I thought this up while sitting through a more painful than usual open mic. It’s meant as a joke, but can serve as a reminder for all of us to avoid the easy jokes.
In the past year I’ve definitely done 4 out of the 5 topics, and 2 out of the 5 bombing jokes (and probably other squares I’ve forgotten about), so I’m not claiming to be better than anyone…
I’ve been talking a lot with Wayne Manigo lately in preparation for my appearance at DC Digital Week (June 16th, 2010) and somehow tips for new comics came up, and Wayne had some great advice I wanted to pass along:
What are some tips that you would provide to new comics?
Tip # 1. There are 4 levels of standup comedy. Open Mic, Emcee, Feature, and Headliner. Each of these take a huge amount time and experience to advance, and the number one mistake made is attempting to advance to the next level too soon. I was unemployed when I started working professionally, so I worked at comedy 24×7 for a year. That allowed me to advance at an accelerated pace. Some comics don’t have that amount of free time to develop themselves and their material, and yet they believe they can still advance based on stage time…not experience.
Tip # 2. Open Mics – You have to put the time in! There is no ifs, and, or buts! I was fortunate enough to start 2 open mics and attend a number of other open mics in the DC area. That is the ‘Instant Learning School’ for comedians. If you bomb and you come back…great! You’re learning how to become a comic. Not every set you perform will be a great one. I’m the emcee at my open mics, so I’m able to try more new material at a faster pace than the average comic. The other *bonus* for open mics is that you’ll never know who’s in the audience. I’ve booked comics for showcases based on what I’ve seen them do at an open mic.
Tip # 3. STOP saying “Give It Up!” For example “Give it up for the DJ, the emcee, yourselves, my mother who came on a moped with an eyepatch”…you get the idea. You only have 5 minutes or less onstage when you start out. That’s the job of the emcee. Use your 5 minutes wisely! You may not get another 5 minutes if you screw them up!
What is the best advice you would give to new comics looking for a break?
You must network at every show! . Arrive at the comedy shows early and leave late. Speak with everyone in the room: bartenders, wait staff, security. Some opportunities do exist if you network properly, others will appear if you create them. Remember: You are not selling! It’s networking…learn the difference.
Once I was asked by a fellow comic who’s been doing it for a number of years how I caught up to his ‘status’ in a year. NETWORKING! When you’re starting out, and you do a set – take some time after the show to meet the audience. This is especially important if you bombed during your performance! It won’t be easy to digest, but if you are willing to accept honest criticism, then you will grow as a comic.
Another thing I would strongly suggest is to find mentors! I’ve opened for a number of headliners, and built honest relationships with them. Ask them “What is the best way to keep in touch?” and commit to it. That has helped me build a school of knowledge that is always available at a low, low cost (because comics are broke!).
Congratulations! You’ve got a venue, you’ve booked comics and there’s lots of people in the audience. Now the real headache begins! One hundred things can and will go wrong every time you run a show.
Before getting into any specifics, if you remember nothing else about running a show, remember to:
Be flexible and don’t freak out!
With that said, here is a pretty standard to do (or have someone else to do) list when you’re running a show. (Some of these steps aren’t necessary depending on the venue.)
Here’s some common problems and possible solutions, add your own experiences in the comments
The line up needs to be changed
You should have a line up in advance that states the order of the comics and how long each comic is doing. However, unless you’re producing a MC – Feature – Headliner format, the line up almost always changes at the last minute. Look at your original line up as a starting hypothesis and not like the ten commandments. When making line up changes the most important thing to keep in mind is if there’s a hard stopping time that the show must be over by. If so, always work backwards from there. And don’t forget to add 30 to 60 seconds between comics for the MC to have time to bring up the next comedian.
The show has to end earlier than scheduled
All your comics are on time and don’t run the light, but suddenly management decides you only have 70 minutes instead of 100. The most important thing to do, is not get pissy at management. Asking them if they can do anything about giving the show more time is okay, just don’t get into a yelling match with them or anything. When this happens, be ready to cut everyone’s time. Most comics will be understanding about this. If this happens, a better move than cutting into everyone else’s time is to take yourself off of the show (assuming you’re not the MC). When producing and running a show, your first responsibility is making it a good show, giving yourself stage time is just a bonus.
Comics go longer than you want
Comics run the light way too often. If you’re a comic reading this, you’ve probably run the light a few times yourself. If the show is running tight, make sure to remind comics not to run the light. If you stress how tight the show is, they’re less likely to do it (although it’s not guaranteed). Be ready to keep waving a light until they come off stage.
