Open mic experiences

[ErikNielsen]

The best time to market yourself is ALWAYS later. Ideally, you'd never have to market yourself; it's sometimes a necessary evil. (And of course there are legitimate things you can do which happen to serve the side purpose of marketing.) But calling yourself a comic when you're just starting out, especially if you're not reliably killing at shows, tends to draw scorn from a lot of established comedians, and that's not a reputation you want.

And really, the best case scenario is that you get some work out of it... well, if you're not already able to kill on a regular basis, you don't WANT that work. You don't want to raise people's expectations unless you can back it up on stage. You're going to not be ready, and fail... and then when you ARE ready, the people who booked you when you weren't ready will want nothing to do with you. I've seen plenty of acts promote themselves beyond their ability, and their reputations are almost invariably severely damaged by it. I'd name names, but that doesn't seem like a thing I should do.

[Phil]

I think the amount of "u r teh ghey" comments .

I'm not thinking about clowns like that, I'm thinking about your fans on AST! I want to see our crew in action! (plus you can turn comments off anyways)

[ASR]

At the very least post some stuff temporarily.

I did that earlier for the sake of feedback. Deleted it a while after.

[Gene George]

But calling yourself a comic when you're just starting out, especially if you're not reliably killing at shows, tends to draw scorn from a lot of established comedians, and that's not a reputation you want.

DING DING DING DING a WINNAH!

[drieux]

Once again I'm in agreement. We're talking about open mics, not 15-minute sets you're booking regularly and seeing paydays from. I can already think of a half-dozen people off the top of my head who started "promoting" themselves after six months of standup and either pissed off other comics or, in the case of one guy, managed to convince a club that he was capable of featuring and upon getting onstage, realized he had maybe seven minutes of mediocre material and he was supposed to do twenty (of, y'know, <i>good</i> material). The booker was spreading the word via e-mails and phone calls and the guy was essentially blackballed.

They're open mics. Write material, work on material, record it and review it and keep writing. It's kosher to mention a website or something, but if you're hocking DVD's or t-shirts at an open mic then you may need medical help.

[Gene George]

I don't have much problem promoting the stuff I'm confident in. I can and do write funny things on occasion. But stand-up is so new and raw for me. I am humbled by the thought that I'm doing the same things my heroes did, but in no way, shape or form am I ready to engage in self-promo.

Although my merch is available in the lobby and I bring a sharpie in case I need to sign a hot chick's tittays AM I RIGHT DRIEUX-BRO!

[drieux]

You know it, dudebro! Them ladies go nuts when I hit 'em with my A-game "Ladies Be Crazy" bit and they just GOTTA have a t-shirt with my slogan, "Awwwww naw he didn't!" written on it in silver puffpaint!

I hate comedy.

[Cameron]

I had one of the worst open mic sets I've had in months last night.

But as a result, I've written more new material this afternoon than I've written in one sitting in months as well.

[Gene George]

I had one of the worst open mic sets I've had in months last night.

But as a result, I've written more new material this afternoon than I've written in one sitting in months as well.

I thought all open mics in Oklahoma are at least...

...wait for it...

...

OK!

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAH. killme.

On a less sleep-deprived note, what's the audience like in Oklahoma, any "civilians" or is it all comics at the open microphone?

[Alex Mac]

I had one of the worst open mic sets I've had in months last night.

But as a result, I've written more new material this afternoon than I've written in one sitting in months as well.

Heh. I just got back from a bad set this evening. Tomorrow, I will be writing a lot as well as going over presentation. Been a long time since I ate it this bad. But the crazy thing is (kinda like that Birbiglia quote): I still enjoyed it. I'm not delusional enough to think this time went well. I bombed hard. But even with that, all it does is make me want to review the set more and figure out how to improve what was good and super improve what was bad.

Maybe that's what that quote meant. Not self delusion but just a simple "Well, things could always be worse." kind of approach. To objectively assess your flaws when they are apparent and to not get discouraged but press on with even more enthusiasm than before.

[Cameron]

On a less sleep-deprived note, what's the audience like in Oklahoma, any "civilians" or is it all comics at the open microphone?

Almost entirely civilians.

There are only about 15-20 comedians that regularly perform at the open mics, but there is also only 2 open mics in town.

One is at a bar right near the OU campus and is pretty well-attended, and the crowds are pretty open to more alternative type stuff.

The other open mic is at the Loony Bin comedy club and just takes place as the first part of their Wednesday night shows.

[Brian J.]

So last night I went up and tried putting the best jokes at the beginning and end. I had never done any of this material before so I used my own opinion.

The first joke worked well as an introductory joke to get the audience into my style. The last joke didn't do what I'd hoped it would as I got more groans than laughter, which is not what I wanted. And jokes in the middle got more laughter.

