This is a Wednesday show for about 20 people, including 14 lumberjacks from Maine
httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Um9R2OlWzLo
0m12s This is a comment on the previous comic’s material and response
0m18s It took 3 lines of comments to get a huge laugh on this topic
1m05s The slower I go, the more laughs it gets
2m10s I tried changing the order of the Russian family material
3m29s Look sad for another second
4m30s I should only do the suicide joke after a joke where I kill
4m55s I lost the crowd, although calling them out on it helped for half a second
5m22s I need to say this in more of a question tone
5m48s I couldn’t help that one, it did get a laugh
6m10s Nice “forehead sweat” response
6m29s Get rid of the word “are”
7m28s I need to know to get out of this joke if the first couple of lines don’t hit
7m58s I should’ve tried the old “I’ll leave you on something funny… thank you”
Overall: I did better than I remember doing. I started really strong and ended really poorly, but was getting consistent laughs for 7 of 8 minutes. I need more material that makes me vulnerable because when one of my “edgier” jokes doesn’t hit, I can’t go to another edgy joke, as it’ll really lose the crowd. (This is what happened when I went from suicidal girls to jdate to new years.)
1m20s The efficiency joke needs to be tried on a real audience
1m45s I think the “we fight injured children” might work better as a sketch for a bad grammar advertising agency
2m04s That’s just a premise about mutual enemies, I need an actual joke there
2m52s It’s less wordy to say “When drinking gets in the way of your job, so you quit work”
3m09s I need a long pause between “neuroeconomics” and “I don’t know what the hell that means either”
3m32s Going too fast for this whole skit
4m08s This joke needs work, I haven’t been able to practice my material out loud because I’m couch surfing
4m45s There’s a funnier way to get that same house dad point across
5m02s I decided to do one joke I know works to see the maximum laughs I could get, this isn’t really a useful strategy for the end of a set
6m04s I could’ve done this slower, paused and gotten a laugh
Overall: I could’ve probably addressed the comics hating me and waiting for me to get off stage less often. The threesome efficiency joke is ready to be tried on a real audience and the fighting injured children bit needs to become a sketch instead of stand up.
1m01s One of these days I’m gonna get random audience members to make out during my set
1m06s I couldn’t do my regular “don’t try (insert dating service)” cause it would’ve been mean given how she looked, so I tried to save it by adding more words
1m14s I setup my suicide joke here, but it was too early to go to it, so the transition was a little weird
2m25s Do the mouse click slower and more dramatically
3m00s I held back here. My first instinct was to ask “have you done it yet” and then enquire about her fake rack. It would’ve also made sense to ask how they met here, suggesting a site like “sugar daddies and big boobs dot com” because of how they looked and then going into my online dating joke.
3m30s I tried changing the order of the Russian family stuff here and it led to me stumbling over the premises
4m28s I love the single applause clap
5m44s Admitting it’s messed up lets me get away with going further, I learned that in improv
7m08s I still don’t have a good response for when someone hasn’t spayed their dog
7m43s My hand should be out in a “presenting” way, not in a double pump motion
Overall: This was the first time in a while where my material did well but my improvised crowd work didn’t. I think this was because I didn’t go with my first instinct in a couple of moments as I decided my instincts were too mean. Also, changing the order of the Russian Family joke makes sense but I need to make it smoother.
0m11s I thought that line would hit a lot harder as it was a reference to the previous comic
0m33s Photos and video of me being a trannie coming shortly
0m53s I should smile after that
0m57s Someone said “that’s pretty good”
1m06s He said something about “validation”
1m09s That was mean, but not “ooooo” mean, I was just ready to move on
1m37s I might need to tighten that to “Take out the for and you get “we fight injured children””
2m05s I need to say “If I impregnate someone” not “if I do that”
2m23s I thought house daddy was good, the delivery wasn’t right though
2m45s I need to think of better act outs and follow ups but I like the concept of “mutual enemies”
3m23s I didn’t deliver “I don’t know what the hell that means either” right as I’m trying to rush the first two parts that everyone knows to get to the last part
4m05s It’s really hard to say “tetrahedral carbon crystal”
4m18s It should be “commencing” not “consuming”
4m28s I need to change the explanation and add that I had to google “tetrahedral carbon crystal”
4m52s I think that’s funny
Overall: Not a great set. This was mostly brand new material that I didn’t even get a chance to practice out loud before getting on stage. These jokes all need to be worked and reworked but none of them missed completely enough for me to remove it right away.
I recently read “Truth in Comedy” by Del Close and Charna Halpern, the founders of improvisational comedy and thought I’d post my favorite quotes from it.
“The truth is funny. Honest discovery, observation, and reaction is better than contrived invention.” (15)
“When we’re relaxing, we don’t have to entertain each other with jokes. And when we’re simply being ourselves up to each other and being honest, we’re usually funniest.” (15)
“Where do the really best laughs come from? Terrific connections made intellectually, or terrific revelations made emotionally.” (25)
“Many actors don’t understand the difference between a joke and a laugh. A joke is only one way – and seldom the best way – to get a laugh; jokes can get laughs but, obviously, laughs don’t always result from jokes.” (26)
“A comedian who tells jokes is basically a salesman, trying to sell the audience a clever story or punch line, while hoping to be paid back in laughter.” (27)
“When players worry that a scene isn’t funny, they may resort to jokes. This usually guarantees the scene won’t be funny.” (27)
“The situation is similar to a relationship between a man and a woman – the more they talk about it, the less time they spend on it.” (28)
“The audience laughs at agreement – a secret of comedy that very few people realize.” (51)
“Improv is much closer to ping pong than it is to chess. Actors create an improv scene in the same spontaneous way.” (71)
“You should always assume that the audience is one step ahead of you.” (72)
“If everyone justifies everyone else’s actions, there are no mistakes.” (73)
“A scene is almost never about what the players think it’s going to be about.” (73)
“No matter what the setup, however, the event is crucial to every scene – the situation that makes this day different from all the rest. This is where the action begins.” (81-82)
“Del said, ‘We don’t care if it works for the audience – it has to work for us,’ “ (83)
“The only real mistake here is ignoring the inner voice.” (91)
“After an improviser learns to trust and follow his own inner voice, he begins to do the same with his fellow players’ inner voices. Once he puts his own ego out of the way, he stops judging the ideas of others – instead, he considers them brilliant, and eagerly follows them!” (92)
“They always accept the ideas of the other players without judging them to be “good” or “bad,” always thinking, “This is now our idea.” (93)
“Objects in a scene are there to help lead a player who feels stuck. They should prompt the improviser to discover, rather than invent.” (104)
“Experienced performers learn that their dialog isn’t about their activity. Instead, the lines should be saved for the relationship with the other player.” (107)
