You love comedy. You watch all the great (and some not so great) comics and lots of comedy tv shows. You’ve probably written a few jokes and you’ve toyed with the idea of performing. Here are some tips to motivate yourself to get on stage and what to do when you’re there.
- Get on stage as soon as humanely possible. You don’t want to over think it, start making excuses and end up never getting on stage.
- Don’t get on stage without first running the jokes by your friends and seeing if they laugh. If your friends don’t laugh at any of your material, you either have terrible friends or terrible jokes. You decide.
- Keep a note card in your pocket (if not in your hand). No matter how much you practice, your mind can go blank the first time. My mind would go blank at least once a set my first ten or twelve times on stage.
- Slow down. You’ll almost certainly be nervous and start to rush through your punch lines if there isn’t instantaneous laughter. It takes a long time to get comfortable with silence, but for now, just talk slower. Think you’re talking too slow? Slow down more anyway.
- Videotape it. Or if you can’t afford a camera (most still digital cameras have a video mode), get a $20 voice recorder or download VoiceNotes for your iPhone (if you have one).
- When you see a light, that means you have one minute to wrap it up. Don’t run your time. Chances are you’re not gonna be that funny your first. You don’t want to piss off the host and club manager as well.
- Don’t stop until you finish all your jokes or time runs out, no matter how quiet the crowd is and how much you feel like dying. Embrace the feeling of wanting to kill yourself, if you get hooked on this stuff, you’ll feel it many more times, even when you start getting paid to perform.
Did I miss anything? DId you get on stage after reading this? I’d love to hear about your experience in the comments.
Like Ben Rosenfeld on Facebook
Follow Ben on Twitter
Ben's YouTube Channel
Subscribe to Ben's RSS Feed
[...] some nerves. Acknowledge that it’s natural, know you’ve gotten through it before (unless it’s your first time on stage) and this should already make you less nervous. Then when the adrenaline occurs, either turn that [...]
Good advice…I just did my first open mic stand up and number seven is spot on. Definitely gotta embrace that I wanna kill myself feeling if you’re ever planning on doing it again.
Open mics are not a plenty where I live but I did find one that is in a place where people drink this narcotic called KAVA! Apparently it numbs them…this could be the perfect place for me to de-virginize as a comic!!! What do you think???
I’m gonna say that I have terrible friends because I know my jokes are funny.
These are good tips for new comedians. I can’t stress your tip no. 6 enough. Sometimes, when a new stand up comic is killing, he or she thinks he can extend his time. They don’t know they’re taking away from the next comedian. Thanks for posting this.
I’ve got terrible friends they didn’t laugh at any of my jokes and then they raped my dog right in front of me. My dogs a slut tho so she probably enjoyed it and on the plus side I didn’t need to take her for a walk. Anyway Mifttys vicious arse raping by my mates was nothing compeared to the sedistic, voluntary sadomastic abuse that was my open mic evening. Don’t ever fucking do it EVER if your reading this and are pondering getting up on stage don’t. Go finger a tramps arse hole and wank him to climax at the same time..be dressed as a sailor, and bring mum and dad along. all the while singing I’m a little tea pot. This will be infinitely less damaging to you phycological well being and you pedants might enjoy it more than you shit fucking stand up…
No I’m joking my dog isn’t a slut she craves male attention, that’s all. Just because she walks around the flat it bra and panties that doesn’t make her a slut. She’s got a nice body and likes to show off, she’s a exhibitionist.. Anyway it’s not as if she can dress her self… I put her in the bra and panties… She looks sexy in my underwear…
[...] nerves. Acknowledge that it’s natural, know you’ve gotten through it before (unless it’s your first time on stage) and this should already make you less nervous. Then when the adrenaline occurs, either turn that [...]