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About LinkBacksIt seems like one liner comics have the hardest time at open mikes. Are any of you guys one liner comics ? I mean I think I have good jokes it's just that no other comedians laugh.
It seems like one liner comics have the hardest time at open mikes. Are any of you guys one liner comics ? I mean I think I have good jokes it's just that no other comedians laugh.
I really hope I phrase this correctly...
My immediate response to what you just said was this: the goal is to make the audience laugh, not the other comedians. Those two things can be very different and while they often can and will overlap, you need to focus primarily on just telling jokes and not on who is laughing at them.
As long as someone is laughing, you are doing something right I would say.
I don't know how many times this needs to be said, but do what you think is funny. That's it. That's all. End of sentence.
Anything, and I mean anything else, is injecting commerce into art (how can I get better and thus make money doing this) and ruining it to a degree.
If you don't like doing it, or feel like it isn't funny, then for god's sake stop.
Could not be simpler.
Hey, check me out. I'm a ghost.
No man I love doing this, and thanks for both of your guys's (i think that's proper english) advice.Originally Posted by Scammy Davis Boogah Jr.
OK, we've located your problem. That is NOT proper English. Since brevity & pith are the "sine qua non" of a good one or two-liner, it is critical that you master the language you'll be "joke-a-lyzing" in. BUT, the way you write suggests you're a gypsy, and your people are masters of subterfuge. After a few more months in an English-speaking country, I bet you'll be making people quake with laughter via your own television show or a syndicated column. Hope this helps.
That does help, you think it's a good idea to skip live in gotham and just move onto a showtime special?
Are you having trouble with capturing the audience's attention at shows that aren't open mics/have real non-comic audiences? Or just at these open mics?
Just open mics. I've had a few shows where only about 40% of the audience got the humor and the rest just sat there staring.
I wouldn't call myself a one-liner comedian, but when I do tell one liners I've had the problem where I'll get some laughs, but intermixed with like fake overreactions like "Whoa!" "Hey there!" that kinda thing, which is almost worse than silence.
If your open-mics are basically comedians performing for audiences of other comedians, then I think a one-liner comedian can certainly run into a Tyler Durden situation...
The reaction from a comedian to a clever one-liner isn't laughter, it's more like a Brad Pitt quote from "Fight Club": "Oh, I get it. It's very clever."
Seeking validation from other comedians is a waste of time. Don't feel the need to kill at open mic. Use open mics to work on what you want to work on...what you need to get better at.
(And yes...you SHOULD want to get better at your comedy. The idea that Scammy suggests...that somehow...wanting to get better at something you do somehow "ruins it" is silly and needlessly severe--especially when you consider that Scammy isn't doing comedy... Fine for someone NOT doing something to define HOW someone that IS doing something should do that something, I guess.)
pg--How's that working out for you? Being clever.--seattle
PG has once again said all that is needed to be said, and in a small amount of space for once.
lock thread
I say try to kill at open mics, even if there are only comics in attendance try working on new material that they haven't heard before. If one day you have fans that come and see you every time you're in town they won't want to hear the same thirty minutes they heard last time they saw you. Plus if you do good at open mics people will ask you to do their booked shows where there will be a real audience, for you to work your tried and true stuff on.
Last edited by KevinLee; August 2, 2009 at 4:25 PM.
Killing at open mics is pointless unless you are at the very beginning stages of comedy. you should always try to work on new material to add to your time, but worrying about killing at every open mic will quickly lead to depression.
YOU TAKE THAT BACK!
Don't listen to these idiots.
I take back what I said. Watch open mics and see what gets the biggest laugh, then continue repeating similar material to that, regardless of how funny you personally think it is in order to get better at it. Success is only determined by how much money you make. The happiest comedians are those who ignore their instincts and repeat only the material they do that gets the biggest laugh for years and years.
PG, I didn't mean to say that wanting to get better at it ruins it, I said that shit-canning what you think is funny for the sake of making a quicker buck is what ruins it, and that a comedian that's doing work they don't necessarily like, but think it will make them successful earlier is a fucking sham, and a prime example of what is wrong with most standup.
I thought if anyone in the world would agree with my point, it would be you, but I guess I haven't paid my dues, so my opinion isn't worth shit.
Hey, check me out. I'm a ghost.
I'm going to go see what Siggers is up to.
I dont think PG was saying anything about ignoring whats funny to you and going the Raaaaaaaandy route. I wont put words in his mouth but from my own experiences I know that sometime something that is funny to you is just that, and trying to do whats just funny to you and not the audience every night is not fun and not productive.
Yeah. Successful comics generally don't keep doing material that doesn't work, even if they like it.
The reason I threw down on Scammy so hard here was that a nerve was struck...a nerve that has been struck in whatever artistic pursuit I've been involved in...
When I was in punk rock/new wave/modern rock bands...there was the dreaded "Oh, you care whether or not the audience is enjoying themselves? You actually try to learn how to play? Well...you're a poseur...compared to everyone who just either naturally has ability or fails magnificently."
When I was in the dj scene...there was the dreaded "Oh, you actually take requests and try to play music that the audience might enjoy? You don't just play the eight obscure records that only you like? Well...you're not a 'real dj'...compared to everyone who pleases only themselves or fails magnificently."
And the same is true in the alt-comedy scene--there are those who seem to think that being good at comedy just happens by "magic" and that if you have to try...or if you try to learn how to be good at it...that you're doing something wrong...that you're doing something less than pure.
I've hated that attitude...whenever and wherever I've encountered it.
Sorry, Scammy...but your post just said the wrong thing to me at the wrong time...as I've just come off a cross-continental tour that took me from Seattle to Boston and back...and everywhere in between...and in seeing how things are done everywhere else, I'm more likely now, more than ever, to stick up for everyone in the trenches who are trying to find their authentic comedic voice and understand how to harness it for the entertainment of others than ever before...
Especially against the advice of someone who isn't currently doing it trying to dictate how others should pursue their craft. Sorry, Scammy...that's how you came across to me in your post.
I'll probably get back to being my mellow self here pretty quickly...
pg--If it makes you feel better, Scammy...I know that my friend Todd Hanson from The Onion agrees with your take on comedy, that commerce is the death of it...and that approach certainly works well for him.--seattle
PS--To Kevin Lee: Note that I said "Don't feel the need to kill at open mic" rather than "Don't kill at open mic." I think that if you take the stage, you should try to make the audience laugh...but we all know comedians that do their "A" material at every open mic, like they're showing off how great they are...like it is always a competition against the other comics. To me, an open mic is something that exists to be useful to the comedians...to try to make new material work, to try to find a new connection between bits that you have, to see how making different choices might impact your results...
I was so happy to do a set at the open mic at Schuba's in Chicago the other week, that I saw you at...because after weeks of being on the road and doing either showcases or paid work...it was nice to have the freedom to work on material that I haven't quite "got" yet. I wasn't trying to have a bad set...I just didn't feel the need to kill.
I thought it went pretty well...which made me happy! Yay!
(See, I can be happy! Honest!)
PPS--Ron...you're right. I wasn't saying anything about ignoring what you think is funny. We've all seen bitter and jaded comics who hate their act...it isn't much fun for the audience if it isn't much fun for the comic. I just don't think it's an "A/B" choice--as if it's a choice between either:
A) You do what you think is funny.
OR
B) You do what is successful.
I think you can be successful doing what you think is funny...and I DEFINITELY believe you can get better at making what you think is funny work better.
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