I was talking to another comic before the show and I ran some material by him and we agreed that it's a tossup which jokes will get the best reaction sometimes. For example I told him four jokes which I thought were the weakest of my set and I was considering taking them out if I didn't have time. I performed them and 3 out of the 4 got strong laughter compared to the rest of my set. So it can be a tossup. They even laughed at some of my setups, which I find wierd... but I'll take the laughs.

[Gene George]

Maybe that's what that quote meant. Not self delusion but just a simple "Well, things could always be worse." kind of approach. To objectively assess your flaws when they are apparent and to not get discouraged but press on with even more enthusiasm than before.

After playing to the three barflies and five comics at Triclops the other night and sweating it out up there I still loved it. I knew I got little response and didn't do my best but it's a badass feeling being up there. You do this because you love it. Makes me want to try harder, only way to do that is practice and focus. Too bad LA tends to be the lower percentiles of open mics.

[John Santana]

My very first open mic experience (last night): I was second to sign up on the list for open mic night. I figured that was good since I didn't want to be first or last guy up. It was a Wednesday night and there were only about 25-30 people in the club. The MC started the show and did about 30 minutes of extremely funny, polished material. The act following the MC was an amateur Comic (he's also a Yale Student who's graduating this year), who has won a few local contests and he did about 6-7 minutes and he killed. I was getting ready to run to the men's room because I knew I was # 2 on the list and apparently, without my knowledge #1 had cancelled so I was forced to follow two very funny guys as my first time on the stage. I ran up to the stage from the back of the place (rather then relieving myself) and took the stage and as I started talking the mic gave out. I was fiddling with the thing and could not figure out how to turn it back on. I thought I was going to have to yell my routine. The MC came running over and pushed the switch on the mic to get it up and running and I made a joke about it and people laughed. I did my set determined not to give up and actually got a number of laughs. One thing that surprised me were some of the things people laughed at and didn't laugh at. Some of the jokes I thought were my best got crickets and some of my other good/average jokes (in my own mind) got huge laughs. One thing I couldn't control was that my hand holding the mic was shaking a lot because I was very nervous. I kept switching hands and trying to walk around and hoped that people didn't sense how nervous I was and see my shaking mic-hands. I was really thankful that I rehersed my set and practically memorized it. Another thing I found myself doing was speaking toward, and focusing on the people toward the back of the crowd that I couldn't see as well since it was less threatening to me then looking into the eyes of the people in the front. I noticed that one woman in the front had a camcorder and was video taping the whole thing. I think I will do better when I am less nervous about being up there and I can relax and focus on my material and delivery more.

[ASR]

Sounds like an altogether good first time. One thing I've learned is that you actually DO want to follow good acts because people are warmed up and laughing already. If you're next in line after a bunch of stale comics who are bombing, you can expect to fall right into line with them if you're not careful.

Though, I've only been on stage about 10 times so don't listen to me.

[Phil]

Here's a question for you all...

So the very first joke should have a short setup. How short we talkin'? 1-2 sentences max? Or can we go longer?

[Phil]

I was getting ready to run to the men's room because I knew I was # 2 on the list and apparently, without my knowledge #1 had cancelled

Hehe

I did my set determined not to give up and actually got a number of laughs. One thing that surprised me were some of the things people laughed at and didn't laugh at. Some of the jokes I thought were my best got crickets and some of my other good/average jokes (in my own mind) got huge laughs.

Congrats on your first time, John!!

[John Santana]

Hehe



Congrats on your first time, John!!

Thank you. I am now a man - I've lost my stand up virginity.

[Brian J.]

Here's a question for you all...

So the very first joke should have a short setup. How short we talkin'? 1-2 sentences max? Or can we go longer?

The longest I've gone is 3 sentences and then a long 4th sentence containing the punchline. This was followed by 2 seconds of silence and then 4 seconds of laughter and I heard a guy say Filthy.

[Brian J.]

So I went to a bar to do an open mic last night. The thing about bars is the patrons aren't there to see comedy. They were watching various sports on the several television sets that were on. Before I went on I watched the other sets and the audience talked over the comics, I felt like I was going to bomb too. One of the comics told everybody to shut the F up and they did and then after a couple of jokes they went back to talking over him. I was feeling pretty shaky.

My stage fright got the best of me so when it was my turn: I walked up, grabbed the mic, and performed with my back to the audience. (If nobody has rights to this "gimmick" I'm calling dibbs! <-Is that how you spell it?)

Performing with my back turned made the audience think what the hell is wrong with this guy and they actually paid attention. I was able to focus in on the reactions to the jokes and it worked out for me. I didn't kill but I did far from bomb and some people came up to me afterwards and gave me some encouraging words (probably because they thought I was special-that would explain the pats on the head).