Category: Comedy

The thing i really like about barking is you get to do two shows in one night. This was the second set, and I was up right after someone who ran his mic and started yelling at the audience — he was bombing, so the audience started yelling “NEXT!” and it was all downhill from there. I asked the emcee to do some material but his 30 seconds of material, didn’t really help the situation. The recorder is behind me this time, whereas in the first show the recorder was on the front table, so it’s not as loud.

0m34s I think I’m going to cut the management consultant bullshit artist bit from my set. Or put it in somewhere else.

1m12s It felt a lot worse on stage than it sounds on just audio, but I thought the audience was 3 seconds away from killing me, so I had to acknowledge the situation with the last comic. Listening to my material a week later, I think I shouldn’t have used my consultant, executive assistant and waiter/actor jokes with this crowd. I’ve actually been semi retiring them and choose a bad time to try to bring it back. I asked a few comics about the whole “calling out someone else” and have gotten mixed responses on how to best handle such a situation in the future. I think next time, I’ll either address it upfront or not at all.

2m12s The talking you’ve heard in the background for the past 20 seconds was much louder than it appears. The tape recorder was behind me, and the people talking were like 30 feet in front of me, so they were real loud.

4m07s Be more outraged about them being at my door at 7am. 

Overall: That was the hardest set I’ve ever done that wasn’t an open mic. While some people did listen to me the whole time, the room was out of control. I think I should address the previous comic’s situation right away or not at all. Also, I was kinda intimidated by watching the previous comic’s set and the crowd’s response, so I’m sure it affected my performance. 

This was the first show I did where I barked for time. Except for the freezing my balls off portion, I enjoyed being out in Times Square and trying to get people to laugh who were trying to ignore me. I succeeded in getting 3 groups of people to come to the show. This was my first time here, so I wasn’t sure if I could keep my video camera somewhere, so I wound up using a voice recorder.

0m18s I did the pause before doing the face here, and it worked like a charm. 

1m13s I’m not sure if I should cut the “she’s looking mighty delicious” line out. 

1m43s I don’t need to say “but it’s a messed up kind of love” here. 

1m51s The “you don’t send your kids to a spa” was too flat. 

2m56s This is the first time I got a laugh after “you book some time.” 

4m05s Have more outrage and fury for “why the hell are you at my door?” 

4m38s I had the delayed audience laugh happen again. I sometimes get (and never intended to get) a laugh at “met a new dating personality, The Snuggle Slut”. I think if I make this more “Mr. Moviefone-esque” when saying it, I’ll get consistent laughs. 

Overall: I think this was one of my best, if not best shows to date. The audience “popped” in 4 or 5 places. And I was getting steady laughs throughout. I wish I videotaped it.

This is a set from an open  mic on January 23^rd. I was planning on taking the night off after feeling shitty about how my set went the day before, but when I got home (slightly trashed) at 2 AM, I decided I had to get on stage again. Comedy has become like crack rock to me. And if I don’t stop doing open mics soon, it’ll be just as expensive! The strangest thing was I didn’t even want to tell jokes (although I did eventually), I just wanted to get back on stage and work on what I thought was most lacking the night before.

0m08s The host introduced me something like “I know him and he’s hysterical” so I felt the need to reply to that.

0m54s “Shit!” needs to be more in the moment. Like I just realized the insult this instant. Instead of “he was insulting me” maybe try “he got me good!”

1m00s No need to say “Yesterday I got what I thought was a compliment someone told me that…” I can shorten that to “Yesterday someone told me that my jokes were well written.” And give an incredulous look right after.

1m38s Now you see where that “I can’t sing, dance or rap” joke came from. The next Notorious B.I.G. I am not.

2m21s The word “long” should drag out and needs to have a tone that implies “how ridiculous”.

3m15s Don’t mumble real words. If they laugh, I can then call back to this anytime I want to make the audience laugh by doing more crazy mumbling.

3m49s Sometimes people will stop laughing for a second, you’ll start telling a joke, and they’ll start laughing at the previous joke again. I like to pause and let them get it out but I wish they wouldn’t stop laughing in the first place.

4m00s This mic gives out a “prime time spot” during the following week to the funniest performer who didn’t use notes. The shows tend to run 3 hours. Which is about  70 minutes more than the best audience’s attention span.

4m34s There’s nothing quite like giving the host a good back handed compliment.

4m46s The host was giving me the light and said “I don’t want to but I have to.” I’m glad she was having fun.

5m53s Sassi (the host) likes to play off of the comics sets and always wants them to give her a “yes and…” escalation to her suggestion. I have yet to actually kick a girl out for getting to fat. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not against doing so. I just tell my girlfriends about “I’ll dump you if you get fat” while we’re dating and they miraculously don’t get fat. That’s what we call “managing expectations”.

Overall: I had fun just being back on stage and I’m well on my way to developing an obsession with standup.

This is my set from the comedy showcase that I was practicing for all week. The audience was smaller than I expected (about 25-30 people) and half of them were comics because comics got a free comp to this show.

0m26s I shouldn’t make the “what? you don’t think I should be a model face” until after the audience stops laughing at the actual words. That will lead to a second round of laughter.

