Jonas Polsky

by Jonas Polsky

Congratulations, you have performed at your first open mike. Here’s the good news; that was the hardest set you’ll have in your entire life. The reason is that you had no idea how those jokes would work in front of a crowd. From now on you’ll continually build on the strength of jokes you know work, so your first set was as “risky” as comedy ever gets.

You either did well and want to keep performing, or you bombed and you want a chance to redeem yourself. Either way, here is information that will help you with your second attempt at stand up and advice for gigs beyond that.

As you now know, stand up comedy is deceptively simple. It’s a person saying the funniest things they can think of, in the funniest way possible. As a result, this list is shorter than the first piece about doing stand up, because when you look at the fundamentals, stand up comedy is not that complicated.

1. Revise your set list

Take the list of jokes you used for your first set. The onstage experience was likely a blur, but go through the jokes and try to remember which ones got laughs and which didn’t.

Look at the list of jokes and remove the ones that you know didn’t work. This is comedy Darwinism, and your act has now mutated into something funnier than you started with. The only problem is you probably have about half as many jokes as before. Sit down and write more jokes and arrange them in the list in between jokes that worked.

When you “sandwich” a new joke in between jokes that already got laughs, you reduce the likelihood that you will bomb two jokes in a row. This method of “propping up” new jokes will make you much more confident to continually try out new material.

Continue this method of eliminating jokes that didn’t work and replacing them with new ones until you die, or quit doing stand up. After your fourth or fifth spot your act will be so filled with laughs you’ll be one of the best comics at your open mike.

Remember your “opener” and “closer” jokes? There is a third (optional) joke that occurs in the middle of your act called the “tentpole.” Find another funny joke and put it in the center of your act. This “props up” your routine and provides some momentum into the second half of your jokes.

2. Write more jokes

What a $300 dollar comedy class won’t tell you, is that there’s no wrong, or right way to create a joke. Anything you can think of to say that gets a laugh is a joke. I’m not going to espouse any sort of “method” for creating material, because anything that strikes you as funny that you repeat to a crowd is a joke.

I’ve read a handful of books about being a stand up, and the best piece of advice was from Drew Carey:

“If you write ten jokes a day and you get one good joke - that’s all you want out of the whole day - and you do that five days a week, that’s five good jokes a week. If you do that all year, 50 weeks a year with two weeks off, that’s an hour’s worth of material…”

I was floored by this advice, and subsequently have never, ever written down ten jokes in a day. The beauty of this advice is that you don’t have to write them down. Just the act of thinking of jokes exercises your brain in a way that you will prepare you to think of more jokes, and faster.

Keep an eye out for things that are odd, or make you laugh. Write down the ideas, and turn them into jokes.

3. Rehearse more

Now that you’ve done stand up once, you can imagine what the situation will feel like onstage as you perform. Visualize yourself onstage telling your new act, and think of things you would like to say, and turn those ideas into more jokes.

Ideally, you will rehearse your act so much, your performance of it will be an afterthought. The fewer stumbles, “ums” and “ahs” during your set, the more time you’ll have to tell jokes, and the more laughs you can get.

Be sure to write down the precise wording of jokes, so you won’t incorrectly deliver them, or forget them years down the road. Keeping them in a notebook is okay, but I’ve seen many a comedian in tears searching for a lost notebook with their entire act in it. I use Google Docs, and print out a set list each time I perform.

A forgotten word, or turn of phrase can be the difference between a joke killing, and getting some laughs. Keep notes.

4. Book more gigs

Performing at open mikes is okay, but as you get a few shows under your belt, you’ll want to stop performing alongside the huddled masses and get a real spot on a good show.

How can you pull that off? The answer is standing right beside you, their face illuminated in the glow of their smartphone. The comics you see at shows book their own shows, or can recommend you.

Present your best material at each open mike, and if you are getting laughs, comics will eventually approach you to perform somewhere else.

5. Record your act

If possible, make a video, or audio recording of your stand up. This is important early on, because you’ll see yourself doing weird unconscious things, or hear your voice delivering jokes in a weird way.

Being aware of those things can help you quickly improve your delivery, and avoid unconscious gesturing, bad posture, et cetera.

Now you have better jokes, more confidence, and most of all stage time. Take as little, or as much time as you like writing jokes and rehearsing and then get a spot at another open mike.

Related articles:

Stand Up Comedy Advice: How To Bomb
http://jonaspolsky.tumblr.com/post/11325017302/stand-up-comedy-advice-how-to-bomb

How To Have A Successful Open Mike
http://jonaspolsky.tumblr.com/post/7391456024/how-to-have-a-successful-open-mike