Surviving your 2nd - 22nd stand-up performance...

[Phil]

I've heard this story alot: You try stand-up for the first time, you didn't suck, maybe even you killed. Then your 2nd to like 22nd performance you sucked for no apparent reason.

I just tried my first stand-up Wednesday night (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rMFiE61PJxA) and think I did well, was even approached after my set to perform at another club next week. I'm hoping not to suck my 2nd time out, although I know you gotta eventually bomb soon.

Any tips for a person doing their 2nd performance? What should I look out for? My guesses as to why my 1st time would be great and 2nd time would be shit are...

- You get cocky
- 1st time you practiced 100 times, 2nd time you practice 0 times
- Your friends aren't out there to support you
- You got lucky your first time 'round

????

[punkdc]

For me, I really think it is not to over think that first performance. My first performance was a surprise, so when I started to think about it I kinda got into that 2nd slump.

[ericluxury]

i was not a successful comedian, but i think none of the successful comedians of this board will answer your question. I did do it probably about 100 times or so. The 2nd performance is a lot like the first one only you aren't completely in the dark about what to expect. You will be scared and uncomfortable for a long time. All you can do is try your best to be good and loosen up and recognize that it takes a long time.

[Phil]

One thing I disagree with (since I'm such the expert now after trying it once) that alot of people have told me on this forum: "Don't waste your time on those stupid comedy books, just get up there and do it!"

Reading those stupid comedy books helped me avoid those beginner mistakes, and made me feel much more confident during my first performance. I first picked up a stand-up book in July. Maybe if I would have taken people's advice I would have got up there in November instead of February, but I don't think I would have done as well and may been clueless as to what went wrong.

[Jawa]

One thing I disagree with (since I'm such the expert now after trying it once) that alot of people have told me on this forum: "Don't waste your time on those stupid comedy books, just get up there and do it!"

Reading those stupid comedy books helped me avoid those beginner mistakes, and made me feel much more confident during my first performance. I first picked up a stand-up book in July. Maybe if I would have taken people's advice I would have got up there in November instead of February, but I don't think I would have done as well and may been clueless as to what went wrong.

You're forgetting that many of the established comics who say ignore the books usually add the caveat "(excepting for comics in Finland, of course)".

Whether you get the advice you seek or not, I think sharing your progress as you continue your standup adventure could be enlightening/entertaining/etc. for many on the board.

Good luck to you.

[ericluxury]

I think the reason people say that is that not making rookie mistakes can lead to an over-careful approach that will impede your development as much as making those mistakes and that for almost anyone who is good, it takes them years of learning. Basically that if you had started in July instead of started reading those books, you would be better now and would have that $15 back. But there is no hard and fast rule to getting past the debilitating stage freight that most people have so reading those books could be fine.

[Gene George]

I think this "don't need to use books" thing can be amended to "there is no substitute for stage time to develop as a comedian." Books might teach you some things but in no way does it compare to DOING comedy. Talking about it on AST is no substitute for doing it. You broke the seal now you need to get good. For a lot of people it is all about the fear of public speaking. Getting on stage and making a series of prepared remarks is hard in and of itself, but if you love doing it you'll do it.

Keep taping yourself doing it. Open up your jokes a little more (hard to do in a 3- minute open mic sometimes). Keep writing and adding things. Watch as many comics good and bad as you can. Listen to them talk about comedy. But above all perform, perform, perform.

[KevinLee]

I've heard it said that laughter is the sound of suprise. I think Bill Cosby said that. It was either Cosby or Jeffery Dahmer. Anyways there have been studies that show that people laugh when a new connection is made in the brain. thats why its hard to laugh at a joke that youve heard before. the human brain is a pattern recognizing machine. if the audience knows where the joke is going from the setup they wont laugh at the punchline or they might laugh before the punchline. I would say in order to not suck the second time, try new material or do the same set in front of a different audience.

[badinia]

OK, this response is crossing so many nerd genres, but I really liked something that Jon Glaser was discussing on the Best Show this week- an amateur golfer says to a pro, I choked out there, and the pro says, you're not good enough to choke- anything good that you do is luck. I found that my first year in stand-up was like that- if I got good response, there was a lot of luck involved. I got kind of superstitious when I killed at a venue, and wouldn't want to go back in case it didn't happen again. If there was one thing I could import to new stand-ups, it's the number of times you have to go up not just to be funny, but to be CONSISTENTLY funny and predictably funny, to be CONFIDENT you can wring laughs out of the people. Don't overthink your first or second or fifth or twentieth time, just try to notice and learn and record, and keep writing and editing and reworking. The good thing is that the process of learning and performing, and meeting people and doing shows for love and for money, is really fun.

[klorjne]

Pretty much every time since my first (with the exception of one I just did) I've sucked. It's definitely taught me a lot, but I'd say be way more prepared then I've been, I got lucky my first time

[Gene George]

I really think open mics, at least in LA, are a totally different animal. They are usually not in front of a paying crowd of non-comics so reactions are not the same as performing for "civilians".

[darrylduffy]

guys i have my Jordan performance tomorrow (23rd) tomorrow and i don't know what to do.

[Gene George]

guys i have my Jordan performance tomorrow (23rd) tomorrow and i don't know what to do.

Break a leg?

[Barmy Man]

Make it a slam dunk.

You'll need the momentum heading into your Jack Bauer.

