Category: Performance Critiques

Monday night show

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

0m20s There was about 10 people and eight were on one side, and two on the other, so I commented on it

0m53s I should’ve added a second joke about the man date right after that

1m56s Good job doing a long pause, keep doing that

2m12s And they almost have a pulse

2m43s I did the mom lines way too quick, I need to pause after each one

4m30s It’s fun to call out something an audience members does and then watch them do it again (as long as it’s not talking while I’m talking)

5m44s It was a mostly foreign crowd so I decided to explain Medicare, and humorously failed when I couldn’t think of an explanation

Overall: I didn’t have a good set but I did learn to milk my pauses for longer during my opening Facebook joke. Almost every joke only had two or three people laughing (a.k.a 30% of the audience).

This is me doing a guest spot on Sunday Night Live

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TfWW01bTgGU

0m03s The waitress was doing a last call as I was coming up

0m32s The music stopped a little too abruptly

0m40s I should’ve gone into the letter falling in more. Any time I improvise an opening observation, I need to improvise three observations in case someone misses hearing the first one or it’s not funny.

0m50s There’s talking but I decided to ignore it because it’s last call

1m50s I finally got the whole crowd listening and into it

1m56s I learned two nights earlier that if I take a pause after “I signed up” I’ll get an extra laugh

2m04s The mic kicked out for a second and I didn’t fully make it clear

2m32s That new line didn’t hit at all, never doing it again

3m35s The first part of the family material didn’t go over as well as I would’ve liked, I shouldn’t have gone into more family material since it wasn’t working that well

4m42s It should be “no have doctorate” instead of “not have”

5m11s Not sure why this joke completely missed

5m59s The delivery needs improvement

6m23s I didn’t pause for long enough and the “you must love sweaters” line missed completely for the first time in a while

8m09s This line doesn’t warrant an “oh god” reaction

8m26s This line does

8m48s At least I ended on a laugh

Overall: I sucked. I had one good laugh with the jdate joke but everything else was atrocious. I watched most of the show and this was a great crowd for everyone but me. I should’ve done more crowd work and worked my way into my jokes instead of just doing material and material. I should’ve also addressed the last call coming around as half the room wasn’t fully listening to me my first minute and a half on stage. Reviewing the tape it’s clear I’m not talking to the audience, but instead I’m talking at them. I think seeing how good of a crowd it was made me forget to be conversational because I was thinking “my material is gonna kill”.

This is me hosting the writer’s feedback mic and doing almost all new material

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3IlZTzXQ0mY

0m28s This was a new tag on an existing joke, not bad

0m46s Pause longer

1m02s I’m not sure if this is misogynistic, I think it’s funny

1m39s Not sure about keeping this joke

1m49s I like this one liner and it worked

2m02s Another okay one liner

2m24s I forgot to put in the word “nifty” before “answering machine”

3m07s When I actually respond like this in real life, it gets a laugh

3m31s This joke needs to be punched up or discarded, I think the premise is funny cause it’s true

4m12s Try repeating the fortune a second time but more incredulously

4m22s Another decent one liner, I should expand on it

Overall: A lot of the new stuff has some promise but everything but the one liners need major work. No one joke stood out as being exceptionally hysterical and the craigslist roommate and customer service jokes are in need of the most rewriting.

This me doing a super loud, super quick, check spot (when the waitresses drop the bills) for a sold out show

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HxxaasdFMm4

0m24s Since it was so packed I decided to just do my material instead of calling out all the noise as tables receive their checks at different times and I figured someone was always listening

0m35s I’m practically yelling into the mic because it’s so loud

0m54s Amazing reaction considering it’s a check spot

1m10s I’m talking a lot faster than usual so that people keep paying attention

1m27s I’m looking around more than usual to try to connect with whoever isn’t looking at a bill

3m33s This set feels like I’m speed talking

Overall: Considering this was a ridiculously loud check spot, I did great. I wish I was able to do a normal set on this show, as I know I would’ve destroyed the room. I don’t like when I talk this fast, but I do think my voice tonality changes for the better when I talk faster. I need to learn how to sound excited but do it in a slow manner.

This is the 10:30 show, I got on towards the end around 12:30

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9eYbXB5vUl8

0m18s The last comic made the room really awkward, so I had to address it. I hate doing that and apologized to him afterwards.

1m12s Take a pause after the scared look, a laugh was starting

3m04s I didn’t have the right emphasis on “the plane”

5m38s Good random crowd work, I should incorporate it into this joke

Overall: This went much better than the 8:30 show. Even the suicide joke, which is pretty “edgy” went over well. I think it’s because I started by addressing something in the room instead of going straight into material. I need to go back to making an observation or two and then going into material. I stopped doing this for a few days because some of my observations weren’t hitting and I was starting in a ditch, but the way to fix that isn’t to stop doing observations, but to come up with better ones.