New Years Resolutions

So, January 1st is as worthless and pointless a day as any other to start doing something to make yourself "better" or get closer to some ultimate goal. That said, since all days are equally arbitrary, why not start when the Julian calendar ticks over. 

1) Go to the Punchline Sunday Showcase at least 3 Sundays a month. As the legend goes, you need to go consistently for 8 - 12 months before they will put you on the showcase, then an indeterminate amount of times until you may or may not get to be the opening act for a 3rd rate comedian on a Thursday night.

2) Back away from the religious jokes. They seem to freak people out when I make fun of god and Jesus. I mean, I'm pretty sure Jesus used to talk dirty in bed, so why can't I imagine what he would've said? Too soon?

3) Post to the blog at least once a week. I need to keep it current so that the 0 people who read it know how my fledgling joke of an attempt at comedy is going.

4)  Make this blog funnier. Much like my comedy career thus far, this thing is painful to sit through at times. 

There you have it. I'll keep you posted as I fail miserably at these.

-Jesse-

Soooo.... how'd that work out?

There's this phenomena that I experience every time I get off stage of... how to put it gently... utter disappointment. I don't know what it is, if it's my body coming off an endorphin high or just the product of a freshly crushed ego, but I always get off stage thinking I did an absolutely atrocious job. I usually can't shake the feeling until I've listened to the audio back at home and hear some of the laughter that somehow didn't quite register while I was on stage. That said, my immediate impression of myself is always much worse than the actual performance, but even still, it's a humbling experience to put yourself through that on such a regular basis.

Now, I'm not going to pretend that my set last night brought the house down or even was near the top of the showcase list. In fact, it was quite the opposite. I was one of the last comics to go on, and it was nearing the end of a full 2 hour show that went through 5 or 6 showcase comics, then the headliner, Edwin San Juan, and then 5 more showcase comics. The comic right before me, though a good friend, got a little ranty and I saw the already waning post-headliner audience get even slimmer. I fortunately had a small posse of friends who stuck around to see me perform, but the crowd was limp and tired of laughing.

The saddest part of it all was that I gave what was probably my best performance yet (I know, I say that every time), but to a Monday night audience that had already given all it had to the comics before. Luckily, I've become an expert at finding the grins and nodding heads in skimpy crowds, and replacing them with belly laughs in my head. I'm not sure if I'm going to post the video from last night. A buddy recorded it, but didn't hit record all the way so the first 2 jokes (which, in retrospect, were probably not that funny) didn't make it on there. It's an embarrassingly quiet crowd, though, and since I occasionally point friends to my YouTube results to get a sense of my comedy, I might just leave this developmental step off of the public list. As painful as it may've been, I still walked away a better comic than when I came in.

A (slightly) new approach...

I'm going on stage at Club Deluxe tonight as part of their Monday night showcase. It's my third time appearing in their showcase, and although my sets there have gotten increasingly better, I'm hoping to make this performance significantly better than the rest. I'm not only pulling out some of my best jokes, I also carefully trimmed back the premise of each and isolated the punchline, keeping the least amount of premise necessary. This will allow me to tell more jokes, and use the momentum to keep the crowd going. Besides, I'm learning that if part of a premise can be removed without hurting the joke, then it's not really a premise at all, it's unfunny fluff.

At some point, I'll want to re-extend these jokes, as a few of them have become only a shade longer than a one-liner. However, for tonight, my goal is to get at least a couple eruptions of laughter without killing the mood with an interminable build-up. I'll be sure to update you on how it goes.

Tonight's Headliner at Club Deluxe: Edwin San Juan

Hecklers

For anyone who doesn't realize it, I just want to set the record straight. Unless they ask a question directly to you, anyone who talks during a comedian's set is a heckler. It doesn't matter what the person says, it's a heckle. Even if you think you're helping, you're not. And this is what gets me, is that people actually feel like they can just shout something at someone on stage. No one would heckle an actor in a play, or a speaker doing a speech, so why do people feel entitled to say something to a comedian? 

I haven't gotten heckled on stage. The BrainWash has an unspoken rule that, no matter how bad the comedian, nobody heckles. Now, the problem with the BrainWash is that people will still carry on and talk as if no one is on stage, but that's just an open mic, and you have to deal with it. However, in all the time I've been there, I've only heard someone make an audible comment about the comedian while on stage once or twice, which is impressive considering how bad they can be. 

