Anyone Here Try Doing Stand Up?

[TickTockMan]

I once was funny.


I would like to try it, but I know it will never happen.



Have any of you tried doing stand up in a comedy club or theatre?

 

[luckynumbah7]

The veritable second I find one that doesn't want me to pay for the privilege, sure. However, here it seems t'be something like; Go forth, all yee undesirables and learn to amuse your superiors! So you learn basic joke construction from a Fallen Star (but not too fallen) for a pittance of $125 in only four easy installments- then you try before your, ahem, peers, (insert pats on the back and .....lower Here) but then, a bit at a later date, you try before those same peers in a club that hosts the event.

After, as you're riding your euphoria up to the gates of Valhalla (Valkyries, we don't need no stinkin' Valkyries!) you realize that you only have one routine - and your future audience has heard it already because even the Norse pantheon has YouTube.

Since I've no intention of spending money on basics I've known for - let's go with 'many years' since I currently feel fuckin' ancient - anyway, not spending money to learn what I already know, the mechanics of which are only on a smaller scale. Still looking for one, tho the last six months I've been too busy to do so.

Better practice would be reading a book or 3 on basic joke construction and what presentation type you're going for. You'll also want to go over your materials at least four times to make sure y'didnt include others material by accident. Try it out on people casually - the ones that aren't your friends or family.

 

[luckynumbah7]

- and if you want an honest reaction, be friendly but polite and then wing one or three out to the masses. No less than three people and no more then, hm, six. More people means more chance for a heckler and the more people there are the more likely they are to eat you alive or let the heckler do it. Strangers, for the most part, don't care who makes them laugh as it's a spectator sport. Don't tell then that you have a joke first - it should be obvious from the material. Just bring it into a fitting conversation and see how you do.

 

[otters]

Does having been a student member of the supervisory board of one's alma mater count? Then yes. But there are much better methods of torturing the audience I presume.

 

[G-Lexington]

I've done stand-up five times now. Each time at an open-mic night in front of 50-100 people, many of whom are there to do their own comedy. I was once invited to fill a slot at a comedy club, but I don't recall why that didn't pan out. It was going to be a Tuesday, which is "dead night", so I think I was going to get $50 and a cocktail out of it. I go about once every two or three months. When I think I have enough material, and I have the urge to do it again.

How was it? Good. I doubt I ever was anybody's favorite comedian of the night, but I guesstimate that I usually was in the top half of the "laugh getters" each time. I had one night where I really couldn't seem to get much reaction from the crowd, but then again, EVERYBODY was having that problem. The "vibe" was just off that night. It happens.

I'm still really amateurish. I'm more or less getting good at the unbelievably basic stuff. You know, speaking so people can understand me, remembering what I'm going to say, stuff like that. My biggest problem right now is a failure to truly connect with the audience. Right now, I'm still "person telling jokes" - I'm not somebody people can connect with on some level. That's going to be tough, since my delivery is usually pretty deadpan. It's hard to connect with people when you're acting disaffected. But it's something I can work on in my next few attempts.

What's my material? Whatever I think is engaging. I'm not always correct in my assessments. In my very first set, I did a long bit on owning a dragon as a pet, which got some polite chuckles but nothing more. I then did a joke about ninja turtles meant to segue into a section on homosexuality...and weirdly, that one throwaway joke got more laughs than anything else I said that night. They also seemed to laugh more at the gay jokes, but I think some of that was due to them loosening up after the ninja turtle joke.

My last time up, I did a bit about seeing a dog tied up outside of a butcher shop, and comparing that to chaining your child to the ticket booth out front of Disneyland. That didn't go over well at all. So I pulled out the ninja turtle joke...and again, that got the crowd back into it. I apparently need more jokes like that.

Lex

 

[CaptainJohn]

I did once.

But after a little while I got tired so I sat back down.

 

[TickTockMan]

I've done stand-up five times now. Each time at an open-mic night in front of 50-100 people, many of whom are there to do their own comedy. I was once invited to fill a slot at a comedy club, but I don't recall why that didn't pan out. It was going to be a Tuesday, which is "dead night", so I think I was going to get $50 and a cocktail out of it. I go about once every two or three months. When I think I have enough material, and I have the urge to do it again.

How was it? Good. I doubt I ever was anybody's favorite comedian of the night, but I guesstimate that I usually was in the top half of the "laugh getters" each time. I had one night where I really couldn't seem to get much reaction from the crowd, but then again, EVERYBODY was having that problem. The "vibe" was just off that night. It happens.

I'm still really amateurish. I'm more or less getting good at the unbelievably basic stuff. You know, speaking so people can understand me, remembering what I'm going to say, stuff like that. My biggest problem right now is a failure to truly connect with the audience. Right now, I'm still "person telling jokes" - I'm not somebody people can connect with on some level. That's going to be tough, since my delivery is usually pretty deadpan. It's hard to connect with people when you're acting disaffected. But it's something I can work on in my next few attempts.

What's my material? Whatever I think is engaging. I'm not always correct in my assessments. In my very first set, I did a long bit on owning a dragon as a pet, which got some polite chuckles but nothing more. I then did a joke about ninja turtles meant to segue into a section on homosexuality...and weirdly, that one throwaway joke got more laughs than anything else I said that night. They also seemed to laugh more at the gay jokes, but I think some of that was due to them loosening up after the ninja turtle joke.

My last time up, I did a bit about seeing a dog tied up outside of a butcher shop, and comparing that to chaining your child to the ticket booth out front of Disneyland. That didn't go over well at all. So I pulled out the ninja turtle joke...and again, that got the crowd back into it. I apparently need more jokes like that.

Lex

Great post. Thanks.

 

[SaskGuy]

Doing stand up is harder than it looks. I know a really funny guy who tried doing it at a comedy club on amateur night, and he completely flopped.

 

[MJEH89]

I've done stand-up five times now. Each time at an open-mic night in front of 50-100 people, many of whom are there to do their own comedy. I go about once every two or three months. When I think I have enough material, and I have the urge to do it again.

Good for you!!

Keep writing, and good luck!!

 

[G-Lexington]

Good for you!!

Keep writing, and good luck!!

Thanks. I'm probably "on hiatus" until the end of the summer, though. A friend asked me when I was going to go back up, and I said "Well, I had four music gigs to get through in May, and three in June, and two in July, and hopefully that huge thing in August, and now my GED tutoring is picking up again, and I have to make my costume for that other thing next month..." This in addition to my two jobs. my hobbies seem to have overtaken my life...but in a good way.

Lex