Category: Performance Critiques

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Performance Critique: November 7

This is the second show I produced and MCed at Caltech. Here’s my opening of the show:

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f0TEovd0x0Y

0m06s I had to make some general announcements about cell phones and such before starting the show so I decided to introduce myself. This was pretty fun to do.

0m25s There was a bunch of speakers and strobe lights around

0m37s I wrote these jokes an hour before the show

0m54s I started out with three jokes that called out the situation in the room, I think this helped a lot

1m18s Could’ve said something funnier than “he’s gonna be trouble all night”, probably a good time to start talking to him.

2m18s I went along with what was happening and called out the situation of how bad I was looking, if I had just taken my hand away without saying anything else I might’ve lost the audience right there

3m07s I went back to the old version of tubes as this crowd didn’t respond to the overly sexualized version too well last time

3m32s Good job coming back to the high five person

3m49s After watching my last time hosting this show, I consciously decided to do crowd work in between most of my bits

4m31s Some of the crowd work I had to force

6m01s I think this is a joke for comics

6m28s The tears on the map isn’t playing over well with the crowds, I might need to cut it

7m05s Always fun to force out a response

8m03s Taking a longer pause here got some laughs

8m49s Good job coming back to what has already happened in the room

9m04s I should’ve added, “you’re living the Caltech dream”

9m33s Try doing an act out with my hands when talking about “full clown makeup”

This is more from my set in the beginning

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

0m44s I should’ve asked for his name and gone into it more

1m19s Make more of an emphasis with my hand about my stomach getting bigger

2m11s The new version of my punch line didn’t work out

2m59s The snuggle slut joke didn’t work but you can hear a comedian laughing in the background… I’m going to continue experimenting ending the set with a double call back.

This is me doing time between the first and second comic

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yTXEa9ObMps

0m15s I tried referencing one of the jokes the comedian did

0m27s He only stopped grading exams for the female comedian

0m40s This is one of my best transitions from crowd work to a regular joke

This is me doing time between the second and third comic

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F9lN28lD30o

0m08s The comic talked about mustard so I added onto that

0m33s The standards drop usually get a laugh

1m00s That joke tanked until I called out the most likely reason they weren’t laughing

Me doing time between third and fourth comic

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8RJP2n4HL3Q

0m08s This was in reference to the comedienne’s opening joke of “I can’t believe I fucked Ben for this gig”

0m51s This is a great game I came up with: testing when the audience member should high five me and when he shouldn’t

1m51s No need to go back to “kicking and screaming, see how long you can hold on” if they already groan

2m14s I wasn’t planning on doing another joke, but wanted to bring up the next comic on a laugh

2m16s And that idea failed

My last time doing jokes between comics

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dYVBHNgh2ZQ

0m52s Crickets

1m40s And the audience hates me, they’re at the “please bring up the next comic” stage

2m48s The audience still hates me but I at least brought them back to laughing

Overall: I did a great job of hosting up front. I had topical jokes that addressed what was going on in the room and I did pretty solid crowd work. However, the crowd turned on me for my last two bits between comedians. The lesson is: As the show goes on, do less and less jokes between the comedians. My first two “in betweens” were 75-90 seconds and received well while my last two “in betweens” were 2.5 and 3 minutes. Both of those should’ve been 45 seconds or less.

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Performance Critique: November 5

This is me at an open mic mostly working out new jokes related to my dropping out of school

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vaaJ_CTQ700

0m08s Yes I’m seriously considering this as my stage name. I’ve even registered www.ProfessorBen.net (I hate that the dot com was taken).

0m29s I should use my hands more in this act out to convey emotion

0m49s This wasn’t a written part of my joke. I just called out the situation as I felt it… hopefully real crowds (aka non comedians) will laugh at the other bits of this, but if not I at least have a way to get them back.

1m34s The setup should be clearer, maybe something like “I knew I should quit grad school when I realized…”

1m41s Smile

1m47s No need to explain it

1m50s Great improvised tag about PCC (Pasadena Community College), referencing community college should become part of the joke.

2m22s Not sure if the TA opening for me bit is keepable

2m38s That was also an improvised line

2m56s I think it’s the Mormons and not the Jehovah’s witnesses that go door to door

3m09s Take a longer pause after “intolerable” before moving

3m27s This would’ve been a great time to say “wow it got really sad here again”

4m55s I had to go to one old joke because someone else talked about a topic that reminded me of it

Overall: I think this is the best response I’ve ever gotten at an open mic. While I’d like to think it’s all due to the material, I think a lot of it was due to me momentarily stopping my material in the beginning and calling out the situation of “did that get really sad for a minute?”

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Performance Critique: Oct 24

This is me MCing a show I produced at Caltech.

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KFt_85AHpgk

0m25s Interesting that 80% of the audience didn’t clap for either option

1m24s I need to look at the space on stage where my mom character was for that punch line

1m52s I should’ve done a little more crowd work before going into another joke

2m18s Better to end this line on the punch word: “it’s a joke ever since the deli told him ‘you’re fired’”

2m27s Shocker: the public school kids line doesn’t work at a private university

2m45s Notice The audience didn’t laugh at “have you looked in the mirror lately” but laughed at “I am way more likely to get molested.” I’m trying to figure out if these two lines show that you should keep adding punches to a “meaner” joke until they laugh or if it shows that it’s better to make jokes at your expense.

2m58s This would’ve been a good moment for crowd work

3m25s First time I didn’t get a good laugh from that. This joke works best when I pick a girl from a group of four or five friends. I picked someone on the side where there were only nine people and she was with her boyfriend. I also probably shouldn’t have picked the most attractive person in the audience.

3m36s This is the new version of the tubes joke as I decided to get rid of the second line about “triple layered chocolate suffle cake”, move the third line to the second, and add a third one. All three punches missed so bad that I decided to skip the “he just gave you a look like, your tubes are kinda large” line.

