Category: Performance Critiques

The 10:30 show, I went on in the middle

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

0m16s I’m trying to open my sets by addressing something in the room, it’s been working the last few times

1m26s The set wasn’t going well, her interrupting didn’t help. I shouldn’t have gone back to the joke.

1m45s I heard that at improv class on Tuesday and it makes sense to me “Drama is about conflict. Comedy is about connecting.” I felt the need to share that with this audience.

2m54s I’m proud of my super long pause on that joke, even if the audience didn’t come along with me

3m16s Unfortunately the camera’s audio doesn’t pick up mild chuckles

3m34s I wasn’t planning on doing this joke, but it came to me in the moment as the best chance of bringing the audience back a little

3m57s Change the words “days” to “nights”

4m11s One woman was loving this, I know this joke has potential

5m02s At least I ended a laugh

Overall: I didn’t do very well. I didn’t do a good job addressing the audience member’s outburst. Although I got some response from the audience, it was nowhere near the level that I expect. The shoes part of the suicide joke did do better when I put in the act out with all the examples, I just need to keep working on it.

The 8:30 show, I was the last comedian going up around 10:15

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wFnzQjfW1mM

0m11s Before I got on, the MC mentioned “they’ve been together for two years and no commitment” so I went right into that

1m15s Make the scared face before turning the other way

1m54s Pause for a second before “because”

3m18s Pause for a second and look angry / confused before shaking my hair around

3m40s I wasn’t sure if it was a girl or a guy, so I said “you” instead of “this guy”

4m07s I changed how the accent in “businessman” sounds, it seems to have worked better

5m12s This was delivered fairly well but didn’t get a response. I decided to bail out and not do the act out of talking about shoe types, but I think doing it would’ve helped it make more sense

Overall: This was a solid set. All my old material went over well but of course the one new line I really wanted to try out didn’t hit at all. I think I know why that happened and will work on fixing it.

The second open mic of the night

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pDUron7WYNY

0m11s I’m in a coat cause it’s freezing

0m21s Even at an open mic, I’m trying to address the situation in the room before going into material

0m48s There were no girls at this open mic, so I had to play pretend

0m53s It was really loud

1m53s You know a joke is going too far if the comics are shocked by it

3m45s I was more focused on scrolling down and it got a better response, this is the funniest line in the Yelp joke

4m24s Two waitresses walked in loudly, so I addressed it

4m38s A better tag would’ve been, “so if any of you run shows and want me to try stealing the girls you bring there, give me a guest spot”

5m45s I almost never expect an applause break but I was so giddy about this joke while writing it, I could see it in my head

6m06s The Shakespeare one liner is two for two on the day

Overall: This went fairly well for an open mic and fully convinced me I need to significantly tighten my Yelp joke. The Shakespeare joke is ready for a real audience and the suicide joke needs to keep being tinkered.

This is a 4pm open mic, there are five other comedians in the room

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7zBkpECDEjs

0m32s It was an accidental pause between “dropped out of a phd program in neuroeconomics” and “because it was getting in the way of comedy” but that pause might cause the line to get a laugh

1m32s I didn’t do a big enough smile after the line

3m01s It was a server putting down candles, whoops

4m01s Start the scroll slow, then speed it up, this can be stretched out for dramatic effect

5m35s I’m excited about this joke, but I need to make it a lot shorter

5m57s This is me trying to write a joke on stage, it’s a lot harder to do this at an open mic than with a real audience

6m56s I did a similar version of this joke off the top of my head in improv class two days earlier and it got a huge laugh, but I didn’t write it out and tighten it for stand up yet, and it shows

9m23s Decent improvised reaction

9m33s This isn’t me doing a joke, I’m just working on being conversational on stage

Part 2

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xwGn_wgYTh0

Overall: Even at a five person open mic I still learned something (mostly because this was a lot of new material that these comics hadn’t heard before). The Yelp joke needs to be a lot shorter but has potential and the superpower joke will be funny once I figure out how to present it. It was nice to be able to do a set longer than seven minutes, even if it was for other comics.

Wednesday Night Show, I’m the MC

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bO34BjES57E

0m22s I’m working on being super friendly when I’m the MC

0m58s I should’ve waited an extra second before introducing myself

1m18s After “you’ll get yours” I should’ve added “if you ask nicely”

3m09s I’m trying to not crouch when I do my mom’s voice so that it sounds more consistent and doesn’t use my throat muscles as much

3m38s Put more emphasis on the word “all”

4m08s That was a fun save of turning a complete miss into making it seem like I was right the whole time

4m22s Good job making it a running joke that there’s a contest for my affection

4m47s Truth in comedy

6m29s Say “that failed” instead of “that didn’t work out”

7m16s After not being able to explain Medicare last night, I was able to dumb it down into three words tonight

Overall: This was a good MC job, I did some material, I did some crowd work and I seemed friendly like a good host should. Not all of my jokes got huge laughs, but a few did and I created some inside jokes that only make sense for this specific audience which I referenced in between comics (hitting on the multiple groups of girls, etc)