Tag: Critiques

My last writer’s mic in NYC, I hosted it. (I did a show on Aug 1, but it’s audio only.)

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MzJCpXE_7ao

0m34s Change my voice more for my friend’s reaction

1m28s This is a new variation of my old joke, I tried changing it from the AIDS scenario to the having her mom walk in

1m45s Move around the stage for the different characters

Overall: I didn’t commit to either act out enough to learn whether it’s funny or not. I think the mom walking in could be good, if I really get the characters going.

Another weeknight crowd:

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a7v9n_aGkO0

0m29s I think the audience member’s “you should be in porn” comment was sarcastic

1m41s Good job waiting a few seconds so everyone gets the joke

2m36s I can cut out “I wasn’t born in this country” because it’s redundant with “I came to this country when I was four”

3m07s Pause for a second between “get PhD” and “then do what want” as they started laughing

3m25s Get rid of the “help me please” line

3m34s It’s always nice to get applause with a 12 person crowd

3m57s That line didn’t hit because I didn’t make it obvious I was responding to what my mom said

5m36s Admit “that was too far, you’re right” then say something worse

6m02s Don’t do the finger thing, until after “take two” and then do the thing twice

6m22s I think the PEZ characters for morning after pills with alliterated names are hysterical, but it doesn’t seem to be working

Overall: Pretty decent overall, I need to keep tightening the immigrant and the morning after pill jokes

Weeknight show with a small (but English speaking! unlike last night…) crowd, and my eyes are still messed up so I’m in glasses

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0QEjUoeaadE

0m20s Good pause to get the laugh

1m05s To this point of the set, I’m moving a very nice, slow pace. I should always go at this speed

3m48s It’d be a good call back to say, “You won’t have to know it anymore, cause once you get engaged, you keep the baby”

4m23s Commit more to my act out of trying to rip the package open

5m12s I think PEZ Character names are hysterical, but the audience doesn’t seem to agree… I hate when my new favorite line doesn’t work

Overall: This is the best tonality, pacing and waiting for the audience to catch up that I’ve done in a while. The morning after pill joke didn’t go over as well as I would’ve liked. I need to find a way to get the audience to relax about a (potentially) controversial topic. Calling them out on getting nervous might do the trick.

The 10:30 show on a Monday, another 10-12 person audience

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

1m15s Saying something like this is usually the equivalent of throwing in the towel

1m27s But it sorta paid off, as the guy said that they were all foreign, so I changed the joked I was gonna do

2m35s With the changed set list, I actually get a good laugh

3m47s I had fun explaining this one

4m33s First time in months I did the subway joke, I decided this was a more physical joke, and a better chance the foreign audience would get it

5m03s And that idea didn’t work that well

6m17s No idea why I thought that joke would get a laugh when it takes Americans a few seconds to figure it out

7m10s Throw in a “woah” before “mom, they’re not all drunks”

7m27s At least I ended on a laugh

Overall: Doing stand up for people who don’t speak English as a first language will grow some hair on your chest. Once I figured out what was going on (after the first 90 seconds) I had fun with it and it worked out-ish.

I was only able to record audio for my July 24^th and 25^th shows (1 each night) so I’m skipping straight to July 27. If anyone knows of a youtube equivalent for straight audio files (where I can then embed them into my site), please let me know. Otherwise, I’ll have to skip a bunch of sets where I couldn’t use a camera. (I don’t have the time / computer processor to encode this into a fake video at this point.)

I MCed the show, small crowd of 6-10 people

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OiQX7KWgAX4

0m24s The joke is there is no joke

1m38s Don’t ask how long they’ve been married, make a guess, it’s more interesting

1m59s I should’ve gone back to picking on the first couple since their friends are married

2m33s Go stronger in tonality on “Igor likes this”

2m59s Stop asking questions and try making statements and then having the crowd tell me if I’m right, it’ll be more engaging

5m22s Good job trying to hook up the birthday boy, and then stacking on an additional comment

6m21s Kill the “help me please” line

7m50s Say “the next comic” instead of “the first comic”

Overall: I had two good crowd work jokes but the actual jokes didn’t go over that well.