Forum: Stage Time

I wanna start this up again. I really loved reading about people's experiences in the last thread. I think it was really helpful to a lot of people, plus a lot of it was comforting to read for a beginner comedian. I myself am dying to get on stage for the first time but there's absolutely no...

Going on with what Shig asked about, starting the thread for posting videos of sets and jokes. It'd be really cool to do feedback so we all can get better (keep it tasteful ladies and gentlemen). So I'll get the ball rolling. Here is a sketch idea I had. I call it Poem Bashing. ...

I'm good at writing jokes. I'm good at performing jokes that I've written. Is that not enough?

I'm not a real big proponent of Podcasts (no attention span) but a fellow comic bud of mine just started one that I think is of interest to the regs of this board. It's called "Comics Coming Up" and has well over 20 episodes of varying length (45min to 1hr+) and covers a wide range of...

I dunno why I think this needs a thread but I want to vent to other people who know this sucks. I'm really sick of booking. I'm making the transition atm from mostly open mics to more free/$5 booked shows in bars/restaurants and then showcase shows at a club. I have my dates at the club booked...

How about a thread where we help each other with our jokes? Maybe you have a new joke you want to try out first? Or maybe you need help editing an existing joke? Just post it here. (This thread could be for longer bits, topical stuff and one-liners go here)

I live in Baytown, 20 minutes outside of Houston (30 minutes from any good comedy club, of which there is only "3?") I can't find a god damn open mic. I've been to three different bars and asked for the opportunity to start an open mic. So fuck it. I'm just going to go to different karaoke nights...

Heyy - not sure if anyone cares - After nine years in Helsinki I moved to San Francisco. I got a job with my company in Sunnyvale, going to rock the CalTrain every day, and bomb at open mics in the evening. Really looking forward to getting to know the comedy community here. Can't wait to...

I sorta knew about both of these but I didn't know they were both coming so soon: Second City is opening up a new, strictly stand-up theatre on its 'complex' and a Laugh Factory is opening up, both within the next month or so. My question is (if any) what sort of opportunity is this?? I just...

Hey guys. There was originally a longer self-deprecating defeatist intro full of vulgarity and nude photos (okay, not the last part) on this post, but I chopped it off to make it shorter. But then I wrote this explanation about it, so it ended up being the same length anyway. Let’s move on. ...

Hey, so I'm moving to Chicago Feb. 1st from Southern California, because I want to get better somewhere other than LA. I've been doing open mics consistently for a year now, and first went up a couple years ago. Those are hardly credentials, but I'm saying that I'm not moving there with no idea...

This is a sneak preview for open mic emcees of a brand new (and free) open mic list. It's for NYC open mics only. Please point your mobile device to... http://nycomedylist.com/prelaunch/ …and let us know what you think. We hope you think it's a huge improvement over the current online...

When you write your jokes/sets do you use pen and paper or type them out on a computer? This may seem like a stupid question, but I've just recently started writing jokes in preparation for my first attempt at stand-up and have found that for whatever reason it's easier when I'm writing it out on...

Is anyone else having a problem with parallel thinking? I wrote a joke last week in the News jokes section about Mubarak looking good for his age and how he must be doing whatever they do to preserve mummies. Then, last night, they said that it's proof that Egypt is good at preserving things....

Title says it all. What are you're guy's goals for this year in comedy? And also when you complete your goals post here with proof :)! I will update the page with red text on completed goals. AliasRomanian 3/23/10 1. Get a new 10 minute set (I only have 5 minutes as of May 15) 2. Become...

I'm from the Seattle area and right now a bunch of my comedy friends are making the move to New York and putting pressure on me to join them as well (we're comics in our early 20s fresh out of college). I'm hoping to do so within the year but I'm still a bit fuzzy about the logistics of moving...

Anyone know where I can get quality stage time that isn't a bringer show? I'm going to be heading down there for an audition in January.

any other helpful tips aside from practice, practice, practice?

I know this has been discussed before, but I'm wondering what you've come up with that you feel works and isn't mean or dismissive. We were poking gentle fun of someone at work, and the one friend I really talk to said, "hey, Jen, you can use that in your stand-up!" It's sweet when everyone goes,...

