Category: Performance Critiques

This is show at a bar for an audience of 7

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aWw6zV9jvTY

1m01s When my opening one minute joke doesn’t hit at all, there’s no point in going straight into more material, I might as well address the situation

1m32s No need for the line after “foooood”

2m27s I did the same jokes two hours ago to a much better response, pretty sure I delivered it the same way both times

3m01s There are people in the crowd after all

3m40s That’s my friend with the suggestions

4m17s I missed part of the sentence. It should be “I’d be in the business of telling jokes for prison cigarettes” but the line doesn’t work anyway

5m33s I fully agree with this statement, If five minutes of material hasn’t worked and it’s a small crowd, I’m just gonna hit on a girl

5m44s My newest pickup line

6m10s This is the first time that each of the three parts of the neuroeconomics  joke actually worked, I think it’s because I got them paying attention by calling out the text messaging

6m47s Instead of “he did graduate from high school” it should be “he did attend high school”

7m08s If the first line doesn’t get a big laugh, I should admit, “I know that’s fucked up” and then do the act out

Overall: 95% of my material didn’t work, but me talking and calling out the crowd on what was occurring worked. The lesson here is to keep working on making my material indistinguishable from me just talking.

This is an open mic at a Restaurant Ball Room

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P4vzvE_6fhc

0m05s I’m still playing with the stage name Professor Ben

0m12s I didn’t need to rush the “relax”, should’ve waited for the applause to die down

0m14s Too weak of  a laugh to use as my opener. I wonder if I can get away with the stage name “Professor Ben” without having to explain it at the top of my set. This concept might get a bigger laugh somewhere in the middle with something like, “by this point, you’ve probably figured out, I’m not a real professor.”

1m03s Make a more dramatic mouse click

2m01s I was about to continue but one guy started laughing, so I waited and got even more laughs

2m18s Someone was being pointed at

2m25s Don’t say “trying to bare my soul” so angrily, say it more sarcastically

2m52s I changed it from my dad to my mom because there’s only a need for one character

3m15s Sell the “see me after the show” more before saying “I’m just kidding”

3m48s I need a better response here

3m55s Maybe go straight to the cigar-o line

4m23s This is my new favorite joke

4m55s No need for “yep” before “she’s homeless now”

5m06s I’m trying some extra lines after the ex on the street, not sure if they’re keepers

Overall: Even if this was a regular show and not an open mic, I did very well. I need a new response to the “son, businessman” line, and the new parts of the ex on the street joke might need to be modified or removed.

This is an open mic at a hotel, LA is short of comedy clubs

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S-tsrwij110

0m22s I’m trying to do some in the moment work to open the set

0m33s Blackwater produces the show, and was trying to keep cursing to a minimum

1m11s I’m experimenting transitioning from explaining Professor Ben into different bits

2m17s I think “some of them do meth” will sound better than “smoke meth”

2m35s I love how one person is laughing his head off, and everyone else is ambivalent

3m17s This time “intolerable” didn’t work

3m22s My first attempt at fixing the need for a joke after “intolerant” didn’t go so well, but it’s a start

4m02s Pause after “triple the neglect”

4m10s Get rid of the belts line

5m59s This follow up didn’t work. Either cut it or add a third joke to it.

Overall: I’m surprised the one guy who was laughing and clapping at everything didn’t ask for my autograph. Otherwise, I was working out mostly new jokes, some worked, some didn’t. I’ve written a lot of new material in the past month, and now I’m working on combining and refining it.

This is at a bar show, with an audience of five, half of whom were comics. I was the first comic up and the “MC” didn’t do any material

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

0m24s I tried transitioning from professor to model, this is not a transition I’ll be keeping

1m04s I should get rid of the Clay Aiken line

1m22s The girls gone wild line needs to go too

1m41s There was only one girl in here, and she was with her boyfriend so I went with my old version of the tubes joke so it wouldn’t get overly awkward

2m32s I need to reevaluate this joke

4m14s I need a punch line after “intolerant”

5m35s I decided I should do MC like crowd work

6m03s Not sure why I looked over at a guy for “cause you know I don’t need that shit” – that’s a recipe for no laughs

6m42s My snuggle slut joke hasn’t been working well, so I tried to take the part of it I found funny and combine it with the clown story… this is a work in progress

7m54s I didn’t learn this guy was a comic until a minute after this exchange later

Part 2

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

0m14s At least I left on a laugh

0m18s This room has each comic bring up the next comic to minimize the chances the audience leaves between comics

Overall: While it’s very hard to kill in a room of five people, I was pretty bad. I was told to treat this place as a workout room and that’s what I did: I combined my existing jokes in new ways and tried some newer stuff. The audience was low energy when I got on stage, so I decided to have slightly more energy than them, but not to get all crazy high energy (high energy level for me anyway). This was a mistake.

This is a coffee house open mic

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OnRhK5CauIs

0m12s This is a new opener I’m trying, it needs work

0m53s I love that this guy was in front of my camera for a full minute

1m18s The “please” line isn’t getting huge laughs, I might want to just have the one line intro

2m20s I should pause for an extra two seconds and look up after “I remember being on the plane” so everyone gets it

2m38s I think it’s the jehovah’s witnesses that go door to door, not the mormons…

2m54s The “intolerable” line either gets a big laugh like here, or no laugh. I need to figure out how to make this consistent

2m59s After “intolerant” I need an actual joke

3m16s It’s not true, she didn’t hug the milkman

3m22s Try doing the joke without “and it was great”

3m57s The slight stutter before “pull out” ruined the punch line

4m50s This last joke is getting retired

Overall: I did one old joke where I added a new line that worked well. I also did a lot of new material, with mixed results. I need to keep writing and tightening the material.