Category: Comedy

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The Comedy Business: The Pecking Order On The Comedy Ladder

Like most professions, stand up comedy has a ladder that everyone wants to climb. I’ve listed out all the ladder steps as I currently understand them, starting from the lowest and going to the highest.

This ladder is most applicable for NYC and LA (and maybe Chicago / Boston) where there are lots of comedians and lots of comedy clubs. When you’re headlining or getting constant 15-30 minute spots in your local comedy club, it’s time to move to NY or LA, or go on the road, if you’re serious about a full time career anyway.

Some of these steps are lateral, but there are clear levels of separation along the way.

Level 1: You’re a Nobody

Open Mics / Bringers / Barkers

Level 2: Passed at a local club

This means you get real audiences to listen to you multiple times a week without having to stand out in the cold advertising for the show, paying money for stage time or bringing friends. 

2.1 Check Spot

2.2 Emceeing

2.3 Opening

2.4 Middle

2.5 Headlining

Level 2B: You Get Passed at a better local club

(This then follows the same five levels I listed out in Level 2.)

Level 3: Getting paid to perform all around town or the state

Level 4: Getting paid and getting gigs around town so often that you don’t need another job

Level 4 often occurs in conjunction with:

Level 5: Getting paid to go on a regional tour

and

Level 6: Getting paid to go on a national tour

You eventually want to work your way up to

Level 7: Headlining a regional tour

and

Level 8: Headlining a national tour

It’s debatable whether it’s better to be headlining a national tour (where you fly into a different city almost every weekend) or to be a consistent headliner in the best clubs in NYC or LA. Basically, levels 4, 7 and 8 can all be occurring at the same time. I’d call that combination level 9.

If you’re able to consistently headline on national tours and in the best NYC and LA clubs (I won’t name names) then your next step is to get on TV or in Movies. (Although, if you’re headlining at the major clubs, chances are you’ve already been on TV and in Movies multiple times.)

As far as stand up comedy on TV goes, here is how I would rank the desirability, from lowest to highest (for American TV at least).

1) 5 to 7 minute segment on a Comedy Central stand up show like Premium Blend or Live at Gotham.

2) Stand Up Spot on the 12:30am late night shows (Conan, Jimmy, etc)

3) Stand Up Spot on the 11:30pm shows (Leno or Letterman)

4) Your own half hour special on Comedy Central / Netflix

5) Your own hour special on HBO / Netflix

I’m sure I missed some levels and not everyone agrees with my rankings. Let’s hear what I got wrong 🙂

Wanna try stand-up comedy yourself? Consider taking my NYC Comedy Class or booking a private one-on-one comedy coaching session (in person or via Zoom)

More Stand-Up Comedy Tips:

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Comedy Barking Tips

When I started out in comedy, I did some barking. Being that I can be a nerd at times, I actually tried to google “comedy barking tips” and received no useful results (stupid dogs and barking tips). So as a service to all aspiring comedians who have to bark for stage time, here are some tips to achieve better results:

  • Remember it’s a numbers game and don’t be fazed by rejection.
  • You have 3-5 seconds for someone to hear you as they walk past you so state the offer as succinctly as possible.
  • Personalize the offer. I let people know that I was performing and earning stage time by standing outside. I feel this gives people a better reason to consider going to the show instead of if I was just trying to sell them something.
  • Make a joke. And try to have fun. Most people want to ignore you, so try to make people laugh, even if they don’t end up going to the show. If nothing else, this helps build your improv skills and your crowd work skills. For example, when really young looking pedestrians pass by, I mention that “most forms of fake ID are accepted.” When older women walk by, I’ll say “Look at me! I’m adorable… AND hysterical.”
  • If they make eye contact and laugh, walk with them a few feet and start talking to them. This works best if you make a little excuse like “it’s cold, I need some exercise” so they don’t think you’re gonna follow them for ten blocks (and you shouldn’t — if you can’t get them to stop to talk to you by the next crosswalk, let them go — no need to harass people)
  • Anchor the price by saying what the regular price is first and then tell them the discounted price that your flier provides.
  • Be nice and friendly, even if they aren’t gonna come to the show.
  • Try to walk them to the club so they don’t get distracted with some other activity.
  • Sometimes, if you just keep talking and talking and talking, they’ll decide to go.