I'm very close to self-publishing a book, Turn That $#!+ Off!, with comedic takes on politics, sports, and entertainment. What tends to be the average number of pages when it comes to books by comedians? I'm at close to 150 pages at the moment. The settings are for 5.5 x 8.5.

So, I've been writing material, but haven't gone up at any open mics yet. I live in Lancaster, PA and am just looking for any good open mics, the closer the better.

Hey All, Recently I started reading news websites for about a half hour and trying to craft jokes in the style that you would see on the Tonight Show or Late Night or Weekend Update. In the interest of Progress I'd like to post a few I came up with today. Let me know if I have the...

What were the mathematical formula computer programmers used to create the internet? Al Gore Rhythms.

Come on, y'all. Everyone here started doing standup so they could be on cool posters around their city. PYF cool comedy posters! Post ones you made. Or, post ones that advertise you, the famous stand up comedian from the internet! These are two posters I made for a local open mic. ...

What's the best advice you can give a comedian under the age of 21 (18, even, for that matter) living in Portland, Oregon? Comedy is my lifelong dream, i've done it a few times, and I write all the time. But it seems like all the shows offered in Portland are in bars; therefore, over 21.

Taken from Kyle Kinane's tumblr:

So I am moving from Boston to LA in a couple of months. I know I will have to start over pretty much and looking for places that I can get stage time. So anything you got would be appreciated.

I want to start recording my sets so that I can see what bits work and critique myself, etc. A few things I've noticed by checking out many youtube clips from other people is that mostly the audio quality seems to be horrible, full of echo, and the audience is overpoweringly loud. Do problems like...

Ok, so I posted this same question in a different area of the forum only to realize it wasn't the right place so here I go again. I just moved to the SF bay area and I'm looking to become a comic. I've opened for a few guys in the past, so I've been on stage before, but I don't have any reels,...

Hey guys I am a canadian comic I've been going for about 9 months now I was thinking about moving to the UK and I was wondering what the comedy scene was like there is there a lot of opportunities there? just wondering

I've seen this more than a few times around town and been guilty of it myself after the 4th hour of the open mic has gone by, and I've been drinking. But ... it doesn't feel wrong. Sometimes you have to be careful who you're target is. But I feel like there are some people who need that little...

South Carolina here. I met a chick after a performance and it turns out I had messaged her on here before. Yeah, there isn't really a scene here, but I'm surprised by how many open mics and small shows are popping up in NC.

This open mic'er won a radio contest, and part of his award was to do a set on a local morning show. They didn't tell him who his audience would be. Of course, his material probably wasn't appropriate for a morning show, regardless of the audience.

Most popularly used by Dane Cook, but his are really long-form stories. Personally, I like Mike Birbiglia's use of it the best, but Louis C.K. and - kind of? - Ricky Gervais use it, too. I was thinking of venturing down this aisle of japery myself. What's your opinion on story-form jokes? Do's and...

Not meaning to be off topic, but this is something I'd like to hear from you guys and see if we can learn anything or encourage anything beneficial in each other. It could be expanded to any activity really, but I'd like to start with performance based ones since I think the lessons can be a bit...

I wasn't sure who to share this with, but I thought my online comedy family would be interested... In September Finland's oldest publisher, Gummerus, is publishing my first book: HOW TO MARRY A FINNISH GIRL: Everything You Wanted to Know about Finland that Finns Won't Tell You" It's a comedy...

Hello, I'm a stand-up comic from Toronto, Canada that is going to be moving to the USA in the next year. I'll be living in NYC for my first year, but then might be moving to another city depending on where my fiancee goes back to school. Obviously, my first choices would be to live in NY, Los...

Thanks for the comments, guys. Think i'm gonna close this one up.

I'll be in town for a week from 8-29-11 to 9-5-11. Any help would be fun.

I'm just curious about something, and I've always wondered about it. So I figured this forum would be good to see if anyone knows the answer. How are most writers hired for shows like Late Night, The Tonight Show, Lopez, Conan's new show, etc? Are writers plucked from the clubs usually, or do they...