Date: 17 April, 2011
Venue: Tribal cafe.
This was my first time performing at the tribal cafe. With a name like that, yes it is a place where they talk about removing toxins on the menu and it has ads for drum circles in the board at the front. As though 4 a gallon gas didn't make me feel guilty enough for driving here by myself.
Anyways, I need to do 2 things: I need to be more social with comics and I need to get some business cards. Cause I did a damn good job tonight. It felt solid, and the FBI Intern bit worked well. I think there's a lot of material there I need to explore. Like, skipping over the urge to tell new and unproven stuff and telling the jokes that are within my wheelhouse was really what it took.
So, I'm going to re-number a couple of these. Open mics are one thing, but auditions are another and workshops are a third. So 500 open mics stand between me and what I'm going after... not 500 open mics and workshops and whatever else there is.
Friday, April 22, 2011
Saturday, April 16, 2011
open mic 23
Date: 15 April 2011
Venue: Silverlake Lounge
I'm feeling really good. I opened with a pun that the audience adored. Things went a bit downhill from there, but I know that I have a solid joke that kills. This is promising.
A lot of it comes in getting people's attention. If you lose them at the start, nobody's going to pay attention because why bother? You haven't established yourself as someone worthy of attention. It's very harsh, but it's how things are: first impressions matter.
I tried to stick to the schtick I'd set up in my last post. FBI Intern hit a bit of a snag, but I think with sticking to my guns, I can make it funny again. I also tried to throw in some new material, which didn't go over as well as I'd hoped. There's a big gap between 'this is funny' and 'this is something I think is amusing' and that difference is that an idea that has potential isn't enough... I have to say what that potential is and define it. Once you claim the idea, it's yours.
That aside, I think I've got a little less work ahead of me. I've got some solid premises, and I really need to hit up more venues. Tomorrow I'm going to Tsunamedy. This should be fun.
Also, I have a fan! Phil, a guy who's been here for 3 weeks came up after my set and said he thought I was funny. Knowing that makes things a lot easier. I really need to start reaching out to other comics though.
Venue: Silverlake Lounge
I'm feeling really good. I opened with a pun that the audience adored. Things went a bit downhill from there, but I know that I have a solid joke that kills. This is promising.
A lot of it comes in getting people's attention. If you lose them at the start, nobody's going to pay attention because why bother? You haven't established yourself as someone worthy of attention. It's very harsh, but it's how things are: first impressions matter.
I tried to stick to the schtick I'd set up in my last post. FBI Intern hit a bit of a snag, but I think with sticking to my guns, I can make it funny again. I also tried to throw in some new material, which didn't go over as well as I'd hoped. There's a big gap between 'this is funny' and 'this is something I think is amusing' and that difference is that an idea that has potential isn't enough... I have to say what that potential is and define it. Once you claim the idea, it's yours.
That aside, I think I've got a little less work ahead of me. I've got some solid premises, and I really need to hit up more venues. Tomorrow I'm going to Tsunamedy. This should be fun.
Also, I have a fan! Phil, a guy who's been here for 3 weeks came up after my set and said he thought I was funny. Knowing that makes things a lot easier. I really need to start reaching out to other comics though.
Saturday, April 9, 2011
open mics 21 and 22
Date: 8 April 2011
Venue: Silverlake Lounge
The sad thing about this room is how life-sucking it is. And yet, I did not bad. I feel like I was able to reach beyond my normal audience. I had good material. But I would not call this a success.
I was mildly drunk. This made things bad
Here's the thing. There's a tendency to assume that a few beers will make you loosen up and become better at being conversational. The idea sounds nice, but in reality it's kind of shaky and not true. Some people really do need to lighten up but that comes with practice. You want to sound conversational, but in reality so much is practiced and rehearsed and ready for anything. It's over-preparation disguised as under-preparation.
That said, I need to practice more. I need to actually rehearse and go over my bits. I've got some funny stuff, and this time I tried and aimed for my audience. Next time, I know what I'm going for.
Open mic 22
Date: 9 April 2011
Venue: the Spot Cafe
How much is too much?
There's a question. You want variety, but not at the expense of not polishing a joke. There's something to be said for trying a joke over and over to see if it has legs. There's also something to be said for trying lots of things. I fell into the latter camp. But I think I have a solid amount of stuff now.
'FBI Intern' has legs. 'Louie Louie' doesn't. 'Job Fair' has legs. 'Wynn Hyundai' probably doesn't. That pun is a keeper.
I think future sets are going to be like this:
3 minutes:
Roommates
Job Fair
Media Buying
FBI Intern
5 minutes:
Roommates
Graduating/Living with family.
