Category: Comedy

This is me at a 3 person bringer. There were about 30-40 people in the audience, 3 of whom actually knew me. And two of them had seen my stand up in the very beginning. I hate myself for not checking the camera setting before hand to ensure optimal lighting.

0m37s Change from “You get to” to “We get to that midnight kiss” 

0m44s Note for future reference, pick out a person in a large group to say “you know what I’m talking about” whenever possible, as the rest of the group will usually laugh at the guy. Also try to pick out a guy as it makes my joke make more sense. 

1m33s Don’t say “but it’s messed up” anymore. 

2m39s My amazon dot com voice needs work as it doesn’t sound consistent from set to set, and the laughs vary as well. 

4m25s When I wrote that, I didn’t consider “some people don’t realize there’s some photos you don’t put there” to be a punch line. That either shows how little I know or how great of a crowd it was. 

5m05s My voice was off for “It. Costs. Money.” because I got a little interrupted and this led to random laughter. I should’ve gone back a few words, to get my outraged voice back. 

6m52s I didn’t pause long enough between “that takes” and “tubes”. 

7m23s I love how this punch line either causes crickets to chirp (silence) or kills. 

7m39s I learned to wait after “that means that you are.” As that takes people a few seconds to get it. 

7m43s I came up with that on the spot and will be using it from now on. “I didn’t mean to give the game away, I’m sorry.” 

8m17s For every set where “girl lets you take her out to dinner” didn’t get big laughs, “I didn’t even get any snuggle head” doesn’t get big laughs either. I should adjust on the spot and know to skip that if this occurs (assuming I’m getting good laughs in general). 

8m38s That’s by far the best reaction that line has ever gotten. I think my notes on holding the face in previous critiques finally paid off. 

9m02s I should start ending good sets by saying “Check out BigBenComedy dot com and have a good night. Thanks” so that my website name doesn’t get drowned out. 

Overall: This was one of my best, if not my best, set overall. The fallopian tubes and the website name were the two weakest jokes, so I either need to strengthen them, deliver it a little better or get rid of them. This audience was dying at a lot of other things so they’re trustworthy in judging what works and what doesn’t (unless they laugh at everything).

This is another set at the place where I bark. There were 8-10 people in the audience and they were spread out. The talking you’ll hear in the background is from the bar outside the room. It wasn’t as bad a last time though.

0m40s I should just say “People love their dogs. They send them to a pet spa…” instead of mentioning how “It’s a messed up kind of love.” That needs to come later. 

0m57s After “gets grandma”, try changing the line to “We really love our dogs, just not enough to keep their reproductive organs. That’s messed up. It’s like if I were to ask him…” 

1m17s I think he said “I like sweaters. You have a very nice one on.” 

1m25s It’s never a good set when my admitting I’m bombing gets the biggest laugh. 

1m38s Step forward when saying “Puppies for Yuppies.” Here, I took half a step backwards and leaned back. 

2m20s Make it “because our standards drop the closer we get to that midnight kiss” instead of “the closer you get” 

2m23s There was a 14 year old boy in the front row that I pointed to. 

3m32s Stop using the “hearing aid” part of the joke right after the deaf part. 

3m50s The sweater guy from above almost died laughing at this line. I wish they made everyone sit up front so that the laughs would get contagious. 

4m00s The sweater guy’s girlfriend said something or other so I had to react. 

4m50s Don’t step back and reach for the mic when first introducing “The Snuggle Slut.” This needs to be more theatrical.

Overall: This was clearly not my best work. I’m starting to find that I need a critical mass of about 15 people in order to get the huge laughs. This isn’t me making an excuse as I’ve seen pros kill a room of 4 or 6 people. I either need to pretend there are more people in the room, or change something about my delivery when there’s less people. Maybe I should walk around the stage more and look at a different group of people after each joke, winning over one table at a time.

I volunteered to MC the open mic so I did my set upfront. The good parts about MCing are that you can do more time upfront and you get to go up between every comic and crack a joke or two if you want. The audience was one married couple (and 5 comics), the couple was sitting 40 feet away from the stage.

0m56s I didn’t “step into” the punch line as hard as I should’ve. 

2m45s No need for the whole intimacy issues portion. 

3m39s This was the first time I did this joke as the situation described just happened this past Saturday. I’m safe unless someone links her to the youtube clip. 

4m11s This was my worst delivery of the beginning part of the dogs joke ever. 

4m34s I wanted to try out a bunch of new material, so I used a note card. 

5m08s Change voices between “I’ve never seen this person in my life” and “You were at a party doing shots with them yesterday.” 

7m09s I’ve gotten much better at staring off into the crowd for a few seconds when nobody laughs right away instead of looking down at the floor. 

7m38s I need a better premise for the “bring your own VIP Rope” idea. 

8m04s See my introduction to Performance Critique 21 for the reference. Most of the same comics were back. 

9m41s When I interrupt myself to make an observation, I should repeat or remind the audience what I was previously saying. In this instance instead of saying “That is the definition of…” I should’ve said “Cuddling all night is the definition of…” 

9m59s There’s about 15 more seconds of this clip but youtube has 10 minute upload limits. The “overestimating my fan base” got a good laugh and then I brought up a comic. I don’t think there’s any value in uploading it.

Overall: I’m going to try to keep MCing because it’s a skill I need to work on. And some of my new jokes aren’t hopeless.

This was me back in DC (I’ll be there for my day job quite often), there were 3 or 4 real audience members and 7 comics. The show started with a hysterical q&a session with a comic who had served prison time, had an awkward 7 minute set by a 24 year old female virgin, and ended with a 25 minute set about a comic being sexually abused as a kid. Since comedy is the build up and release of tension, this was the most enjoyable show I’ve seen (let alone been a part of) in months. 

0m37s I’ve started taking longer and longer pauses when I know something is funny. 

0m50s Don’t say how many steps it is. Just explain the get rich quick scheme. This will cut unnecessary words. Something like “I wanna get laid off so I have time for my get rich quick scheme. I’m gonna gain 200 pounds and then convince the government I’m too big to fail.” 

1m05s I keep playing with changing this joke between lots of hours and lots of days, maybe I should just stop telling it. 

1m23s It seems awkward that I went into the dogs thing without a question or any sort of transition. That caused nobody to laugh at “We don’t love our dogs enough to let them keep their reproductive organs.” 

2m55s Comics love the “I just assume they’re deaf” joke. 

3m16s Add “dot com” after the child molester. 

6m13s Maybe I should try “If you start blowing me while I’m still on stage, you got HUGE TUBES.” 

6m29s The long pause strikes again. 

6m34s Some guy said “I didn’t want to laugh at that but I did.” 

7m05s One of the other comics did a 7 minute set about how she’s a 24 year old virgin (and she wasn’t fat or ugly). She’s the one who asked, “Really?” 

7m36s I should’ve said “DC” instead of “New York” to stay local and relevant. 

Overall: I was trying to be “more animated” with my delivery. Watching it, I’m not sure I was any more animated than usual. I got one big laugh and chuckles at the rest of it. I’m neither thrilled nor disappointed at my performance.