iMacs are sweet. I realize this isn’t news to anyone but me. What can I say? I”m slow.
I’m borrowing a Mac for the next three months and I started messing around with video editing today. I recorded 3.5 minutes of nonsense while my room mate was hanging photos in the apartment and turned it into (what I think is) comedy gold in under thirty minutes. Windows Movie Maker would have taken me a good two hours or more and been a huge pain. This is my long way of saying I’m now a huge fan of Apple.
Congratulations! You’ve got a venue, you’ve booked comics and there’s lots of people in the audience. Now the real headache begins! One hundred things can and will go wrong every time you run a show.
Before getting into any specifics, if you remember nothing else about running a show, remember to:
Be flexible and don’t freak out!
With that said, here is a pretty standard to do (or have someone else to do) list when you’re running a show. (Some of these steps aren’t necessary depending on the venue.)
Set up and test the equipment, rearrange furniture if needed
Work the box office selling tickets (if you’re charging cover)
Seat people (towards the front when possible)
Make announcements before the show starts (turn off pagers, any drink minimums, etc)
Introduce and bring up the MC (or if you’re MCing, have someone bring you up)
Decide the order of comics and how much time each comic is doing
Keep track of how much time each comic is doing
Light the comic when they have one minute remaining
Let the waitresses know when to drop the checks (if applicable)
Make an announcement to clear the room after the show ends (if applicable)
Put the room back how you found it
Here’s some common problems and possible solutions, add your own experiences in the comments
The line up needs to be changed
You should have a line up in advance that states the order of the comics and how long each comic is doing. However, unless you’re producing a MC – Feature – Headliner format, the line up almost always changes at the last minute. Look at your original line up as a starting hypothesis and not like the ten commandments. When making line up changes the most important thing to keep in mind is if there’s a hard stopping time that the show must be over by. If so, always work backwards from there. And don’t forget to add 30 to 60 seconds between comics for the MC to have time to bring up the next comedian.
The show has to end earlier than scheduled
All your comics are on time and don’t run the light, but suddenly management decides you only have 70 minutes instead of 100. The most important thing to do, is not get pissy at management. Asking them if they can do anything about giving the show more time is okay, just don’t get into a yelling match with them or anything. When this happens, be ready to cut everyone’s time. Most comics will be understanding about this. If this happens, a better move than cutting into everyone else’s time is to take yourself off of the show (assuming you’re not the MC). When producing and running a show, your first responsibility is making it a good show, giving yourself stage time is just a bonus.
Comics go longer than you want
Comics run the light way too often. If you’re a comic reading this, you’ve probably run the light a few times yourself. If the show is running tight, make sure to remind comics not to run the light. If you stress how tight the show is, they’re less likely to do it (although it’s not guaranteed). Be ready to keep waving a light until they come off stage.
You run out of change
If you’re charging a cover, you’ll need to break change. It’s best to have at least one person helping you run the show so that you can send them on errands like this one, while you stay and run the rest of the show. If you can’t get help, either ask them to hang out until someone else can give you change or if they’re waiting for more than a few minutes, comp their cover.
A comic doesn’t show up or cancels at the last minute
This is a bigger deal if you have 3 or 4 comics on a show and two of them have already gone up. There’s a minimum amount of time most places will want a show to run, and you don’t want to give someone more time than they can handle doing, especially if they’re already on stage. One way to solve this is to have comics check in by a certain time, and if they’re not there, take them off the show so you can split the remaining time fairly from the beginning. Another solution is to always book one comic that you know can do a lot of time if needed, and don’t put that comic on until the other comics have shown up.
The midnight show, 8 people in the audience and they’re louder and more fun than some full houses
httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4o4G_YiDu84
0m18s They’re high energy so I have to come in super high energy
0m48s This is “talk to them and don’t worry about squeezing in maximum jokes” crowd
1m02s Usually constant input from the crowd is annoying, but I knew this would happen by watching the show and was ready to have fun with it
2m02s This is the classic “crowd wants to have a conversation” situation, the best to do is to sneak material in between the conversation
2m59s That was awesome how she called me out and I was honest about the free account, if I had ignored her I would’ve missed a huge laugh
3m35s Waitress dropped the checks
5m08s I love how this turned into a talk show
5m44s Good job recognizing what was going on and making a joke about it
6m52s This feels like how I usually am at a bar with my friends, except I have amplification
Overall: Although I only got two jokes out in an eight minute set, I had a ton of fun. I don’t mind an audience interrupting occasionally as long as they’re engaged, laughing the rest of the time and their questions or comments make sense. I need to figure out how to be this loose and fun every time I’m on stage.
0m10s Take a longer pause and stare at them before saying anything
3m11s I need more excitement in my voice
4m04s That’s a tongue twister, reword it
4m44s I love that my new stuff is doing way better than my tried and true jokes
5m45s I’m trying a different way of going into my suicide joke to see if it gets everyone on board with it
Overall: I started slow and didn’t open the set the right way. I could’ve sounded more excited throughout as it seemed like I was going through the motions. And I was, because I was focused on trying out two new jokes in a row. At least the new jokes did better than the rest of the set. Next time, I should work on always being in the moment.
1m04s No need to say “That’s like” before doing the announcer voice
1m19s Turn my head straight across instead of turning it down
1m57s This is all premise, so I can say it faster
3m08s It took a while for the Russian family stuff to get going, I need to try to make the setup clearer
4m12s Interesting that the joke got a strong laugh without my doing a hand motion
4m56s I love hearing someone explain the joke in the back
5m47s New joke
5m53s I need to pause between punch lines
6m01s I had to admit that joke didn’t work, and that got the crowd back
Overall: This was great for the first minute and solid for the first five and half. The Russian family joke didn’t work well until the third part which makes me think I can set it up better. The commitment issues shoes joke towards the end of the set was new and needs lots of work.
