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Performance Critique: March 28th Show 1

I did 3 shows in the same room (with different crowds) this night. For this first show I was the first comic up after the MC. The MC did 6 or 7 minutes of jokes but didn’t interact with the crowd much. 

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=68lIj5XTie4

0m32s I didn’t deliver “for blind people” in the right tone 

0m52s You can see the waitress still taking drink orders, this never helps audience engagement 

1m18s There was a lot of talking that wasn’t drink orders that was distracting me 

1m32s I’m rushing through my jokes and swaying. This is what happens when I’m not doing well 

2m36s If the crowd doesn’t laugh at all to my “you must love sweaters” line, then the set will bomb. I usually use this line as a baseline to what the maximum response I could’ve gotten for every joke is. 

5m07s This was me catching myself not to say “third date” twice while I was in the middle of talking and it led to a lot of stumbling and bumbling 

6m18s Ask the question more like I’m talking to one person, not like I’m doing standup 

6m32s I didn’t deadpan “snuggle head” the right way 

Overall: This is as close to bombing as I’ve done in a while. This is also the reason why everyone hates going first. The big lesson I learned here is that if the host (or the hosts and all comics up to you) hasn’t done their crowd work, you have to do it for them because the audience isn’t ready to just sit back and listen to jokes yet. By crowd work, I mean asking the standard “Where are you from? What do you do?” questions that almost every host does with a bunch of tables up front at the start of the show. See here for more on how to be a good emcee.

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