idea, figure out a good number of ways to go about it. Its the same in writing and all other things: you need to be somewhat detached of what you create. Not everything you write is gold, not everything you write is crap, everything could be potentially funny. Sometimes the idea will be funny but you have to work on delivery or set up. You’re not going to know what needs work unless you actually do it.

Also don’t worry about working on a joke. Find an idea and then turn it into a joke. This will let you rework things from different angles. Maybe something is funny up to a point. The diatribe above may not have been funny, but it is full of ideas to either expand or discard. I looked at it a second time and some of the things were off, other parts I liked etc. But I have the idea of fucking somebody on a trampoline, having a somalian drug dealer that is still on bumfuck village time, measuring time by how much I’ve drank, a bit of self depreciating humor. Have ideas that you work on and be willing to just put them aside when they aren’t working.

The last thing I guess I could say, and I dont know if @Darkstalker would agree, is to commit to the joke. I’ve been working on a radio show for a minute and I’m trying to work out segments and skits. The hardest part is getting people to go for it. Falls flat or not, you can’t go in half assed because your body language will end up betraying you. Guess this is the part about your personality on stage. Mics have this insane way of exposing you more than a picture since your inflection will say everything for you. So yeah, commit.

If I could give you useful things:

  1. Buy a voice recorder and tell yourself the same joke in 5-6 different ways.
  2. Listen to all the differences and see which you like better.
  3. Practice those little bits and take them to an open mic.

I’m not afraid of getting on stage but for some reason I’m chicken shit when it comes to stand up. Probably because I have an incredible amount of respect for comedians so I don’t wanna shit the bed on their stage. Fear not for you are going to shit the bed multiple times. All of the great comedies have stunk up their fair share of joints. Just get through the set and then talk to other comedians. From all I’ve read they can be really supportive of each other.

Good luck though, comedy is brutally hard.

22

With a Norm McDonald delivery.

23

I’m going through my old notes now, found some packed away in my boxes. I notice a certain theme that keeps popping up on like every page of my notes. I make fun of the southern US a lot.

24

ever been there?

25

Yeah, I have family that lived in Florida, and would drive down there every so often. Spent a lot of time in Georgia. Only been to Texas once, and for 4 hours lol.

example of one of my southern ‘jokes’:

Y’all here now? Yes, w’all here now, and w’learned english first, it seems. Fuck I hate the south.

26

I sort of disagree. The first person that should find your material funny is yourself.

You are right that you are reliant on the audience’s reaction to get a good night’s worth of laughs…but I believe you can only do a really good set if you’re into your own material. That’s what you sell to other comedians and promoters - you sell your set.

What I’m saying is, get a set, one that you really enjoy doing. Polish it, make it a good set, and then make adjustments based on what you know the crowd is like tonight. All expatriate crowd? No local language jokes! Did a government official say something stupid? Political joke field day! But the base set remains mostly the same.

If the crowd really doesn’t like your style, don’t necessarily cater to them. Instead, ask what other style do you like and want to bring to the stage? It’s your show, so it’s you first. Let the crowd worry if they like it.

Exceptions are corporate or televised shows of course - you need to worry about restrictions, representatives etc so that you get PAID at the end of the night.

Yes, commit to the joke, or even better, the character. What can people buy you doing or saying? Maybe the character is they don’t buy what you’re saying.

Find it, and commit to it.

Here’s my regular opening:

I walk up on stage, head bowed down so you can’t really see my face. I take my time, I move the mic stand out of the way, come back centre stage then look up

https://instagram.com/p/8TBi63ovkT/

“I know, it’s the hair, I look like a lesbian, I look like one man Beatles cover band, I look like someone couldn’t afford the Ramones, I look like a low budget Asian cosplay…of Justin Bieber, I look like something that Super Mario eats to make himself grow big, etc” and then once I’m in the green I move onto the other material and by then they’re committed.

They **know **I talk slow, they **know **I’m observant, they know I’m kooky and I look like no one else - which implies I don’t do things like anyone else. And then I can do more outrageous material, or more untested material because I have more goodwill, I have more leeway…they’re invested.

