Open mic experiences

[KevinLee]

This one comedian in new york told me to go to down to the rides at coney island and tell jokes to the people on the rides. It was very specific advice and I never followed it.

The best three pieces of advice I've ever heard are:
1. Write more than whoever you wanna be better than.
2. Perform more than anyone you wanna be better than and
3. Do what you think is funny not what you think the audience will find funny.

and in an interview on here Louis cK talks about bombing to a London audience and how bombing makes you better. Something like, " You don't learn anything from a good set." or something like that.

[Cameron]

What do you guys do if you see another comic at an open mic steal a joke? Call them out on it or just ignore it?

A guy went up for his very first time tonight and stole Aziz Ansari's box turtle fucking analogy joke. I recognized it immediately and mentioned it to a few other comics. One of the other comics then called him out on it, and he admitted to stealing it right away. It was really awkward.

[KevinLee]

hmm I wouldn't have said anything to the guys face. But I'd probably tell the other comedians about it. If someone were to take a joke of mine I'd probably say something to him/her. But if it was something topical that I won't be able to do in a month, I probably wouldn't say anything at all.

[pauliophonic]

I've been working up the courage for the last couple of months. I swear I'm going to do it, but it's a big first hump to get over -- at least for me.

[Cameron]

I've been working up the courage for the last couple of months. I swear I'm going to do it, but it's a big first hump to get over -- at least for me.

Once you do it though, you'll be hooked. The first time is 100x harder than any after, at least for me.

[Gene George]

I've been working up the courage for the last couple of months. I swear I'm going to do it, but it's a big first hump to get over -- at least for me.

I am going to punch you in the nuts. Hard.

I swear on all that I hold dear that it is not nearly as big a deal as you make it in your head. Doing the Monday night open mic has given me a chance to see what my comedy looks like somewhere outside my head. That alone is well worth the risk of looking like a schmuck.

The other, less mentioned advantage is that I have met/spoken with a lot of comics now both established and up-and-comers There are a lot of good, funny people out there and everyone is trying to do the same thing struggling with the same creative and logistical problems. If you are at all serious about comedy, do it. If you don't know if you're serious, do it.

The real secret is, everybody sucks, some work hard at not sucking and get better. Some come to the mic with advantages or disadvantages. This is little league or AAA ball get up there and grab that sports analogy by it's jock and do a sports scoring thing like a touchdown or a hat trick for the home team!

Seriously: Nut punch.

[drieux]

My biggest comedy regret is that I waited forever to actually just start doing it. Now that I'm two years in, I wish I had just started when I first started thinking about it and I'd have that much more experience under my belt and be that much closer to the goals I've set for myself.

Just start getting onstage.

[megalope]

My biggest comedy regret is that I waited forever to actually just start doing it. Now that I'm two years in, I wish I had just started when I first started thinking about it and I'd have that much more experience under my belt and be that much closer to the goals I've set for myself.

Just start getting onstage.

Mr. Mustache has excellent advice.

[drieux]

Mr. Mustache has excellent advice.

Thank you!

Now I have to keep this avatar...

[pauliophonic]

I've been preparing most of the week to FINALLY do my first open mic tonight. I told a few of my jokes during lunch to the people who work in the building where I do, and most of the stuff went over pretty well. That was a confidence booster.

I still expect to bomb pretty hard, but that's okay.

[jeffwatt]

I've been preparing most of the week to FINALLY do my first open mic tonight. I told a few of my jokes during lunch to the people who work in the building where I do, and most of the stuff went over pretty well. That was a confidence booster.

I still expect to bomb pretty hard, but that's okay.

Tonight should mostly be about the relief of getting it out of the way rather than bombing or succeeding. After tonight you'll have so much better stuff to worry about.

[pauliophonic]

I'm looking forward to it.

I hope I don't end up being one of those people who says, OH HEY THIS IS MY FIRST TIME, BY THE WAY.

[MikeMic]

good luck! I'm excited for you!

[Osquip]

I don't think it's so bad for someone to say it's their first time when it is. If you're nervous to the point of panicking, it can be a decent ice breaker and the crowd will be nicer to you. Where are you going up?

[radpaolo]

The first time I ever did stand-up I made a joke out of it being my first time. A reference to Final Fantasy, talking about how even if I bomb, I'd get some experience and Gil. But then again I was performing stand-up at an Anime convention where someone organized a stand-up comedy "panel".

I need to start going to open mics.

[Cameron]

I'll be making my comedy club open mic debut next week.

Up until this point I've only performed at bars and music venues. But I turn 21 Sunday, so I can start frequenting the Loony Bin in Oklahoma City.

[badinia]

Happy early birthday!

My first open mic experience included:

1. A guy who was wearing a suit, but who had been smoking crack in the bathroom all night, yelling positive reinforcements at me.
2. A drunk comic I didn't know charging the stage and trying to put a flashlight up my shirt, then taking his clothes off
3. I thought I had five minutes prepared
4. But it was seven, but it went fast, and then I was embarrassed that I took so much time

I think the first and hardest thing to learn about stand-up is how long it takes to get good and consistent. When new comics ask me about open mikes, I am frequently surprised that they believe they are five to seven sets away from featuring at the local comedy haus. You might do well one week and poorly the next, the important thing is that you're growing and learning. Don't dwell on your failures or spend too much time reveling in your successes. Eddie Izzard said the way to learn to do comedy is to do it a thousand times. I am probably a third of the way there.

[pauliophonic]

Well, that was terrifying.

I totally bombed. Haha.

At least it's out of my system.

[JohnnyMalo]

So there's one legit comedy club here in B'ham, and by "legit" I mean "hosts nationally recognized comedians." I went over there, got on an open mic night, got rescheduled twice by a very nice lady. After the second time I think I wigged out a bit, because I decided that it'd be a great idea to just get onstage during my buddy's band's set break one night. Bully! Coincidentally, my date that night was a girl my mom knew from her church. This girl's dad is a preacher in Tuscaloosa, which perfectly set up my cringe-inducing six minutes of comedy covering such topics as:

- impersonating Japanese porn
- "Do midgets go to small claims court?"
- fingering the cat of the people for whom I'm house sitting because cats walk with their tail in the air, displaying their asshole all the time, so they must be "presenting"

...And so forth. Oh, and I opened with, "It's all racial humor tonight, folks!" Gold! The only thing that I did that night that was remotely funny was react to the bar owner turning up the house music louder and louder to wash out my sad, halting attempt at comedy. Afterwards I had a brainwave: let my dad listen to me bomb! I mean, it was recorded, and why wouldn't a conservative 54-year-old man want to hear his adult son talking about Japanese porn?

Some months after that I encountered the bar owner at another music show in a different bar, and he basically told me what an asshole I was for deciding it was Comedy Time when he'd booked my buddy's band. We commisserated about that for a few minutes, and I made several verbal gestures of peace, since I didn't want to fuck up my buddy's ability to play there in the future. Also because the bar owner guy regularly carries a gun. All of this is true.

[hey, while I'm on here, has anyone heard that midget joke before? I can't decide whether I made that up or heard it somewhere, and I'll be damned if I steal jokes, however inadvertently]

[Phil]

Well, that was terrifying.

I totally bombed. Haha.

At least it's out of my system.

Sorry to hear that! So what happened? What did you learn from your first time?