The reason I was thinking about it was because a comedian I was supposed to see at the Punchline (John Caparulo) ended up cancelling. Instead of calling off the night, they brought on a fairly well known local comedian who I had been intending to see, but hadn't made the effort yet. His name is Joe Klocek. When I went onto YouTube to check him out, this was the first video I found: "Heckler vs. Comedian Joe Klocek"

It was the most brilliant handling of a heckler that I've ever seen. It was a tremendously dangerous move, but executed flawlessly. I then continued to watch about 2 hours of comedians dealing with hecklers, some more successful than others. What I found was that the best scenario is to respond directly and cruelly to the heckler with a couple of comments. One comment isn't usually effective enough, and if handled well, it becomes a joke and should be drawn out for a few lines. However, too much attention and you risk getting completely off track. I've been taking a few notes on the ones I particularly like, but I get the feeling that it's one of those abilities that, unfortunately, only come with practice.

ps. Joe was brilliant, and it's apparently his style to do a lot of crowd interaction. I highly recommend seeing him if you get the chance.

Six Months of Open Mic

I've just recently surpassed the six month mark of doing open mic stand up comedy. When I started back in March, I told myself that I just wanted to give it a shot, and do it consistently for at least six months. Well, here I am, and in danger of being too immodest, I'm doing a lot better at it than I imagined. My delivery has improved ten fold, and my confidence on stage has really started to shine through. 

I think my greatest asset has been recording my shows (typically just audio) and reviewing them relentlessly. If something doesn't work, I typically blame it on my delivery and not on the crowd. For a while, if something didn't work, I would comment afterwords on how the crowd just wasn't into it. However, as I've done this more and more, I've brought the worst crowds out of a funk and had them laughing again, so I now try to avoid that excuse. Instead, I just meticulously go over my material, picking it apart and trying out new premises, punchlines, and transitions. 

I'm still making plenty of rookie mistakes, and my jokes still sometimes fall flat on their face the first time I tell them, but it happens less and less. I'm still learning and improving each time I go up, and soon, I think I will have moved up from noobie to novice. 

Repeating Jokes ad infinitum

I understand that in the world of professional comedy, a comedian will typically have a set routine that they do night after night as they tour around. The jokes are well tested and proven to be funny nearly every time. You can't really expect anything else from them; it's not like we would be surprised to find out that a musician plays the same songs for their shows. A joke is much like a song, it's carefully crafted to produce a response, and timing, rhythm and tempo are just as important in comedy as it is in music.

For my purposes, however, it's a little painful. I'm not touring the country, I'm playing the same venue week after week. And it's not like we're pumping through audiences, either. The most likely audience for me is an audience of other comedians, they were there last week and will probably be there next week. My thoughts are to at least have enough material so that you're not repeating anything more than once out of four times at a given venue. Even then, I still think you should re-write it, tweak it, or add something that's going to make it funnier. Until I tell a joke that has people rolling on the floor the entire time, I'm pretty sure I'm not done with it yet.

That brings me to the flip side of the coin, which is listening to the same jokes from fellow comedians week after week. It's painful, annoying, and these aren't getting any funnier with age. You should of course try it out a few times since the mood of a given audience on a given night shouldn't be the final word on what's funny and what isn't. However, my thoughts are that if you're going to tell the same joke over and over in exactly the same way, it better be comedy gold. If it ain't, then keep working on it for your own sake and the sake of the audience. If it is, then put it in your back pocket for a while and try out new stuff. That's what we're all up on stage for anyway. Not to tell the same joke a hundred times until you find the right audience, but to tell it in a hundred different ways until you finally tell it just right.

Back in the Mix

So, I recently tried entering the Butterfinger Comedy Showdown, with no success. Granted, I'm new at this and really shouldn't have the audicity to think that I could already win comedy competitions, however this one was different. This one was poorly marketed. It was only open to submissions for a month, and by week two there was still only one submission... and it sucked. The caveat for the submission was that it had to somehow reference Butterfinger, but according to the rules, it couldn't mention any other brands... or any people, real or fake... or insult anyone... or be more than a minute long. 

With my hands tied, I tried to give it a shot since the prize was a trip to LA for an appearance at the Comedy Store, where you competed with one other winner for a spot at the Just For Laughs festival in Montreal, which is huge. In any case, you can see my video submissions here and here. Granted, not my best work, and it didn't help that you could hear the cook in the background and that this was an absolutely dead night at the BrainWash, no one was laughing at anyone. It was painful, and I felt a little like a corporate sell out whore, but I still think I did better than a few people that made it into the top five, namely, the stupid bitch listed under elham.jazab. I'm not sure if she was picked for demographics or what, but she really did suck.

In any case, I then went on a vacation for a little over a week, and so bottom line was that I hadn't told any good new material for a few weeks. I went up last Thursday, however, and killed, so I'm pretty glad to not be doing comedy for anyone but me once again. This upcoming Monday I have another part in the Club Deluxe showcase, which I'm very excited about. Last time I appeared, I literally brought over 20 people, which was pretty substantial considering that this was the first time I had been up there and that there were only a little less than 30 people in the entire place. Nonetheless, as I've noted, I was less than ecstatic over my last performance, so this one I'm bringing my A-game. I'm only bringing stuff that I've tested a few times before and on which my timing is about as good as it's going to get. We'll see how it goes, wish me luck.