Just want to say, 4) Record the set too. Try to figure out which parts got the most laughs - sometimes it’s not what you wrote or expected.

27

Started a reddit thread on this, as well.

Out of curiousity, what do you guys think about some of the ideas. I don’t feel strongly about the ‘no masturbation or poop jokes’ comment. I was kinda working on a joke based on the story about my buddy going to a hooker’s place while she took a dump.

28

Is all about how do you deliver the content and your character at the stage.
Outside few topics, everything is fair game.

29

I’m kinda figuring I will be more of an angry comic. I enjoy that comedy style, and most of you who have seen me post would know that’s how I generally am. I don’t want to do insult comedy (although I enjoy it).

Trying to figure a good joke about the lights at the club I’d be performing at, as well as the crazy rattling air conditioner they have above the stage. Sounds like a bar fight during a bee orgy.

Spoiler

best i got right now :stuck_out_tongue:

gonna spend the next little while reading this too:

30

I haven’t read the thread - will have a look later and let you know about the ideas.

But as for the no masturbation or poop jokes, there can be some merit to it, especially if a lot of newbies debut with that sort of joke. You don’t want to be seen immediately as “Another newbie who started with _____ joke, like every other newbie here, meh.” In Malaysia, almost every new female comedian makes jokes about their breasts (or lack thereof) and how much they have sex (or lack thereof). It was really apparent when three debuted on the same night.

That said, if that’s what you think is your best material, do it anyway. It’s not like you have so much material that you can choose not to do what you think is your best stuff when you’re just starting out.

31

Ok I read the thread, I’ll go through your concerns

Not enough material for 5 minutes
Don’t worry about it. It’s better to go under than over. If you feel you will be severely under, just inform the organiser/host and maybe the person going after you so that they know and are prepared.

Protip - If you get a massive laugh at any point, say thank you and leave. Even if it’s long before you expected to finish. You always want to leave on a high if possible.

Random ideas - Don’t know how to expand
Everyone has their own method. Some sit down and write, some meditate first, some use sticky notes. I tend to have fun talking about it to myself in long drives or in the shower. Find a system that works for you. This one’s hard because the process is very personal.

Something you can do is give yourself a deadline to present something. Maybe just tell your friend that hey, I want to run an idea to you by Monday, think you got time? Around Sunday your brain/anxiety will kick in and force you to write something, good or bad. You could also YOLO it and do that with the date of your open mic too.

Premises being niche
Not something you brought up, but still, if you feel like the premise is niche and the crowd might not get it, roll with it anyway. Just be prepared to have a backup line or two in case people don’t know what you’re talking about. I personally feel it’s fine because your joke is focused more on the fat part instead of the specific sportswear brand part.

Lasagne stool humping
If you feel it’s funny when you do it, do it. It’s that simple. If the humping is funnier than the joke, start with the joke and end with the hump, otherwise vice versa. If you feel it only works in one order well then you got it already.

Observations about room crowd
If you got some good commentary about the room tonight, it’s good to put near the start.

Let me know if I missed any.

32

I love this lol.

I need to call some of the places I know around town to see how long their open mic sets are. 3 minutes would be solid. How do you keep time on stage? Some places have lights they flash at you or something right? But some of these places are just bars haha.

33

Heh, that advice is mostly for newbies. Once you get more experience you can guarantee more big laughs but starting out a lot of newcomers overextend and then just die and die and die for the remainder of their time and can never achieve that high they got earlier in the set. That’s why I made a note to point it out.

Expect open mics to be 3 minutes, that seems standard, even when I talk to comedians from overseas or when my friends visit.

Keeping Time
I just go by feel, honestly. I know roughly how many minutes I have been on but I have a decent internal clock. Most open mics will flash you a minute before you’re supposed to get off, so start wrapping up then.

If you’re not sure the procedure, just ask the organiser, they’ll set you up. I personally have even requested “Hey can you flash at two minutes to go instead? My last bit is over a minute so I want to make sure it all fits in,” and they’re cool with that.