[Alex Mac]

I don't know what most people have said since I've only glossed over the posts but once important thing to remember is that any room from a cafe open mic to a club show with a crowd of 100 people is just a room. You've already done better than anyone who may want to mock you or give you a hard time. You're courageous enough to present yourself in front of a room of strangers. That is one ego boost which you are allowed to hold on to. That you are doing something which many people are statistically afraid to do.

[DJ Sam]

I've been facing some of the same demons into my now 4th open mic. Does anyone have any advice on performing at music open mics? Those are the only ones in my city that aren't 21+, and I'm pretty confident except for the fact that I feel totally out of place and unwanted by the crowds who came for music/poetry.

[Phil]

I really think open mics, at least in LA, are a totally different animal. They are usually not in front of a paying crowd of non-comics so reactions are not the same as performing for "civilians".

I've heard that comics won't laugh at other comics cause they don't want other comics getting more laughs than themselves - which I'm sure is true for some people, but I found that I was so nervous before my set, I wasn't laughing at anything. And after my set, I was thinking about my set and taking notes, so again no laughing.

[Cameron]

I've been facing some of the same demons into my now 4th open mic. Does anyone have any advice on performing at music open mics? Those are the only ones in my city that aren't 21+, and I'm pretty confident except for the fact that I feel totally out of place and unwanted by the crowds who came for music/poetry.

In my experience with everthing open mics people are open to hearing comedy (it's something a bit different, I suppose), but they seem to be very selective about what they laugh at. Maybe it's because the ones I've been to have been kind of hippie-ish, but they seem to get offended incredibly easy. I have a joke in which I use the word the faggot, and as soon as they heard that word they shut down and weren't going to laugh at anything else in my set.

[pg13]

I've heard that comics won't laugh at other comics cause they don't want other comics getting more laughs than themselves - which I'm sure is true for some people, but I found that I was so nervous before my set, I wasn't laughing at anything. And after my set, I was thinking about my set and taking notes, so again no laughing.

Depends on your scene...but I know that many of the dickish traits assigned to comics in general don't seem to be true in the scene that I came up in. Paranoia and neurosis run deep, though...make of that what you will.

One of the sad truths of doing comedy is that you often lose your natural laugh reaction when you're simply experiencing comedy. (True of most things...if you work at a pizza restaurant, you'll lose your taste for pizza...if you dj, you tend not to go out dancing...etc.) You start to see the puppet strings...you notice the mechanics that used to seem like magic...you start to nod and appreciate things that used to make you laugh.

I will say this...the loudest a comic will EVER laugh at you is when you've either fucked up or gone completely off the rails. And yet, they're really not necessarily laughing AT you...they're laughing because they've been there and they KNOW what it feels like...

And, because it's a surprise...and comedy is all about surprise.



ONE MORE THOUGHT...you wondered why sets #2-22 can be more difficult than set #1. Part of the magic of comedy is that comedians make it seem like what they're saying has just popped into their head just microseconds before it came out of their mouths. THAT IS A SKILL THAT MUST BE ACQUIRED AND HONED.

Now, the FIRST time you go up on stage...it's pretty easy to make it seem like this is the first time you've told a group of strangers what you want to tell them...because it IS. The NEXT time, it isn't...so, you suddenly have to utilize a skill you have had no opportunity to acquire or hone.

At this stage of your comedy development, you need to get past the idea that performing at an open mic is anything special. You're a swimmer who needs to get your laps in, you're a boxer that needs to jump rope, you're a pianist who has to practice your scales. You slog it out...to develop knowledge that you can't learn other than to do it and react to it...to hone skills that there's no way to intellectually master without the direct experience.

I remember when I was starting out...there were two things that put everything into perspective. One was reading that Elayne Boosler described how she'd bombed for FIVE YEARS before things fell into place for her finding her voice and her consistency. The other one was watching Jerry Seinfeld-Comedian...learning how long it takes to really build good material, watching Jerry lose his train of thought as he works out brand new stuff in front of an unimpressed audience, and hearing Jerry say, "In this business, it doesn't get any bigger than me...and it's still...shit."

It's a process. There's a learning curve. This doesn't happen just because you want it. It happens when you've outlasted everyone else who gave up before it happened to them.

pg--I just opened for Joan Rivers earlier tonight...and it was an amazing experience. I can't imagine that there's anything that she's never seen, anything that she couldn't handle. Then, I talked to her road manager who said that just the other night, in Wisconsin, she had to ask management to kick out a persistent intrusive drunken shouter during her show...something she'd NEVER had to do before in her career.--seattle

[Gene George]

I've heard that comics won't laugh at other comics cause they don't want other comics getting more laughs than themselves - which I'm sure is true for some people, but I found that I was so nervous before my set, I wasn't laughing at anything. And after my set, I was thinking about my set and taking notes, so again no laughing.

I don't think that's necessarily true, although it's possible. My experience is that most comics are looking to prep for their set and go up, the audience is the green room so to speak and when it's a 20 person list of comics and there's 21 people in the room including the MC it's just a different vibe. You're there to do your set and not there to have a laugh and be entertained per se. So it's more about working on the words and ideas and the audience is less important in some ways.

I try and pay attention and laugh if I think things are funny, but even I'm guilty of writing notes and last minute set list editing. Open mics are the place for that. What LA needs is more "workout rooms" with real crowds.

Here's the analogy I came up with just now. Open mics are like those wig heads at the barber college that trainees start out cutting hair on. The wig head didn't pay and won't complain. A workout room is more like the barber college barbershop. Sure the haircut might be $5 but you have a real live person in your chair who expects a decent haircut. Wow all those years of having parents too cheap to send me to a real barber just PAID OFF!