Building a Set from Scratch

So, as a new comic, I've been working through a lot of material. Some of it good, some of it bad, and some of it really bad. I understand, however, that a big part of working through a joke is just running through it over and over. Testing it in front of crowds, tweaking it, taking parts out, switching up the order, etc. I've been hestitant to repeat jokes too often, out of courtesy to the few consistent friends who come to show after show, but also because it would bore the hell out of me. I don't want to tell the exact same jokes week after week. On top of that, I'm not working toward just the perfect five minute set, I'm eventually working toward, in theory, a killer 45 minute full set. Not to say that it will happen any time soon, but you may as well shoot for the stars in the hopes that you'll at least hit the moon.

Here's what I've been doing so far to achieve that. 

1) Never tell the same joke twice in the same way. I'll, of course, tell my best jokes more than once, but I try to understand what was funny about it and why. I slim it down over and over, taking out anything that doesn't build to the punchline. I also try to imagine what other punchlines could work, and see if I can work that in somehow to get additional laughs. 

2) Change the surroundings of a joke. I try to write transitions whenever possible, and I don't expect a transition to be hilarious, just effective. If it gets more than a chuckle than that's just a bonus. However, When you pair up jokes in different orders, then you get two potentially new jokes out of it: the transition into and out of the joke. Sometimes, just the juxtaposition results in new jokes that I wouldn't have thought of otherwise. 

3) Loosen up the timing. Oftentimes, I just am not pausing enough. Even if I go up with a joke that's practically unchanged from the time before, I try to change the rythm and add pauses where they weren't before. It often works just enough to get an intermediary chuckle during the buildup to the punchline.

Does anyone have any other ideas to try?

My First Showcase

Last night I performed in the comedy showcase for Club Deluxe. It was the first time I've ever been chosen to go on stage. Up until last night, it had been only open mics, and the only qualification for getting on stage was showing up. Of course, Club Deluxe may not be the talent gatekeeper for all of San Francisco, but it was a small step in a good direction, and it felt pretty damn good.

The show was decent, not my best, but decent. I had been sick as hell the two days before and my fever had broken literally the night before the show. Whether that was an excuse for my timing being off is questionable, but it was surely a contributing factor. Another factor may have been that I had a huge group of friends arrive, which was both reassuring and slightly frightening. 

I don't know what it was, but the jokes just felt a little off. The pauses weren't long enough. The punchlines weren't punchy enough. The set just didn't come off quite as I had imagined. There were a lot of chuckles, but not a lot of big laughs. Don't get me wrong, it could have gone worse, and I was certainly better than at least half the other people that got up there, but all I can do is learn through obsessively replaying the video and then do better next time. 

There was one drunk, obnoxious girl in the audience who spoke throughout the entire showcase at normal volume or above, and she had been made fun of by multiple comics but just hadn't learned her lesson because she talked throughout my first joke. You'll see me take a quick dig at her right before my second bit, and I'm still debating whether it was the right move. In any case, share your thoughts about the performance if you have any. 

Slow the Hell Down

So I don't know if you've noticed from my videos, but I need to slow my delivery the hell down. I've gotten a million times better than when I started, but I still need to just take a breather and chill the hell out when I'm up there, and I need to do it in two ways. 

First and foremost, I need to give people time to laugh. If there's one lesson I'm learing over and over, it's that people won't laugh out loud if you're already halfway into your next joke. It's almost as a courtesy; they want to hear what you have to say next. On top of that, if you really lean into a pause, it not only gives people the chance to laugh, it also cues them to start laughing. 

Secondly, I need to slow down my rate of speech. I've always had a problem with this, and it's only amplified on stage. If it's not keeping people from understanding me, it's definitely keeping people from following a story. The faster I talk, the more people focus on the overall concept and less on the details. But the damn joke is in the details! 

I've been given all sorts of techniques for how to do this, but the problem is not just actually speaking slower. I've done public speaking for quite some time, and when I'm in front of a podium my words come out measured and clear. However, I'm not expecting a response until the end of my speech, and it's not likely that people simply won't applause. 

On the other hand, when I'm on stage doing comedy, naked and hiding behind a mic stand, I'm expected to make people laugh, loud and often. If you go more than 30 seconds without getting a laugh you start to wonder if people are still with you. If you're at a minute with no laughs, you better hope you've got a hell of a reward at the end of the long road you're taking your audience down. This sort of pressure can make me rush through jokes, and if I don't get a laugh, I start getting a little nervous which will make me go faster.

