Category: Comedy

This is my last show at Caltech. Unlike the first two, I chose to headline this one and had my good friend come out of comedy retirement to MC. Of course, he wound up doing 18 minutes before I got on stage, so the show was going for 2+ hours when I finally got on stage. I recommend watching Jay’s MCing video which I linked above, as it’s pretty funny.

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1ZRnNIP_nFA

0m18s No need to point out they want to go study or that it’s a long show, especially when it’s true

0m34s I asked Jay to introduce me as “Professor Ben”

0m50s I like the Professor Ben stage name but I don’t like starting jokes about the name, it might work better in the middle of my set

3m18s That was spontaneous, but I now expect one random laugh on this line

4m14s I need a response to “son businessman”

4m43s Get rid of the “unless he make wrong choice” line

4m48s I need a response

5m13s Fallopian tubes hasn’t been working at all lately, I might need to retire it

6m06s Get rid of this joke

6m39s All 3 lines of “what’s a nobel prize?” should be cut

7m13s Try making an orgasm face after “this feels incredible” to build up more tension before “god I hope this works”

7m39s The person I addressed it to was at least 75

7m59s It’d be better to say “I guess Caltech doesn’t have a class on pulling out, that’s a liberal arts class”

9m04s I was proud of the “did attend high school”

9m18s This was a 75 year old woman who the MC tried to peer pressure into drinking

9m39s Cut this joke

9m50s And this one

Part 2

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-9TVOiDX4HE

1m02s Make a bigger motion with my hands on that act out

1m33s The first line of dogs worked much better yesterday

2m40s That’s not even true, this is an example bad thinking by me. Just cause a few jokes haven’t hit in a row, doesn’t mean the audience wants to go home, it just means a few jokes haven’t hit. I need to change my attitude on that.

2m47s As proven by a good laugh right here

4m03s Make it “I guess I’ll date you for another week”

4m17s No need to say that

4m30s It would definitely be cool if comedians could run onto the stage with high fives like wrestlers do

4m58s Nobody laughing at what I learned today is funny to me

5m09s I knew it wouldn’t work here

6m42s I wasn’t planning on doing this joke either

6m54s These two follow up lines need to be cut, probably the whole joke should be cut and I should just find another joke where I can use “in Russia, she would’ve had to wrestle a bear” as a punch line

7m06s The audience member got me good

7m51s I had decided to get rid of jehovah’s witnesses and myspace, but got such a good response for jdate I tried it anyway. Jehovah’s and myspace is now officially retired.

8m15s Finish the sentence then tell them they look like they need it

9m35s I’m pretty excited we did the actual pro wrestling high five thing

Overall: I had a lot of fun being on stage and 20 minutes is the longest I’ve done in a row in a long time. Even two hours into the show, the audience was good and attentive and I can cut a bunch of jokes just from watching this tape.

This is an open mic in a hotel bar

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_R0_vORvDH8

1m09s I tried tightening my dogs joke to go straight into the better part, I think the key is starting with “it bothers me that” because I’ve previously tried going straight to “we love our dogs but not enough…” and it hasn’t gotten any response

2m32s I love when people block the camera

2m45s I didn’t have enough time to go through all my Russian stuff, so this wasn’t setup right

3m05s And the punch lines didn’t work as well because of it

3m38s The prison and cigar-o parts need to be taken out

3m58s Someone said “this is a real stage”

4m11s That was mean but funny, and true

4m32s It will be strong if I say “I guess I’ll date you for another week” instead of “we”

4m44s Not a bad suggestion to add “Igor loves this” to the end of that joke

5m28s This is a bad habit to think aloud about what I’m gonna do, but luckily I only do this at open mics

Overall: The first couple of minutes went very well and it was all material that I’ve been reworking. Some of the later stuff didn’t work as well and will be taken out or rewritten. I’m in the process of culling a lot of my jokes and only doing ones that really work, so there’s a lot of experimentation going on from show to show.

This is show at a bar for an audience of 7

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aWw6zV9jvTY

1m01s When my opening one minute joke doesn’t hit at all, there’s no point in going straight into more material, I might as well address the situation

1m32s No need for the line after “foooood”

2m27s I did the same jokes two hours ago to a much better response, pretty sure I delivered it the same way both times

3m01s There are people in the crowd after all

3m40s That’s my friend with the suggestions

4m17s I missed part of the sentence. It should be “I’d be in the business of telling jokes for prison cigarettes” but the line doesn’t work anyway

5m33s I fully agree with this statement, If five minutes of material hasn’t worked and it’s a small crowd, I’m just gonna hit on a girl

5m44s My newest pickup line

6m10s This is the first time that each of the three parts of the neuroeconomics  joke actually worked, I think it’s because I got them paying attention by calling out the text messaging

6m47s Instead of “he did graduate from high school” it should be “he did attend high school”

7m08s If the first line doesn’t get a big laugh, I should admit, “I know that’s fucked up” and then do the act out

Overall: 95% of my material didn’t work, but me talking and calling out the crowd on what was occurring worked. The lesson here is to keep working on making my material indistinguishable from me just talking.

This is an open mic at a Restaurant Ball Room

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P4vzvE_6fhc

0m05s I’m still playing with the stage name Professor Ben

0m12s I didn’t need to rush the “relax”, should’ve waited for the applause to die down

0m14s Too weak of  a laugh to use as my opener. I wonder if I can get away with the stage name “Professor Ben” without having to explain it at the top of my set. This concept might get a bigger laugh somewhere in the middle with something like, “by this point, you’ve probably figured out, I’m not a real professor.”

1m03s Make a more dramatic mouse click

2m01s I was about to continue but one guy started laughing, so I waited and got even more laughs

2m18s Someone was being pointed at

2m25s Don’t say “trying to bare my soul” so angrily, say it more sarcastically

2m52s I changed it from my dad to my mom because there’s only a need for one character

3m15s Sell the “see me after the show” more before saying “I’m just kidding”

3m48s I need a better response here

3m55s Maybe go straight to the cigar-o line

4m23s This is my new favorite joke

4m55s No need for “yep” before “she’s homeless now”

5m06s I’m trying some extra lines after the ex on the street, not sure if they’re keepers

Overall: Even if this was a regular show and not an open mic, I did very well. I need a new response to the “son, businessman” line, and the new parts of the ex on the street joke might need to be modified or removed.

This is an open mic at a hotel, LA is short of comedy clubs

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S-tsrwij110

0m22s I’m trying to do some in the moment work to open the set

0m33s Blackwater produces the show, and was trying to keep cursing to a minimum

1m11s I’m experimenting transitioning from explaining Professor Ben into different bits

2m17s I think “some of them do meth” will sound better than “smoke meth”

2m35s I love how one person is laughing his head off, and everyone else is ambivalent

3m17s This time “intolerable” didn’t work

3m22s My first attempt at fixing the need for a joke after “intolerant” didn’t go so well, but it’s a start

4m02s Pause after “triple the neglect”

4m10s Get rid of the belts line

5m59s This follow up didn’t work. Either cut it or add a third joke to it.

Overall: I’m surprised the one guy who was laughing and clapping at everything didn’t ask for my autograph. Otherwise, I was working out mostly new jokes, some worked, some didn’t. I’ve written a lot of new material in the past month, and now I’m working on combining and refining it.