0m50s Look more horrified, open my mouth more, and scan my eyes more after “Igor likes this”
1m27s No need to call out the hating Igor when the rest of the joke went fine
1m40s Good long awkward pause
3m05s I should have my hands specifically different for when I’m doing my mom’s voice and when I’m doing mine to make the difference even clearer
3m32s I should pause after “There were a lot of options on the menu” because that’s a punch line
3m48s An example of why it’s important to pay attention to the audience, calling them out (in a fun, positive way) keeps them paying attention
4m56s Don’t stumble over the premise, be clearer
5m59s Don’t smile at this part
Overall: This was a decent set. The longer than needed pauses really worked well. The Yelp joke still needs some work but is getting there. The shoes joke needs to be a lot clearer at the start, if you have an idea for how to setup the shoes joke, please post in the comments as I still haven’t figured it out.
0m48s Don’t ask where they’re from, just make a guess
1m27s When I MC I try to turn it into a talk show and not overdo my material, I could’ve gone into their intimate life more
2m54s Make up a story if they don’t cooperate
3m16s I like playing “inept psychic” when I MC
5m02s I should’ve said “10 years and a day”
5m24s I guess I’m also a relationship therapist when I MC
5m49s She said “he’s my brother,” funny
7m12s Good job trying to get people closer, I don’t remember if they moved up though
This is me doing the check spot on the same show
httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ztW9QZ_TSNc
0m42s I love how I’m just sharing cultural tidbits
2m06s Explain Yelp in less words and more clearly
Overall: I didn’t get big laughs but I did my job in loosening up the (six person) crowd. I’m happy that I was conversational, not in a rush and not trying to pack in the maximum number of jokes. There’s also a lot of potential to turn the whole “inept psychic” thing into a longer crowd work bit.
0m40s I should deadpan the delivery more and emphasis “never”
0m58s Say “partners” instead of “hookups”
1m04s No need for the word “array”
1m24s Beers aren’t girly enough, make it cosmos or martinis
2m01s Turn and look at the audience in shock
2m37s Slow down, and stop after “half price”
3m27s Don’t smile at this line
4m22s Not sure I like this joke although it got laughs
Overall: The one liners at the start are good, the yelp joke and shoes joke needs to be a lot tighter but there’s potential. I don’t think I’m gonna keep the dominos joke, at least not in it’s current form.
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.
