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About LinkBacksTell funnier jokes.Originally Posted by throb36
Tell funnier jokes.
Last edited by scamboogah; December 18, 2009 at 10:42 AM.
Hey, check me out. I'm a ghost.
Okay... losing a crowd. Generally speaking, it's difficult not to start panicking a bit when you feel you're losing a crowd. It's easy to say "don't panic", but first of all, don't panic. (It may take experience to make this stick.)
Second, figure out what it is you do when you start panicking, and reverse that. For example, when I'm not having a great set, I tend to look a half-step down and rush through my material, trying to generate energy by being faster. Now, sometimes being faster works -- sometimes it's a good decision or a conscious decision. I'm not talking about those times. So when that happens, I stop. I look up. I re-focus on the audience. I speak clearly.
Now, these details are going to vary for everyone. Maybe when you start worrying, you start saying "um" a lot. Maybe you get quieter. If so, reverse that. Lock in on the external sign of the set going wrong, and fix it -- a lot of the time, the set will follow.
As for material... if you're comfortable deviating from your set list, or if you don't start with a concrete set list, go to the old stuff ASAP. Do the material you have done a million times and can do in your sleep. You need to worry about getting the audience back, not about whether you've got your act memorized.
If you're not -- I mean, I'm not. I've got a set list, and I'm fairly bound to doing that set list in order. But what I do is... well, first of all, I follow any jokes I see as risky with jokes I trust implicitly. You've got a new two-minute bit about a mule that you kind of suspect is bad, but you want to try it anyway? Follow it with a really strong bit that grabs the audience's attention. Also, don't write jokes about mules.
Another thing I'll do is have a couple "floating" one-liners, which I can throw in at any time in my set when I need a boost. If you have a couple one-liners that always work, that's one way to get them back. (If your whole set is one-liners, this may not apply.)
But yeah, the key is not panicking and re-focusing on the audience. I hate to say it, but some crowds are unsalvageable after a couple minutes. If they're not, though, staying focused is always your best bet.
Erik Charles Nielsen is a moderately funny fellow... right?
One of the skills that every comedian needs to develop--also, one of the most difficult skills for any comedian to acquire--is to train their "ears"...to recognize how the audience is reacting to what your doing from moment to moment...to understand beyond your expectations, to appreciate your efforts from THEIR perspective, rather than from what you are intending to resent...
With good "ears", a comedian can recognize why they're losing the crowd...and, if it's something they're doing, they can stop it...if it's something they need to do in order to get the crowd back, they can do it...but they have to be able to read the situation properly and choose the right adjustments.
Sometimes, a comedian can lose the audience, not just because you may have told a joke that didn't work and the audience lost confident in you...but it could also be by not being likable enough to get away with what they're trying to make jokes about...or by being too bland when following something a little edgier...
Maybe it's just something technical...like if you're not properly in the lights and the audience can't see your face, they can lose their ability to pay attention...or maybe the sound system is too loud...or maybe you accidentally mispronounced the name of something local and they start to tune you out...
Until you can start to feel what the problem might be, you won't know how to fix it...you'll just be stumbling in the dark, hoping that something you do might just get things back on track.
pg--Of course, after training your ears to recognize the problem, then you've got to actually have OPTIONS...arrows in your quivver, let's say...otherwise, you'll be stuck with awareness and no ability to alter your trajectory. It takes a lot of work...but, of course, that's why they pay us the big bucks, right?--seattle
We'll just take the fact that this was too long and that you didn't read it...as read.
This is the best advice you'll ever receive.
I didn't read through everything here, so sorry if this was covered.
Does anyone do anything to get their brain warmed up before a show? Are there mental exercises that you use to get your momentum going BEFORE the stage? Sort of like what improv people do, only for an individual?
Last edited by StinkyPete; December 22, 2009 at 4:08 PM.
Wow, I don't think reading this whole thread will help you with that. You are definitely going to need bootcamp.
Wha?
If I post the link people will hate me.Wha?
How about you post the link so I can hate you, and then tell everyone else not to look at it.
Its my paypal account that's why.
I'm a shirtless guy microwaving some lasagna.
One technique I've figured out is that if I'm not having a good set I'll acknowledge it. Usually sarcastically. "Wow, I'm killing tonight." or "You guys need to take it down
a notch". That will usually get a laugh or two going. Pointing out whatever is going on in the room will usually relax people.