34

cool thanks. I think i have a couple decent jokes to start with. I’m going on a longish road trip this week so now i’ll probably talk to myself the whole drive haha.

35

I just have this mental image of Sovi3t losing it on stage like Bill Hicks:

36

Don’t get me arong, I don’t want to walk up on stage and open with “lemme tell you what I love about beating off” or something like that. I just don’t wanna toss out a good masturbation analogy if I come across one. I kinda don’t want to have any “you can’t say this” moments, in my act, I wanna feel free to be able to say what I please. Obviously I don’t wanna go up and do a five minute set on taking shits and jerking off.

I am not exactly worried about how much material I have. Just more worried about taking some of the funny stories I’ve heard in my life, and adapting them into a set, without just rambling and telling a barely amusing story. . Structure is also killing me, and the order of my jokes. I really want to be able to transition into my jokes as well, if at all possible. Sort of have a theme, and all that.

lol I’m just aiming for one laugh. But I am trying to setup my act to have my best joke at the end. I kinda think I know what I am going to end with.

Yeah, I know it is. My issue is pretty much the same as the Tapout Shirts premise. I have a moderately funny idea (wanna add I LOVE your suggestions with the tapout shirt joke, and spent a big chunk of last night working on that one single joke), but I just need to figure how to make it into an actual bunch of comedy, rather than me spouting off something funny I thought of while stoned on a Saturday night.

Trying to give myself a “do this by next wednesday” cutoff date. My city only has one comedy club that really matters (everything else would be me doing standup in an arts and crafts store that is letting some people try amateur stuff or what have you), and they do Wednesday’s open mic.

I feel the crowd will get it. Tapout is a brand of shirt I see dudes wearing at gyms all the time, or like the joke states, fat UFC fans (not WWE as you said earlier) wearing that shit like they’re part of the team or something. I’m more worried about how current it is, as I’m basically making fun of shirts that have been around for like half a decade.

I had zero intention of being a prop comic, or humping a stool at any point in my act, lol.

Last few times I went, just seemed like a bad place to even attempt open mic. It was a few drunk girls, a bunch of TERRIBLE acts, and some dude who literally just read of a list while his stoner buddies laughed. Half the club was his buddies, too. Every other act was abysmal. When I talked to Faisal earlier this week, I mentioned to him the only thing I really felt I learned at previous open mic’s, was to not be as bad as those other fuckers, and to figure out a good joke about how bright the lights are, or how loud the air conditioner over the stage is.

All of this still will leave me with how I need to perform my act itself. I’m not too worried about timing, I can just figure out how long my act is via practice practice practice. I’m going to try to shoot for 3-5 minutes. I talk somewhat fast in real life, so I really wanna practice the fuck out of that set before I go up, so I don’t blank out or waste my time going ummmm, uhhhhhh, then delivering jokes in Ferris Bueller monotone.

joke…joke…joke…

37

That’s a great place. You would’ve gotten on stage to get rid of the jitters and popped your cherry on bombing at the same time. #YouGotShook #ThatsOkayThough

38

I kinda can’t wait to bomb. I actually spent time last night trying to think of good ‘that joke bombed so hard’ jokes. I think the best one I came up with was “if that joke bombed any worse I’d be staring at Japanese children’s shadow’s burned into the wall”

39

im like 100% sure bombing is a way of life when your working on stuff/starting out/catch a bad night.

hannibal buress’s intro to his special last year (two years ago maybe? idk. probably poorly paraphrased):

it doesn’t mean im not going to want to die of shame after i actually go through with it lol.

40

From when I talked with Faisal, he grew up with the scene in both Montreal (HUGE comedy scene there), and Toronto. Basically he said the same as you. I kinda figured I’d just do open mic’s in my own city for a bit, and if I am not a complete failure at it (which is obviously a huge possibility) I could try to find some open mic’s in Toronto and see how that goes.

Like I’m legit not sitting here thinking about developing one hour HBO sets or trying out for SNL or something. I ain’t even thinking about the money. I just really wanna do this, getting over my fear and hatred of other people is probably going to be the toughest thing.