What are your goals for this year?

[Vercetti]

So far this year:

1. Hit up more venues. Get out of my bubble and get into the scene a little more.

Yep, did this.

2. Keep writing and doing my thing.

Yeah, I stopped writing jokes. It was a bad habit.

Okay, yes, I did this too.

3. Maybe try hosting.

I've done a good bit of this actually. Check this fucker right the fuck off.


4. Lose weight.

Eh, not really. But it's not comedy so it doesn't count.

5. Accomplish at least a
couple of these things.

Done!

6. Not rely on having the set list on stage as much. I'm getting better with this, though.

I've gotten away from the reliance on setlists and just kind of plan before I hit the stage. So check!

7. Totally rock the Houston's Funniest contest.

Done. With ease!

8. Get a guest spot or two at one of the local clubs.

Still working on this one. But doors are open so I'm hopeful I'll get this done in the near future.

[jonathantincher]

1. Develop writing process so that jokes are as polished as possible before first performed.

2. Find an open mic where I can regularly go and feel comfortable.

3. Host a show.

4. Get a guest spot.

5. Create a coherent, linked together set.

6. Stop curling the mike chord.

7. Keep writing.

8. Spend time in New York watching and performing.

9. Make new comedy friends.

[Phil]

So, let me guess...years are only five months long in Finland?

One winter last year in Finland. :-)

QUOTE=pg13;173829]pg--You're really not having fun on stage, Phil? What's the point?--pacific northwest[/QUOTE]

I enjoy writing, editing, talking about comedy...so the entire week of comedy, just not those 10 minutes on stage.

Or maybe nothing will ever be "fun" compared to college and raves.

[nickyp123]

1. Start doing open mics at least once a week.
2. Try writing for a sketch group.
3. Try writing for any comedy thing publication webshort etc.

If anyone knows anybody in need of comedy writers in the Columbus area would be happy to try. No real experience but will work for free if it's funny. Sketch groups, lampoons, anything!

[nixonjames]

So...
I'd say for the next 12 months...

1. Get closer to my voice. Work on all styles of material til i find the niche I fit best in. Trying to focus on social commentary and anger improv.
2. Solidfy my TV 5.
3. Have 3 A+ 5minute sets so I can consider festivals.
4. Put together my promo pack.
5. Start/co-host a night.

[mike_b]

1.) Get my podcast off the ground, because America deserves another comedy podcast.

2.) Don't die.

[AliasRomanian]

1. Get a new 10 minute set (I only have 5 minutes as of May 15)
My style has gotten more dark and doesn't mix as well with my older jokes so I'm only around 7 minutes right now
2. Become a regular at a comedy club in or around Los Angeles.
Nope
3. Go on a mini west coast tour with a few fellow comics.
Also Nope

So much other life stuff has happened this year that I realized that stand up will always be a hobby for me and I'm okay with that.

[Siggers]

I scored two of my goals this year

- to gain a viral video a video that is funny and has hundreds of thousands or millions of people loving it.
-50,000 Subscribers. On my Youtube page.

[ASR]

Let's check in:

1. Develop a solid 15 minute set, and then get bored with it quickly before throwing it all out starting over only to return to it a few months later.
Done. I have a GOOD 15 minutes. I mean, I can do about 20-25 minutes but only 15 of it will be good.
2. Get paid for a gig. Just once, that's all. It's not about the money, it's about the accomplishment of being able to get paid for doing something I love. And to shove it in my parents' faces.
Done. Multiple times!
3. Branch out from Michigan. This one isn't as feasible because I'm in college for most of the year and stuck at home for the summer, but at the very least I would like to explore everything Michigan has to offer. I don't believe I've fully taken advantage of Michigan's venues yet, anyway.
Nope. I think it's best to just stay in Michigan for now, anyway.

[Vercetti]

I scored two of my goals this year

- to gain a viral video a video that is funny and has hundreds of thousands or millions of people loving it.
-50,000 Subscribers. On my Youtube page.

Cool! Which video?

[Siggers]

Cool! Which video?

Can't post for fear of Cooning up the board.

[DriftRoberts]

1. Emcee more regularly and get more confident at doing so.
2. Be diligent about writing every day.
3. Start my own open mike/showcase.
4. Get paid once every couple of months instead of a few times a year.
5. Not pass up open mikes. (I've been to every one at my local club since the spring except two, one of which being last week. Still beating myself up for it.)
6. Develop a half hour of solid material.
7. Try at least one new bit every week.

[Phil]

Nice thread! Here's my goals:

1. Continue to find my persona - I need to get the real Phil on stage, and not some character that's a combination of Regan/Barry/Oswalt/O'Neal/Hedberg/Me. I need to continue showing off the unique person that I am.

2. Learn to better edit my jokes - After I perform a joke once, I do a little tweaking, but little real editing. I'm good at removing the bad parts, but terrible at adding new parts.

3. Have more fun on stage - I take it too seriously up there.

Well I just did my last show of the year, how'd I do...

1. Continue to find my persona - I definitely had progress with this, but it's so clear that it will take YEARS until I've achieved this. Consider this #1 on my goals for 2011.

2. Learn to better edit my jokes - Nope. Still can't edit. Still can't get my mind back in the joke. Boo.

3. Have more fun on stage - Definitely. I realized I had ZERO confidence on stage = I never had fun. Now I have sooo much more confidence, I just don't give a shit as much if I die = I have boatloads of fun up there.