...ONCE. And then you'd better come back with something funny that re-establishes your credibility.
There is little worse than watching a performer who isn't funny who also makes comments during their performance about how not funny they are...that makes everyone in the audience feel like their time is being wasted. That makes people angry. It is often quite difficult to make angry people laugh...especially when they're angry at you for not making them laugh.
(The one way this can get worse is for an audience to be presented with a steady stream of comics who keep using this trick to get a sympathy laugh.)
Another way that this trick can backfire is if you start to like the laughs that dropping a "saver" line gives you...and you start using them even if you're doing fine. (Call it Jay London syndrome.) Most audiences won't know your act, won't know how well you do other places...so, if they are enjoying themselves but you keep telling them that you're not being that funny, they will start to doubt themselves and their reactions...and that can make audiences self-conscious about their reactions...and that can make them angry.
Being in the moment is important. Using a saver line to right the ship and move forward is a good technique. Just don't forget that simply by being on stage with a microphone in your hand, and having all the chairs facing in your direction, gives you a certain amount of authority and credibility...and if you squander that, your job will become more difficult.
pg--Happy Boxing Day--seattle
We'll just take the fact that this was too long and that you didn't read it...as read.
Agreed with everything you said. You don't want to overuse that technique in the course of a set. Pointing out you suck, repeatedly, will make people think you suck whether you actually do suck or not. But sometimes a quick little, self-deprecating bailout line can help win people back over, in my experience.
Oh, I'm against that. It seems to me like that's a tactic where you're trying to recharge your set, but if it fails, the hit doesn't just go against you, it goes against the credibility of the show as a whole. You're basically gambling the whole show's money there, and you don't have that right, even in small doses. But then again, I'm pretty hard-line about this issue.
(As always, this doesn't apply if these kinds of self-deprecating comments are part of your act, and you can pull them off in a way that makes it apparent that you're a professional. I call this exception "Kindler's Corollary.")
Erik Charles Nielsen is a moderately funny fellow... right?
I've found that you can play that card just once per set. Joke bombs...play that card, you'll get laughs and sympathy. Play that card a second time, you begin to lose them. Third time and you're toast.
This thread hasn't been updated in a few months, so hopefully somebody will see this!
I've started doing open mics in LA, and it's been pretty interesting. I've done about 9 so far to varying success.
My biggest hurdle is getting over stage anxiety. I realize that it's a normal thing for professionals or whatever, but it's been killing my energy and making me forget my jokes (really).
My question is: how many times have you experienced folk gone up before you were over your stage fright? Or are there any "industry secrets" to killing stage fright that I should know about (besides alcohol)?
with anything new you go through a conditioning process. I don't think there are any secrets, potions, pills or anxiety butter (I'm working on a butter that you spread on your chest to calm your nerves) that will cure that. Did you ever see Comedian documentary with Jerry Seinfield - to hear him talk about how nervous he is going up after being involved in comedy since 1979 lets you know that even the veterans still get a bit jittery. A buddy of mine
played in a NCAA national championship game and told me he threw up before the Final Four and before the championship. 5 minutes in the game he was relaxed.
The first time you porked a girl or started a new job I'll bet you were a bit nervous. Even the 2nd and 3rd time. It wasn't until weeks and months rolled by that you felt you had the hang of it. It's all conditioning.
Yeah, the only way to get over stage fright is to just keep going up. Your first year, at least, of doing stand up will be a process of learning how to be comfortable and relaxed on stage.
A couple small physical therapy tricks that can help with frayed nerves: In the few minutes before your set 1) Take slow, deep breaths. 2) Notice where your body is storing its tension. When you're nervous, your muscles will tense without you realizing it. If you stop and take stock of where that tension is residing - maybe it's your shoulders, legs, back, whatever - you can relax the muscles that you didn't even realize you were tensing.
I've been doing stand up for about five months, and gone up atleast twenty times and the last time I did it was the first time I honestly didn't feel nervous. The reasons why was because I literally didn't think about it.
I know it sounds weird but I literally didn't think about how I was going to go up and tell five minutes of jokes to fifty people I didn't know that they may or may not laugh at. I watched the show, I thought about my jokes, but I just didn't get into as much as I usually do. I don't know if it's something that I would have been able to do the second time I was going up, but I was able to do it that night, and I actually did ok.
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