For me it's the hardest thing to do. Writing comes pretty easy but practicing a 5 minute set is almost painful. I have a microphone I bought off of a guy from Craigslist for $5, so I could simulate things in the best way possible. I also have a halogen lamp that I point in my direction. But trying to go over and practice a set within a silent apartment is like learning to play chess by myself. It's probably the biggest hurdle keeping me from going up more often.
white folks ya'll do this...not in my hood!! In my hood we...(insert black reference)
Is this a joke thread?
Do people really practice material off stage?
Go outside. I like the tension of knowing someone hears me while i practice, even if they aren't listening. I have done this outside my laundymat and in a park. I tried it on a downtown sidewalk but quickly lost my nerves.
Originally Posted by crowbar
You don't practice your set before you go up?
white folks ya'll do this...not in my hood!! In my hood we...(insert black reference)
Hm... I don't know that I truly "practice" my set anywhere besides a stage. I take iy your jokes are pretty tightly scripted from the get-go? I only ask because practicing for me anywhere but a stage can sometimes be counterintuitive. I mean, part of my writing process is talking the jokes out into a voice recorder or just out loud in my bedroom at 2:00AM, but I hardly consider it practicing. I guess my only suggestion would be to invest, if you haven't already, into a voice recorder and listen back to your ideas or practice sessions or what-have-you. Totally allows you a feel for timing and gives you a little more control of a joke.
The best investment i've made this past year, especially those first few months i was worried about having enough material to fill a 5 minute set was a voice recorder. I considered this practice for getting my timing down. Then, I'd edit things together with software on my computer. But yes, I agree... the repetitiveness of telling the same set over and over until you get it out without any hick ups or stalls can be a head ache. But telling them on stage is the best way to see what truly works.
...and then I found ten dollars.
I haven't practiced a set off-stage since before my first real comedy club set.
That's not to say you shouldn't--different strokes and all that...
But when you do your material without an audience reaction, you're really not practicing what a comedian does. You're merely practicing giving a speech. You may be learning the wrong lessons...
pg
We'll just take the fact that this was too long and that you didn't read it...as read.
yeah I do script mine, I have a 4 minute set scripted which gives me a minute to ad-lib and vibe within a 5 minute time frame. The first time I went up I blanked at the end and left the stage two minutes early but overall did a decent 3 minutes.
I practice/rehearse to get into the mindset and then try to make it look natural.
but when you do your material without an audience reaction, you're really not practicing what a comedian does. You're merely practicing giving a speech. You may be learning the wrong lessons...
Thanks PG but I was always told to practice, practice, practice before you go on stage, so for me it's been write, rehearse, take it to the stage, feedback.
Last edited by funkyrhino; September 21, 2010 at 1:42 PM.
white folks ya'll do this...not in my hood!! In my hood we...(insert black reference)
I generally don't rehearse this way anymore. Now I'm trying to leave room to write on stage for every bit so that only works with an attentive audience so very difficult to 'practice'
That being said, this is why I DO get up more. Cuz I want to practice. Now... probably doesn't hurt in terms of how to hold the mic. But you can glean that from watching comedy too.
What I mostly try to do to practice is find ways to casually go into a bit in conversation. I work at a car dealership so I'm around at least 40 different people all day. About a half dozen have senses of humor so I try to single them off at some point and then go over a bit and work on timing, improvising, and finishing strong. It also gives me insight into what types of jokes work on what types of audiences based on what things they like/don't. Allows me to practice with a reaction.
I also try to present in a very conversational manner tho so it helps me.
I'm sorry ... not sorry.
nixoncomic.wordpress.com
I audiate my jokes constantly. Just go through each one mentally and see if I can find anything else in there, and if there's another joke within it that can be found. And if it's a funny enough joke, I still find humor in it a week/month/year after I first write it.
I guess I mainly practice segues and set's. If I'm rearranging the placement of some of my jokes I'll practice going from segue to segue just to make sure I don't get on stage and completely forget what I'm doing, or end up saying "Now I'm going to talk about blah blah blah."
Eyes are the losers in the skies.
I'm the kind of guy that requires a good deal of preparation. There's certainly always going to be the "winging it" element that comes from live performance, but I feel like I need to know what I'm saying. So I practice mainly to get the material down and also to riff a little and see what I come up with. I do a lot of writing "out loud" so to speak.
I also film myself both on and offstage which has helped me a lot. It gives an audience eye view of what (and how) I'm doing and allows me to adjust and edit accordingly. The stage, of course, is the best place for "practice" but I do like the run-throughs.
I turned your post into a madlib so everyone can have fun.
Yeah, I practice none-stop when I'm working out new jokes. And yes, I use a big maglight to simulate a mic, but I don't have a huge light in my eyes, hehe.
I know a lot of people work their material out on stage, but I'm not that kind of guy...necessarily. Normally I try to write a solid 5-6 minutes on one topic. Everything that I think is funny, and then I memorize it in my apartment, and time it with a stop watch. Then, I hit the stage, and figure out exactly what is funny in that 5 minutes. Normally, 20-33% of it works, so I cut down my 5 minutes to about 1:30-45. I practice the 1:45 in my apartment, and then I go up on stage 3-5 times with just that, and get a feel for it.
Rinse, wash, and repeat with new jokes, and that's how I slowly build my material. And of course, I'll think of something to add sometimes, so I try that out and see if it works. Basically, it's an endless cycle. But for the most part, I'm not a guy who just has a premise, and goes up on stage without having anything fleshed out or memorized.
I think I'm in the middle of those two extremes - I try to script my jokes out to an extent, but then I always inevitably find new things in it onstage. I guess that's why I'm not so committed to practicing offstage into my toothbrush or whatever - if I script it TOO tightly, I fear I wouldn't vear away from it enough to discover new facets within it, and that's one of my favorite aspects of writing!
Certainly, though, I think about my jokes a lot. Maybe too much. And, I do chat to myself about them a lot. I think it'd be cool if you went up a little bit unrehearsed just to see what that's like for you. Not that I think you're doing anything wrong (it takes different strokes to move the world, after all), but it'd be a neat experiment, if nothing else.
I practice my full set in front of a mirror at least once in the 2-3 days before going up.
I usually drift a lot from it on stage to adjust to the flow, but it really helps me organize the jokes in my head if I've rehearsed them a few times.
I do the Bamford method of talking jokes out while I'm driving around. This was great when I was a courier.
You are a crazy person that talks to yourself while driving and so is Maria Bamford.
Get out of the car and go to the library and mumble to yourself with the rest of us.
I reherse while walking my dog. If by walking my dog you mean cut myself.
I also occasionally practice in front of a mirror, mainly to off-set the loss of an actual audience by spending that time working on body language and facial expressions and the like.
But these days I will often just read the bits out loud without a lot of emotion behind it just to test the flow of the wording and save feeling out the performance aspect for the stage.
I also found the car to be useful back when I commuted in a vehicle. Cellphone talkin' is now illegal in Ontario so everyone just assumes you're talking on a hands-free phone.
And I love the suggestion of practicing on the sly in a public place - what a great feeling it would be if people started to stop and listen and you suddenly were actually doing a set.
Ever practice using your verbs in the proper tense?
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