Category: Performance Critiques

I hosted this show and there were only 3 audience members, but they were awesome. I wound up doing about 30 minutes of stage time, but a lot of it was just talking and stretching time as the 3 person audience was waiting for a specific comic, so I’ve only put up the segments where I have jokes in them.

Part 1

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gr_p2wHcmkU 

0m41s I could totally tell, I lied 

1m21s I’m not sure if I need the slogan line 

2m39s The young republican convention line is a great save, and I think it also works if the previous line gets a laugh 

3m25s The 20 something girl in the 3 person audience brought her aunt and uncle to the show because she heard one of her friends from high school was doing a set here tonight. He showed up really late 

4m21s I’m addressing the comics 

5m19s If any of you have a good punch line for this, I’m all ears 

Part 2

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TQpCHtAJfM8 

0m46s I love how different people give me counter examples in the same place 

1m15s I didn’t finish a joke because they derailed my thought train, I think this is a better method then trying to force the joke back on them 

1m47s I need to come up with a contingency for when the female audience member replies really negatively about her last boyfriend 

2m02s I was surprised they’ve only been married for four years because they were in their 60’s 

3m05s This audience is way more interesting than I am 

3m37s Don’t say the guy they’re waiting for is dead, the audience just might leave 

4m05s Bad attempt at repeating and punching up the joke 

Part 3

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m85WKcUq5fc 

0m18s I changed my punch line to try to appeal to the pot smokers 

0m23s She replied “Can you play tennis low?” Pretty funny 

1m08s It might be enough to go from “it’s all downhill” to “let’s reverse the process” without the examples 

2m45s The girl said “that’s great.” The next time a girl gets excited about someone whispering “I have AIDS” to them, I should say “We are gonna get along great, give me your number” 

3m17s Stop saying “marry her” even if there’s some dead space 

Overall: This was one of the more fun shows I’ve hosted. The audience was small but I enjoyed interacting with them a lot more than I enjoyed my St Patrick’s day set that had 4 times the number of people.

St. Patrick’s Day is one of the worst days of the year to do comedy. While there was a crowd of 6 to 10 people, almost everyone there was only there because the Irish pubs were too crowded and they wanted to talk and drink. It also didn’t help that I was running on 4 hours of airplane sleep and came straight from the airport to my day job to comedy.

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

0m22s There are 4 girls with severe ADD in the first row

1m18s While this wasn’t anywhere near my best set, I left happy because the “stand up guy” was the one new joke I wrote that day and it worked really well

2m06s When they respond that their boyfriend is handsome, I should say “good, you probably won’t cheat on him” and then go into the explanation

2m27s Instead of “No one ever says” it should be “no situation ever warrants someone saying” 

2m36s It’s interesting how when the audience is chatty and replies, they tend to have the exact same responses as previous audiences. Since I was previously challenged about strippers needing tits, I was able to respond quickly 

3m05s The girls are just having a long conversation amongst themselves

4m24s The amount of background noise you’re hearing on the videotape is about the same I was hearing on stage. After trying to get people to stop talking, I just started trying to talk over them. This is where a mic comes in handy 

4m46s I missed a good finger snap 

6m06s Seriously, I need a better line than “that’s the girl you gotta marry” 

7m01s I ran out of hard drive space on my video camera, but my set ended unceremoniously shortly thereafter. Lesson learned: make sure you have room on your video equipment before you begin a set

Overall: I’m glad my one new joke worked and I think I did a good job of “plowing” or “powering through”. This is what you sometimes have to do when nobody is really listening, and nothing seems to be working. I didn’t speed up my delivery when this occurred and was able to keep the situation from getting too crazy. Next St Patrick’s Day I will do my best to be drinking my ass off (at a non-stand up venue) and not come anywhere near a stage… 

This was a 2 person audience and I hosted the show. 

Part 1

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AES7lYwRRrI

0m25s Go with the stronger statement. Instead of questioning the state they’re from, I should’ve instantly gone to where I was thinking of going, assuming they’re from the same Springfield as The Simpsons.

0m32s Never give the audience the expectation that what you say isn’t funny, they might actually believe you. 

3m43s If they agree, try asking “isn’t that demasculating” instead of stating it.

4m04s I messed up here. It should be “In the morning, I told her, I’m gonna do stand up about this.” 

4m09s I messed up her line too, this is just a failed telling of this joke. 

5m03s That punch line does need work. I’m open to suggestions. 

Part 2

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ofTfKZaP-Yg

0m56s It might be better to phrase it “Good, you’re safe. She won’t cheat on you. You’re only in trouble if she describes you as ‘not hot by traditional standards’”

1m42s I need to be more forceful on “THAT should be your first date” 

2m03s Try something in place of the children line 

2m53s I keep meaning to get rid of the “Marry that girl” line, but for some reason it keeps coming out. I feel I need one more line after “really me too”

3m21s I’m really terrible at remembering names

Part 3

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

0m45 This joke was derailed from the beginning 

1m02s But somehow managed to get a laugh

Overall: It’s tough to judge jokes on a two person audience. While they weren’t dying laughing, they were smiling through most of my jokes. In general, I could’ve been more conversational since there was only two of them.

This is an open mic I go to often and this time one of the comics brought 8 or 10 of his friends. So I ditched most of the new jokes I wanted to try and decided to do more of my good material. 

0m54s I decided to try to shorten my dog joke because I wanted to win them over but leave enough time to try other material. 

2m55s Explain the Saw movies without a pause 

3m25s Remove the part about kids. I removed half of it since the last time I tried this joke, but I feel it will be best without it. 

4m14s I just realized how funny this accidental transition was.

4m28s I should have said “and you ARE surprised, then they WERE normal” 

Overall: I was very pleased with how well the backwards dating joke did. I need to work out that last joke about the definition of normal.

This is the same night as the previous critique but with a different, and much better crowd.

0m47s The robbery bit definitely needs to go. 

0m57s I lied, I’m sober. But it’s a good excuse if you’re ever accused of mumbling. 

2m08s More excitement about “Puppies for Yuppies” I need to pretend like I’m the narrator for a TV commercial about it. 

2m51s I took an extra long pause because the door swung open and it’s loud outside. I’m starting to get the hang of adjusting punchlines and timing to make sure everyone can hear it. 

5m29s One third of the fifteen people in attendance just got up and started to leave. 

5m47s I later found out they were actually here or a different show and were just hanging out waiting for that one to start. 

Overall: I’m most proud that I’m learning how to wait for the door to close before delivering a punchline so that everyone can hear it. I know I’ve said lots of times that the audience shouldn’t matter to a true professional, but I think I did pretty much the same material with the same delivery two shows in a row (see performance critique 37) and this time I got a much better response. So I have a long way to go until I’m a “true professional”.