You run out of change
If you’re charging a cover, you’ll need to break change. It’s best to have at least one person helping you run the show so that you can send them on errands like this one, while you stay and run the rest of the show. If you can’t get help, either ask them to hang out until someone else can give you change or if they’re waiting for more than a few minutes, comp their cover.
A comic doesn’t show up or cancels at the last minute
This is a bigger deal if you have 3 or 4 comics on a show and two of them have already gone up. There’s a minimum amount of time most places will want a show to run, and you don’t want to give someone more time than they can handle doing, especially if they’re already on stage. One way to solve this is to have comics check in by a certain time, and if they’re not there, take them off the show so you can split the remaining time fairly from the beginning. Another solution is to always book one comic that you know can do a lot of time if needed, and don’t put that comic on until the other comics have shown up.
Wanna try stand-up comedy yourself? I teach a Comedy Class in New York City. I also do private one-on-one comedy coaching (in-person or via Zoom).
More Stand-Up Comedy Tips:
You’re in the middle of a joke, or even worse, a set, and you see that the audience isn’t connecting or following what you’re saying. This is bound to happen occasionally (hopefully not too often) and how you deal with it can make or break the set.
Here’s a few different techniques that I’ve tried, all with varying levels of success:
Wanna try stand-up comedy yourself? I teach a Comedy Class in New York City. I also do private one-on-one comedy coaching (in-person or via Zoom).
More Stand-Up Comedy Tips:
A year ago, a reader asked me how I address heckling. At that point, I hadn’t been heckled nearly enough times to have an opinion or technique on the subject. “Luckily” I’ve been heckled plenty of times over this past year, so now I have some thoughts on the subject.
To start, I like to differentiate between five different kinds of heckling, the first four of which could be considered more of an “interruption” than a “heckle”:
I’ve had the first 4 kinds happen quite often but have never gotten into #5 with an audience member. (When I’m doing poorly, the audience just stays quiet.) Realizing what kind of heckle you’re dealing with will help you respond to it better.
Here’s what I’ve found to be the best response to each of the five kinds of heckles.
I’ve found the first key to a heckler not derailing your set is to address the situation as soon as someone says something. If you acknowledge the situation and respond with something that isn’t too mean the first time, they’ll usually stop. The reason not to get mean the first time is because a lot of times the person (and rest of the audience) thinks they’re just being helpful (heckle #1) and doesn’t understand why you went from zero to asshole. If you don’t have a witty in-the-moment response something like “Thank you for your opinion sir, I can take it from here” or “Ok, no more alcohol for that one” usually works for the first interruption.
If you ignore the first comment, then they’ll almost certainly say something else. Plus the audience starts wondering why you haven’t responded to the comment and while they’re thinking about that, they stop listening to you and your next joke. If you respond to the interruption and the audience member says something again, try to not respond directly. Stare at them for a second or two and then say “annnnnd back to me” or just a “that’s nice.” I don’t suggest getting mean, calling the audience member names or telling them to shut up until they interrupt for a third time.
Also, keep in mind that some audiences are just talkative and want you to talk and interact with them instead of just listening to you do material. This isn’t really “heckling,” this is crowd work, even if you’re not the one who decided to start it. When you’re trying to work on new material having to spend time talking to the audience can get annoying but you just gotta go with it. It’s also important to make it seem like the interruptions are “fun” and don’t bother you.
Another tip is to use the improv rule of “yes and” to agree with whatever the audience member says and then add some additional information. This usually works because you don’t want to seem defensive. Even something like, “You suck” can be turned into “Yes, I do suck. And you can’t afford me. Why are you propositioning me anyway?”
To add to the all variables, it makes a big difference if the heckling / interrupting has been going on the whole show before you get on stage or if it’s just the audience’s reaction to your material.
Of course, heckling is just like with the rest of stand up, you can only really learn how to respond by doing it. It still helps to read, ask questions and be prepared, but you need the actual game reps before you really know how to respond. I’m sure my tips will be different and hopefully better a year from now after I get even more reps.
I have a feeling a lot of people reading this are less interested in techniques and more interested in “war stories” so here we go.
Wanna try stand-up comedy yourself? I teach a Comedy Class in NYC. I also do private one-on-one comedy coaching (in-person or via Zoom).
More Stand-Up Comedy Tips:
