I turned my favorite one line joke that I created into a fun image / t-shirt:
Feel free to download the image if you like it, or you can order a t-shirt here.
I don’t really expect to sell any t-shirts, but I felt like making this a visual gag. And who knows, maybe I’ll be pleasantly surprised.
This is the second show I produced and MCed at Caltech. Here’s my opening of the show:
httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f0TEovd0x0Y
0m06s I had to make some general announcements about cell phones and such before starting the show so I decided to introduce myself. This was pretty fun to do.
0m25s There was a bunch of speakers and strobe lights around
0m37s I wrote these jokes an hour before the show
0m54s I started out with three jokes that called out the situation in the room, I think this helped a lot
1m18s Could’ve said something funnier than “he’s gonna be trouble all night”, probably a good time to start talking to him.
2m18s I went along with what was happening and called out the situation of how bad I was looking, if I had just taken my hand away without saying anything else I might’ve lost the audience right there
3m07s I went back to the old version of tubes as this crowd didn’t respond to the overly sexualized version too well last time
3m32s Good job coming back to the high five person
3m49s After watching my last time hosting this show, I consciously decided to do crowd work in between most of my bits
4m31s Some of the crowd work I had to force
6m01s I think this is a joke for comics
6m28s The tears on the map isn’t playing over well with the crowds, I might need to cut it
7m05s Always fun to force out a response
8m03s Taking a longer pause here got some laughs
8m49s Good job coming back to what has already happened in the room
9m04s I should’ve added, “you’re living the Caltech dream”
9m33s Try doing an act out with my hands when talking about “full clown makeup”
This is more from my set in the beginning
httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ScfklT_QZEk
0m44s I should’ve asked for his name and gone into it more
1m19s Make more of an emphasis with my hand about my stomach getting bigger
2m11s The new version of my punch line didn’t work out
2m59s The snuggle slut joke didn’t work but you can hear a comedian laughing in the background… I’m going to continue experimenting ending the set with a double call back.
This is me doing time between the first and second comic
httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yTXEa9ObMps
0m15s I tried referencing one of the jokes the comedian did
0m27s He only stopped grading exams for the female comedian
0m40s This is one of my best transitions from crowd work to a regular joke
This is me doing time between the second and third comic
httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F9lN28lD30o
0m08s The comic talked about mustard so I added onto that
0m33s The standards drop usually get a laugh
1m00s That joke tanked until I called out the most likely reason they weren’t laughing
Me doing time between third and fourth comic
httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8RJP2n4HL3Q
0m08s This was in reference to the comedienne’s opening joke of “I can’t believe I fucked Ben for this gig”
0m51s This is a great game I came up with: testing when the audience member should high five me and when he shouldn’t
1m51s No need to go back to “kicking and screaming, see how long you can hold on” if they already groan
2m14s I wasn’t planning on doing another joke, but wanted to bring up the next comic on a laugh
2m16s And that idea failed
My last time doing jokes between comics
httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dYVBHNgh2ZQ
0m52s Crickets
1m40s And the audience hates me, they’re at the “please bring up the next comic” stage
2m48s The audience still hates me but I at least brought them back to laughing
Overall: I did a great job of hosting up front. I had topical jokes that addressed what was going on in the room and I did pretty solid crowd work. However, the crowd turned on me for my last two bits between comedians. The lesson is: As the show goes on, do less and less jokes between the comedians. My first two “in betweens” were 75-90 seconds and received well while my last two “in betweens” were 2.5 and 3 minutes. Both of those should’ve been 45 seconds or less.
This is me at an open mic mostly working out new jokes related to my dropping out of school
httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vaaJ_CTQ700
0m08s Yes I’m seriously considering this as my stage name. I’ve even registered www.ProfessorBen.net (I hate that the dot com was taken).
0m29s I should use my hands more in this act out to convey emotion
0m49s This wasn’t a written part of my joke. I just called out the situation as I felt it… hopefully real crowds (aka non comedians) will laugh at the other bits of this, but if not I at least have a way to get them back.
1m34s The setup should be clearer, maybe something like “I knew I should quit grad school when I realized…”
1m41s Smile
1m47s No need to explain it
1m50s Great improvised tag about PCC (Pasadena Community College), referencing community college should become part of the joke.
2m22s Not sure if the TA opening for me bit is keepable
2m38s That was also an improvised line
2m56s I think it’s the Mormons and not the Jehovah’s witnesses that go door to door
3m09s Take a longer pause after “intolerable” before moving
3m27s This would’ve been a great time to say “wow it got really sad here again”
4m55s I had to go to one old joke because someone else talked about a topic that reminded me of it
Overall: I think this is the best response I’ve ever gotten at an open mic. While I’d like to think it’s all due to the material, I think a lot of it was due to me momentarily stopping my material in the beginning and calling out the situation of “did that get really sad for a minute?”
Slightly over a year ago, I wrote the post The Decision Point, mostly focused on an up and coming comedian who quit the business for a corporate job. I wrote this post well before I had applied to grad school, gotten into a top program and moved across the country to attend classes.
Here’s the gem of that year old post:
When I reach the decision point that he had, I hope for two things: 1) That a job in academia will allow me to do comedy, teaching and research without having to give any of those up and 2) If I can’t do both, I’ll man up and go for the chance at comedy
It’s funny how delusional I was. Teaching and research don’t coincide with doing comedy. In fact, teaching doesn’t coincide with doing research. All three are full time careers.
Given this, there’s two huge lessons I’ve learned in the past year:
1) You can’t have two careers. You can have two or more jobs, but only one career.
2) Sooner or later, any career is going to have a wall that sucks to climb over (or a dip to get through) and you’ll only be able to get past the wall if you have a passion for what you’re doing.
Today is the first time I read that Decision Point post since I wrote it and today is also when I officially announced that I’ll be withdrawing from the PhD program at Caltech. I’m moving back to NYC at the end of the month to man up and pursue comedy full time.