To get better at balancing this, I'm practicing my bit more before going on stage, and I practice pausing where I expect people to laugh. I can practically hear the laugh track in my head, and I keep that rythm on stage. Even if people don't take my cue, I look like I'm just having fun, and am totally confident in myself, whether they laugh or not. Projecting that type of image allows me and my audience to enjoy myself more. 

Sports, Blacking Out, Tupperware, Beard, Muni

This was my performance at Club Deluxe on September 1st. It was an open mic competition of sorts, not one that gave away money, but the "winners" would be asked back to be a part of future comedy showcases. They hold a 1 hour showcase every Monday night at 9pm right before the headlining comedian, and then do a true open mic after the headliner.

Sure enough, my performance was good enough to be asked back! I'm actually going back on stage next Monday, the 22nd. Sal Calanni is the headliner, and it's a $5 cover (though I'm pretty sure the showcase comedians don't get paid), but I'm just excited to have an attentive audience who actually has to pay to see me!

You'll see that I repeated the sports joke from the last video I posted, but I tried to slow it down and milk the timing a little better. I only brought material that I had tried out before, but I hadn't done any of these jokes for a month before, so they had some time to marinate. I'm sure I'll do a post soon on people who repeat their jokes too often, but suffice to say that I wasn't going to take a chance on brand new material on this night.

All five jokes seemed to go over really well. It's amazing to see the difference in audience reaction when you have a group of people who are actually listening to you. I really felt good after this performance, and I learned a lot from it. I'm sure I'll post a video of my upcoming performance, and we'll see if I was actually able to do some things better next time. Any thoughts you might have on the delivery or content would be appreciated.

Open Mic Comedy in San Francisco

This isn't the first list of San Francisco Open Mic venues out there, but it's up-to-date, which is more than you can say about most of the lists you'll find. Also, this will be San Francisco only. If you want to know about Open Mic elsewhere, then start your own damn blog.

ps. I'm only listing the one's I've been to, or know are legit. Please leave a comment if you know of one that is definitely going on as of Fall '08.

MONDAY

Club Deluxe
Comedy Showcase until 11, open mic afterwards

1511 Haight St (at Ashbury)

(415) 829-7061

Host: Al Gonzales

Sea Biscuit Cafe
Time unknown
3815 Noriega Street (at 45th Ave)
(415) 661-3784

Host: Sal Calanni

TUESDAY

Annie's Social Club

7-9 (SIGN-UP 6:30)
917 Folsom Street (at 5th St)

(415) 974-1585

Hosts: Jeff Cleary & Chad Lehrman

Grant & Green

10pm

1371 Grant Ave (at Green)

(415) 693-9565

Host: Ben Feldman

THURSDAY

BrainWash Cafe & Laundromat

7-Whenever (Sign up at 6:30 )
1122 Folsom (at 7th St)

(415) 861-3663

Host: Tony Sparks

The Usual Suspects Cafe
7pm-8pm
450 Broadway St (at Montgomery)
(415) 641-1717
Host: Danny Dechi

FRIDAY

The Usual Suspects Cafe
7pm-8pm
450 Broadway St (at Montgomery)
(415) 641-1717
Host: Danny Dechi

SATURDAY

Café International

Comedy Showcase 4th Saturday of the month
508 Haight St (@ Fillmore)

(415) 552-7390

Farley's Coffee
Second Saturday of every month, 7:15pm
1315 18th St. (at Texas)
Host: Liz Grant

The Usual Suspects Cafe
7pm-8pm
450 Broadway St (at Montgomery)
(415) 641-1717
Host: Danny Dechi

SUNDAY
Punchline Comedy Club

8pm

444 Battery St (at Clay)

(415) 397-7573

If you live outside of San Francisco, you can try to weed through the lists provided by www.SFStandup.com and www.BayAreaOpenMics.com. If you don't live in San Francisco, then why did you read through this entire post?

iPods, Sports, Tooth Fairy, Pennies

I did this routine on July 24th, 2008. My friend with the camera, unfortunately, had to sit toward the back of the cafe, so half of the video I'm blocked out of view by people standing in line at the cafe. This gives a pretty good sense, if nothing else, of the things you have to put up with at the BrainWash. Often, you can barely hear me over the rumble of the 'audience.'

Although you can hear the laughter of the audience in the back, I actually couldn't hear it up front so couldn't respond to the timing. From what I was seeing on stage, I was bombing. There was an elderly couple right in front of me that I lost right around the time I mentioned Christianity, and they just frowned at me the rest of the time. The lady in the corner to the left of the screen was crazy and laughed obnoxiously loud at seemingly random points throughout the night. She appears to be uninterested in what I had to say.

Since I was getting no love from the front of the room and couldn't hear anyone in the back, I was sure it was going horribly. In retrospect, it was probably my best performance to date, which was too bad because I was psyching myself out with the lack of laughter, and got a little nervous toward the end. But that's open mic. Plow through it first, analyze it later. Let me know what you think!