3m42s Good save

3m51s Proof the model joke works well even in the middle of my set, doesn’t have to be my opener.

4m27s All 75 people are completely sober

4m35s This is always a risky joke to do, especially early in a set

5m27s Add “you look like” before “you might know the slogan”

5m57s I noticed that “nature’s draino” gets a groan, so I now admit to going too far, and then go further. It usually works better than here.

6m18s I like the morning after pill joke but need to figure out a way to get the audience to like it

6m25s I exaggerated his answer on purpose

6m38s I’m not kidding

6m47s I meant to do this joke before the morning after pill joke

7m39s That’s funny (although mean), even if they didn’t laugh

7m55s I improvised the “branching out of the Caltech dating pool”… I should try a similar tag in the future like “I’m just trying to branch out of the usual dating pool”

8m04s Rare that this didn’t get a laugh

8m32s Calling people out works better if I look at them during the joke

8m45s No reason to share my name again

Part 2 of my opening set

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dtb4h-uS_Yw

0m32s Who gets married from a Denny’s date?

0m56s I need to make this punch line clearer

1m38s None of the small punch lines worked on the way, but this one got a response

1m49s If I’m gonna say what someone looks like, I should follow it up. A “can you get me tickets to the price is right?” joke would’ve gone well here.

This is me doing material between comics

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y9qzD3oHfkA

0m15s There were enough people here to volunteer an answer, but I decided not to push an interaction and just went into the joke

0m55s Maybe I should do this joke more often, as this line gets a great laugh

More material between comics

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q8N0069TM_g

0m43s Try “that is so art deco” instead of “he is so art deco”

1m05s I got the lines backwards, it should’ve been “most of you are like, woah he wasn’t lying, that IS his job”

1m27s The line should’ve been “at the Econmetrica convention”

More time between comics

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S4T-w4QbTCY

0m11s Referencing his joke

0m22s I hate hearing “awws” on this joke

0m31s The aww train continues

0m45s I didn’t think this was a mean joke until 30 seconds of awws and silence… I need to figure out how to turn that to laughter

0m55s At least the last line got a laugh, if it hadn’t, I would’ve gone into another joke before bringing up the next comedian

Last joke between comics

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lXGSphlmG1g

0m14s I should’ve suggested a costume for him

0m20s My attempt at a segue

Overall: As a show, it was a great success. I did my job as an MC by warming up the crowd as they were laughing hard at all the comedians I brought up. That said, I could’ve done a lot more crowd work, and the crowd work I did needed to last for 2-3 exchanges at a time instead of a one liner and back to material. I also need to learn to be funnier with crowd work. Also, I only had three solid laughs where 90% or more of the audience was with me (“Igor likes this”, “it costs money” and “you must love sweaters”). As the MC, you’re not expected to kill with laughter but I should be getting more laughs.

Also, I felt that the audience perceived a lot of my jokes as “mean.” I can think of three ways to get past this: 1) Work on my stage persona so that I can get away with more mean jokes. 2) Change the order of the jokes where I do more self deprecating stuff upfront or 3) Somehow convey that I’m kidding, or that it’s okay to laugh (which is part of stage persona I guess). Most likely it’s a combination of these three ideas and other things I’m not yet aware of.

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Performance Critique: September 29

A Tuesday night show that was also a benefit show for people needing wheelchairs in the third world, I was first up. (There are two open mic audio only clips between this and the previous critique.)

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DIfKeb4MlOM

0m03s Yes, the MC is Kato Kaelin, he does stand up in LA and is pretty funny

1m04s My face is dong something different with “Igor likes this” because it isn’t getting the big laughs it used to

3m13s The second line with “please” isn’t getting a big laugh like it used to

4m00s I lost the crowd on that one

5m18s That was mean for no reason, I could’ve addressed that better

Overall: A lot of my best punch lines didn’t hit in this set. Some of my jokes come off as mean if I haven’t already established myself as likeable, or if I don’t give a smile right after, so I either need to make sure to smile after every mean joke or I should reorder my jokes so that I’m vulnerable earlier in my set.

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Performance Critique: September 16

This is me doing another comedy contest, this time in Orange County. (There are five open mic sets that are audio only between my last critique and this one.) Before I came on stage, the mic was having issues, so they stopped the show to fix it. This is important to keep in mind as you watch this hilarious disaster

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dMS3fnErAPU

0m09s I always get confused with what to do while music plays

0m18s Wireless mic starts going haywire right away

0m25s Great flow stopper

0m31s Good job rewinding to the start and keeping my cool

0m33s And then I go into the wrong opening joke

0m35s That jesus Christ was mostly about me forgetting how I wanted to start, but the mic also went out

0m42s Quitting on the mic seemed like the only reasonable thing to do at this point

0m51s You can see my priceless look of “oh shit, what’s my first joke again?”

1m07s And the cord is stuck

1m20s This concludes my most awkward minute on stage, ever.

2m33s Weird tonality on “fallopian tubes”

3m39s Interesting that “maybe” didn’t get a laugh

4m41s Asking the audience took too long

6m07s It was a big guy

8m30s Not sure I how lost them on three punch lines in a row

8m34s I need to smile at the end of this line

8m37s This is my usual closer but I hadn’t gotten the one minute light, so I kept going with whatever joke came into my head

Overall: The first minute and a half of this tape is worth watching just for the hysterical awkwardness of mic malfunctions. I was definitely thrown off by the super malfunction of the mic (during which I forgot my opening joke at one point) and the tape looks better than I actually felt after getting off stage. (I didn’t place in the top four, and I didn’t expect that I would given my set.) However, this was good practice for reacting to everything going wrong at future shows.

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