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.

Better, but a long way to go.

So, I went on stage at Club Deluxe last Monday as part of their comedy showcase. My jokes went okay, they got some laughs, but they only revealed to me how amateur I still am. The comedians who came after me had tight sets that got laugh after laugh. Mine got a few chuckles, but I just couldn't keep the crowd at the feverish pitch that comedians strive for. Granted, I'm still new at this whole thing, but it really put in perspective where I'm at in my development. On the other hand, going on stage before so many comedians who are between my level and the level of a professional is really helping me understand where I need to go next. 

In my set on Monday, I brought out some of my best jokes, and many of them went okay, but they really didn't get the response I was hoping for. It could be that my timing is still off, or that I'm not building enough tension before the releasing punchline. Either way, I took away a slightly better understanding of what makes them funny or unfunny than when I walked in. For example, I botched the punchline of the Tupperware joke by literally one word, and it made all the difference. And for some reason my Sports joke drew as much sympathy as laughs (notice the "awww"). I'm still digesting the lessons of that night, but it at least went well enough that the host personally mentioned to me how much I've been improving and that he was still happy that I was able to bring in a small crowd of drinking, cover-paying customers.  :P

Here it is, let me know what you think.

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.