As examples, here are some of the things I’ve been saying lately that tend to get laughs and conversations, even from the meanest looking people.

  • “Live comedy. I’m performing. If nobody shows up, I get beaten very badly.”
  • “Standup comedy. I’m performing. Last time nobody came, I was hit with a shovel.”
  • “I’m performing comedy. If you don’t go, I get water boarded.”
  • “Live comedy. I’m performing. Look how cute I am.”
  • “It’s lonely here, I need a hug.”

Wanna improve your stand-up comedy skills so you can stop barking? I teach a Comedy Class in NYC. I also do private one-on-one comedy coaching (in-person or via Zoom).

More Stand-Up Comedy Tips:

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New Posting Philosophy Regarding Performance Critiques

When I originally started doing critiques, I was able to keep up in almost real time. In the past 10 days, I’ve fallen pretty behind, so here’s my new plan:

  • I’m going to batch post all my performances once or twice a week. I write most of the critiques Thursday night, so I’ll post on Fridays. 
  • This will allow me to post real articles about stand up as well, as trying to post one article a day about my performances has been messing up my real writing, which I think is more interesting than watching me tell similar jokes post after post.

Hopefully this doesn’t offend or overly disappoint anyone. Also, if you have other suggestions about topics you’d lke me to cover, please let me know. I have a list of about 7-8 that people have already request. (I read and take note of each comment on the site.)

Have a laughter filled weekend,

Ben

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Performance Critique 20: Jan 30B

This was the later show in the same room as above. There was a loud gathering at the bar area of the club which is right outside the door, so every time the door would open, everyone would get distracted, including me.

 

1m13s Kill “She’s looking mighty delicious.” 

1m37s You can hear the people being loud. 

2m00s I’m trying to shout over the loud people at the bar at this point. It’s making me go faster than usual because you can hear them if it’s quiet. 

2m54s There was no reason to say “Let that roll around” for that punch line. 

5m08s I love how the door only opens when I’m hitting a punch line. Watching this again reminded me how annoyed I was after the set. 

5m41s Get rid of “the girl who talks about herself non stop” part of the joke. 

5m52s Look up at my hand when doing that arc motion. 

6m42s The lone highlight of this set was pausing long enough to draw out a laugh. 

Overall: The advice I got afterwards was that in these situations (where lots of noise occurs), try to time my punch lines to when the door opens. I don’t think this is a good set to use to evaluate which jokes are funny and which aren’t.

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Performance Critique 19: Jan 30A

This is me back at the place in NYC where I freeze my balls off in Times Square for 3 hours in exchange for time. I was extra cold tonight and still warming up when I got onstage.

 

0m04s The emcee  is supposed to pretend to be everyone’s best friend, or at least that they’re funny. He’s not supposed to put doubt about the comic’s ability into the audience’s mind. 

0m14s It’s supposed to be “He’s adorable… and then he opens his mouth.” Not “until he…” 

0m52s It’s time to bury the management consultant joke. 

1m06s It’s time to bury the executive assistant joke. 

1m14s I should try writing more about food servers turned waiters, or using it somewhere else. 

3m31s Good save when nobody laughed at the “assume they’re death.” 

3m46s I think I can rework the premise of this joke to be shorter, “People say getting on stage takes balls. Nobody ever says, that takes tits.” 

4m15s I need to come up with a better example of “Huge Tubes”, or figure out what kind of audiences I can do this joke with. This joke gets the most inconsistent laughs. 

5m22s I’m slowly learning that longer pauses cause a second round of laughter. 

5m33s After keep it going for your host, I should’ve said “I don’t know if he’s funny. I hope he’s not sucking.”

Overall: I got big laughs in 3 or 4 places but had too many dead spots. I ended strong though.

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