[beccaBeccaBECCA]

I didn't post my goals here for 2010, but I wanted to try stand up. DIDN'T! I'll make that a goal for 2011.

I did want to do more serious (comedy-themed) writing and that's panned out alright. I've written comedy guest contributions on Gawker.tv and Splitsider this year, so there's that. And my blog was featured on Jezebel and as a Blogger Blog of Note.

I also wanted to make some funny videos - and I made two kind of weird ones that went viral... but they're not what I really wanted to make. I'm more interested in sketch and high concept comedy - not the goofy compilation videos I made. But they were featured on a bunch of sites (Jezebel, Videogum, College Humor, Huffington Post Comedy, Daily What, Gawker.tv, Technorati, BuzzFeed, etc).

So I kind of met some of my tacit goals. But I didn't tell anyone what my goals were, so I guess it's incumbent on me to admit that I fell short of far more goals than I achieved.

Here are my 2011 goals:

1). GO TO AN OPEN MIC AND TRY IT OUT!
2). If that goes well, keep going to open mics and performing.
3). This feels like I'm getting ahead of myself, but a year is a long time: develop 5 minutes of material. (I'd be thrilled if I get this far).
4). Take a sketch writing class.
5). Work on a diverse writing packet - topical jokes, spec scripts for a few shows, sketch, fake news, humor essays, et al.
6). Write some humor pieces. (Got tons of ideas/outlines - but I have a crippling fear of SUCKING!)
7). Get some humor pieces published.
8). Find some like-minded writers. Collaborate.
9). Continue writing about comedy - try to get published on more sites/in more publications.
10). Write and film some sketch/comedy videos.
11). Move beyond freelancing and find one or two sites on which to write recurring columns/posts.
12). Get out more, explore/get familiar with Chicago's comedy scene. I kind of admire from a distance at this point - largely due to depression.... but I want to get past that next year.
13). I used to do event promotion and online marketing/pr for recording artists and urban retailers - so once I get #12 on my list out of the way, I'm thinking I could use those connections to start a comedy show or open mic in some of the unconventional venues I worked with before - loft spaces, store fronts, etc. I think that could be really cool and I'd love to merge an old skill set I'm no longer using with my current interests.
14). I've been writing funny ideas and stray thoughts in a "would-be-joke-book" for about a year now. I need to organize my joke book into topics and a potential set list if I'm ever going to give stand up a serious go. I tweet a lot of those thoughts and they've gone over pretty well.
15). READ MORE! I read a lot as is, but anyone hoping to be even a decent writer must read widely and seriously. I've been reading almost exclusively comedy/humor books over the past year, before which time I'd been much more into classic lit (midcentury American, late Victorian, and 1920s novels) - and while that's been a wonderful education, I really need to supplement that with some capital "L" Literature.

I'm sure I'll think of tons more goals, but the 15 above are top priority... along with the countless personal goals I've set.

Congrats to all the ASTeroids (let's make fetch happen, guys!) who set goals, worked at them, and got things done!

[thisbetterwork]

My goals for 2011, as they stand:

*Do a lot more stand-up. Once my schedule allows I'd like to be on stage once or twice a week at least.

*Get a non-open mic stand-up gig, of some sort. And hopefully more than one.

*'Win' the local open mic 'contest' that they have weekly

*Do stand-up in Boston (or the suburbs of) and in several different venues - lets say something like 6?

I think those are all makeable goals but I don't know when exactly I'll hit that mark. I could do all of that in six months. Or I could still be struggling to do it this time next year. It really depends on how quickly I progress with this.

Currently I could really be doing better but my job is kind of getting in the way (2nd shift, thus at work for most of the open mics around, but I hope to change that soon, maybe. We'll see.

[bernierunns]

1. -(15 minutes by June, 30 minutes by December) I just did 15 minutes last night on stage. Writing a half hour of good jokes takes time. Lesson learned. So I did not accomplish this goal, but I am glad that I didn't. I have learned a lot about joke writing this year and have had a great time on stage.

2.-(Establish a comedy scene in Northwest Arkansas, halfway there with the help of JustBrett.) I can't believe how many comics came out of the woodwork around here after we opened an open mic. 12+ comics in our area. So the comedy scene is actually taking off. Good stuff.

3.- (Write jokes that are funny.) The jury is still out on this one.


4.- (MC a few shows.) Done and Done!

[ineluctable cad]

register for AST.


COMPLETED.

[Siggers]

-I want to gain a viral video a video that is funny and has hundreds of thousands or millions of people loving it.
-50,000 Subscribers. On my Youtube page, i currently have 13,900.

Now i have six viral videos

and 160k subs tripling my goal for this year.

[hannah bee]

My first goal was the same as cad's! Hi guys.

I've been super into comedy for a while, but I never even entertained the notion that I could do it until recently. So far I haven't done much other than scribbling jokes furiously into a notebook, but I'm hoping to change that.

My goals for the next year are to:
a) Find an open mic night in town.
b) Write, perform, rinse, repeat. As much as possible.
c) Get out to LA and see as many shows as I can.
d) Meet some like-minded people! My friends are wonderful, but they aren't comedy nerds, so I get unreasonably excited when I find people I can talk about this stuff with.

[SoSure]

Do more, do better.