0m37s The reason it seems that I’m looking down with my eyes most of the show is because the camera is in the second level, but only the first level was filled with audience, so I choose to make eye contact with them. I’m not sure if I should’ve done this, as the club owner was in the second level. 

0m45s I looked down after a punch line. Don’t move a muscle after I deliver a punch line until the audience is done laughing.

1m52s The audience member started listing 5 presents she got for her dog. I could’ve made fun of her for this (“I bet you didn’t get your kids 5 presents”) but didn’t think to on the spot. Instead I just remembered one and cut her off.

2m23s The audience member said her dog wasn’t castrated. I can’t ignore interaction if I start it and everyone hears it.

2m54s I think I would’ve gotten more laughs if I didn’t drop my eyes.

3m33s Wait an extra second after “a dog was hit by a bus” before calling someone “a sweater loving bastard” because being hit by a bus is also a punch line.

4m03s The hearing aid part is forced. I should stop doing it and only do it as a callback to the crowd if a joke bombs.

4m56s I didn’t have as much outraged emphasis on each word of “It. Costs. Money.” as I usually do. I could’ve also paused and given a “what the hell” look to draw out the laugh.

5m01s This is the first time my jdate joke didn’t get a huge laugh. I didn’t even realize this until watching the video for the 6th time right now and writing about it. (Yes I know I’m behind on my analysis of my sets, I was too busy actually performing to write this down every night, but I had enough time to just watch my set myself.)

5m21s I looked down after the punch line again. I do this to remember what joke comes next but need to stop. It weakens the confidence in my punch line.

5m50s Have a more theatrical voice when I say “The Snuggle Slut”. Try to make it like I’m presenting the title of a movie.

6m34s Perfect 180 degree pan while talking the whole time. I didn’t watch my first set of the night before doing this show so I must’ve just known or done it by complete accident.

Overall: When I got off stage I felt like I bombed. This was due to hearing how much laughter some of the other comics got. Viewing the videotape, it’s not as bad as I thought, at least not in context of seeing how everyone else did. I didn’t make any major mistakes, and while I could’ve slowed down in a few places, I’m pretty proud of how my set went. I doubt I’m gonna get passed at the club, but I feel I prepared as well as I could’ve and am looking forward to some feedback from the owner.

Update 2/2/09: I spoke with the club owner today and his main feedback was to be more lively and animated on stage. He was impressed with the fact that I’m trying to get on stage 5-6 times a week and thinks barking will help me tighten my material. He also said not to write material so much as write down the key words and to make it more personal to me. His question was, “What’s your angle? What about your act is unique? Why should someone give you a TV show (or Movie, or stand up special)?” I’m not an expert in marketing (yet!) but I think he was referring to branding and having a certain consistent persona that is obvious throughout all my material. He said he was hoping he’d see me in a three to four months to assess my progress.

This is my set right before the showcase. I decided since I had time to just get on stage anywhere so I wouldn’t be as nervous before hand. I always feel more at ease if I’ve already done stand up that night. (I almost always want to do a stand up a second and third time in the same night for real audiences, but rarely get to do so.)

0m12s The host did some bit about hating Russians because he lives near Brighton Beach (a heavily Russian part of Brooklyn) so I decided to riff off of that a little. No matter if I have a set to practice or not, I’m trying to be in the moment of the room. I should’ve waited two seconds after saying “I was actually born in Russia” to let the tension build a little. And I was born in the USSR, I didn’t invent that fact just to try to get a cheap laugh. 

0m23s If I decide to go with a more “screw you” persona on stage, this could be a good line to start with a real audience. “Hi, I have an important show coming up later, Please don’t laugh at my jokes, so I could get my bad show out of the way.” 

0m32s I’m not sure if I should do one slow head turn from one side to the other, or dart back and forth like I just did. 

1m37s More emphasis on the word “own” 

3m15s I keep having an occasional word stumble happen… I need to figure out a way to play this off better and not ruin the flow. Or stop stumbling on words. 

4m07s Pause between “that takes” and “tubes”. 

4m12s This “shitty wall” is due to the fact that this open mic is in the basement of a Mexican Restaurant. Yes that’s how desperate comics are for stage time in New York City. 

6m01s Stretch out the words so that my head can turn the 180 degrees while I’m still talking. This time it only got 90 degrees before I was done with the sentence. 

6m14s Never say something is “new shit that’s gonna bomb at some point” even if that’s what you believe. One of the pro comics I know says to pretend that your new joke is your best joke and deliver it with that confidence, otherwise you’ll never know if the joke is any good and it can become a self fulfilling prophecy of sucky joke writing and telling. 

6m37s Say “Big Ben Comedy dot com” in a more Mr. Moviefone type of voice. 

6m50s I’m still experimenting with the last punch line. I’m not sure if “Big fraud dot come was already taken by…” should end as a) A jewish securities lawyer or b) Bernie Madoff. 

6m58s My favorite part about this terrible venue is how something always falls apart. I’ve been here three times. The mic stand broke twice and the mic wasn’t on another time. For some reason having an equipment malfunction is hysterical to me.

Overall: I only had one little minor word stumble and felt pretty comfortable on stage. Although there weren’t many laughs at this open mic, a few of the comics were smiling often.