Job Fair
Media Buying
FBI Intern
Obviously, this is a work in progress. But I'll try and stick with it.
Venue: Silverlake Lounge
The sad thing about this room is how life-sucking it is. And yet, I did not bad. I feel like I was able to reach beyond my normal audience. I had good material. But I would not call this a success.
I was mildly drunk. This made things bad
Here's the thing. There's a tendency to assume that a few beers will make you loosen up and become better at being conversational. The idea sounds nice, but in reality it's kind of shaky and not true. Some people really do need to lighten up but that comes with practice. You want to sound conversational, but in reality so much is practiced and rehearsed and ready for anything. It's over-preparation disguised as under-preparation.
That said, I need to practice more. I need to actually rehearse and go over my bits. I've got some funny stuff, and this time I tried and aimed for my audience. Next time, I know what I'm going for.
Open mic 22
Date: 9 April 2011
Venue: the Spot Cafe
How much is too much?
There's a question. You want variety, but not at the expense of not polishing a joke. There's something to be said for trying a joke over and over to see if it has legs. There's also something to be said for trying lots of things. I fell into the latter camp. But I think I have a solid amount of stuff now.
'FBI Intern' has legs. 'Louie Louie' doesn't. 'Job Fair' has legs. 'Wynn Hyundai' probably doesn't. That pun is a keeper.
I think future sets are going to be like this:
3 minutes:
Roommates
Job Fair
Media Buying
FBI Intern
5 minutes:
Roommates
Graduating/Living with family.
Job Fair
Media Buying
FBI Intern
Obviously, this is a work in progress. But I'll try and stick with it.
Saturday, April 2, 2011
open mics 19 and 20
Oh man, another twofer. This brings me up to 4% of the way there.
Let's look at it.
#19:
Date: 1 April, 2011
Venue: Silverlake Lounge
Holy cow, running into the very impressive Mark Mead. And getting friends to come and see me. Two cool things in one evening. I had 3 minutes and I didn't run out of stuff. I also had a friend record my set. I'll post it on Youtube if I'm feeling generous later.
I do look a bit tense. I need to relax and tone it down a bit. I might also need to try and aim a little... older. I'm okay with being a college comedian, but I need some material that aims a bit older. If I can pull that off, I'll be good.
#20:
Date: 2 April, 2011
Venue: The Spot Cafe
This is the friendliest room in LA. It's all comics, so it's not the perfect room, but it feels good. I actually recorded myself kicking ass, so I've got that going for me. (I should mention that 'kicking ass' is a relative term. I'm not gaining laughs as hard or as strong as other comics, but they're relatively solid. Listening to the recordings is helping)
The best thing I can think of, as far as comedy goes is to be ones' self. I'm trying to have my time on stage just be me talking about stuff. Instead, I'm still amping up the energy in response to nerves, so instead of 'me', it's becoming 'hyper me'. I know 4% of your max. possible capacity is still not that much, but I figure with 20 open mics under my belt, that I should be starting to hit my stride and I should have the calmness thing figured out. I'm not worried or concerned, but it would be nice to figure it out.
On the plus side, it's been a really long time since I bombed. I can live with that.
Let's look at it.
#19:
Date: 1 April, 2011
Venue: Silverlake Lounge
Holy cow, running into the very impressive Mark Mead. And getting friends to come and see me. Two cool things in one evening. I had 3 minutes and I didn't run out of stuff. I also had a friend record my set. I'll post it on Youtube if I'm feeling generous later.
I do look a bit tense. I need to relax and tone it down a bit. I might also need to try and aim a little... older. I'm okay with being a college comedian, but I need some material that aims a bit older. If I can pull that off, I'll be good.
#20:
Date: 2 April, 2011
Venue: The Spot Cafe
This is the friendliest room in LA. It's all comics, so it's not the perfect room, but it feels good. I actually recorded myself kicking ass, so I've got that going for me. (I should mention that 'kicking ass' is a relative term. I'm not gaining laughs as hard or as strong as other comics, but they're relatively solid. Listening to the recordings is helping)
The best thing I can think of, as far as comedy goes is to be ones' self. I'm trying to have my time on stage just be me talking about stuff. Instead, I'm still amping up the energy in response to nerves, so instead of 'me', it's becoming 'hyper me'. I know 4% of your max. possible capacity is still not that much, but I figure with 20 open mics under my belt, that I should be starting to hit my stride and I should have the calmness thing figured out. I'm not worried or concerned, but it would be nice to figure it out.
On the plus side, it's been a really long time since I bombed. I can live with that.
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