How to middle?

[Phil]

I have a chance to middle this week, got 20+ minutes or so (Yannis Pappas is headlining). Got any tips?

So far my plan is:

- Start off with real short stuff, then move to longer bits, then end off on a story or two. Usually I don't pay attention to length of bits, I just group by topic - but I think the slow acceleration upwards could be good? Or maybe the element of surprise is better - like doing a long bit then sneak in a one-liner - it catches the crowd off guard, makes me unpredictable, and keeps the crowd alert and excited for more.

- I'm not going to put my blue stuff at the end. I don't do too many blue jokes, maybe one or two, but I always do them at the end - and I'd hate it if people remember me as a blue comic. So why not a surprise blowjob joke in the middle of my set?

- Don't do crowd work? I never do crowd work, and don't plan to - but I just heard of Comedy and Everything Else (I think it was from there) that the headliners had when the middles do crowd work. Any truth in that?

- Have something special in the middle to break up the monotony? The couple times I've done longer sets, I wrote something special and pulled out a paper and read to the audience - Like here I read funny user reviews of the Bible from Amazon.com. It really worked and almost acted as an intermission of sorts, and I felt like it broke up the monotony of just standing there talking.

...what else am I should do? Not do? Keep in mind?

I've done a couple 20+ minute shows in the past, and always had a ball. People really warm up to you and after 10-15 mins you own them (hopefully) and can experiment with anything. I can't wait.

Thoughts?

[pg13]

Typically, in the "North American"-style comedy show...the middle act (or "feature") is expected to do 25-30 minutes of tight, material-based comedy.

The host gets the show going, the feature delivers laughter, and that sets up the headliner to make the night special.

A lot of people believe that the feature should not do any crowd work (the hidden message there is, if you're doing crowd work as a feature, it means you don't have enough material to actually handle the job of being a feature--a feature shouldn't have to stretch to do their 30, they should have 30 SOLID). The reasoning behind this is--the host might do some crowd work to unfold the arms and to connect the room with the show...and the headliner should be allowed to do whatever he/she might want with a room set up well for him/her...but if the feature does crowd work, the feature could potentially poison the room with crowd work done bad or exhaust crowd work opportunities that the headliner might have wanted to work with...

...but that's more of an unwritten rule and not followed, in any way, religiously. Of course, the more old school your headliner is...the less likely he/she is to be happy that you're doing crowd work out of the middle slot.

I don't think there's any particular value to making your jokes longer and longer through your set until by the end you're regaling them with War & Peace in between punchlines. Obviously, starting a crowd off with quick snappy jokes is a good way to build momentum...and just as obviously, a story-based joke will work better once the audience has a sense of who you are... However, you may find that varying the length of your jokes--slipping a quick one-liner into a story, for example--works better than simply putting out a set list based on hitting "sort by length" from your joke Excel spreadsheet and rigidly going top to bottom...

Similarly, if you do your set right...there shouldn't be a need for an "intermission" in a 25-30 minute tight, material-based set. How you incorporate a signature stunt is more a matter of taste...some like to do it closer to the end.

(I worry a little about your just "reading funny user comments", Phil...because it sounds like you're merely acting as a curator of other people's efforts. Even in alt-comedy, which has a lot of tolerance for people finding and sharing odd curios from found sources of accidental humor...it is still expected that the comedian add their own reaction, create their own context so they can actually claim some authorship of the bit. For example, for years I've done a signature stunt regarding various found "funny headlines"--but for every headline/news story, I've written my own joke which is where the real laugh comes from...so, it's not just me basically duplicating Fark.com on stage...it's still me, showing my comedic abilities...just with the set-up coming from actual news stories.)

And again, the more old school the headliner you're working with...the less likely they want to imagine you "experimenting" with their audience at all. As the middle, you're simply expected to come with the funny.

Best of luck...and, even with my having given your questions some answers here, try not to overthink things... What you're doing is obviously working for you...trust it and trust that whatever happens with this opportunity, you'll learn something and be even better next time.

pg--And, just for your own humility's sake...remember that getting the chance to middle and BEING a middle are two very different things.--seattle

[Phil]

Another awesome reply, cheers pg!!