open mic 27

Date: 22 May 2011
Venue: tribal cafe

God damn, I love this venue. Great crowd, except for the guy in the front row who looked like he was going to cut a bitch. So at least Marcellus Wallace was safe. This guy was distracting everyone, which sucks, but I'm going to get better at my dealing with hecklers skills. Mark my words. I did okay on the back half, the front half is still unpolished, but listening to it was a boost. People laughed harder than I remembered.

Anyways, in lieu of more content, here's an image macro from the 'Best of Nick Klaus' series.

open mics 25 and 26

Date: 20 May, 2011
Venue: Hollywood Hotel

Ooh. A new venue means new opportunities. I think there's something to be said for trying to perform at as many open mics as possible, because there's always a slightly different crowd at each one, and the more people you expose yourself to, the better.

The room is in the basement of the Hollywood Hotel. It's closeby and there's sometimes actually an audience, it seems. Slightly different crowd leads to different opportunities. My set was almost all new jokes, and that went better. This lead to one of the comics taking time after my set to tell me about another bar that had another open mic that night, would I be interested in going?

Yes. Yes I would

Date: later that night
Venue: Westwood Brewing Company (brew co)

There's a lot to like about this space. It's late at night, It's got good food and people will actually wander in from the party going on outside. They'll all be drunk, but that's sometimes good.
I feel like I'm starting to get somewhere now. I've got people who like my premises. Open mic #24 wasn't good, but compared to that, open mic #s 25 and 26 were better. And that's why I do it.

open mic 24 (for real)

Date: 18 May, 2011
Venue: The Spot Cafe

And now, the anatomy of a bomb.

"Bombing" is when you flail around on stage doing poorly, for those not in the know. Tonight wasn't a total bomb, but it was quite poor. I'd give myself a D+. And I know why it happened.

I need to keep writing jokes. I had been doing the same set over and over, so people had heard it and were bored I think. Open mics are different from rooms where there's an actual audience. It's a solid set, but I need to have the courage to try new things and to see what happens.

The other thing I need to do is preparation. I have to know what I'm going to say before I say it. Going up without any clue whatsoever about what you're saying is a recipe for disaster.

The gist of it is this: If you're doing a bit and it isn't working, see it through and then for next time have new stuff ready. At least on a sinking ship, you know where you are. Changing course mid-stream is going to throw off the people who are with you. That's all the advice I have for now. Right now, I'm just feeling like I have to earn every laugh, and I have to prove it to the world that I'm ready.

I can do this. I've got it in me. Let's laugh.

Open mic 23 (for real)

Date: 6 May, 2011
Venue: Silverlake lounge

I did pretty good. A lot of people didn't show up, so we got longer sets (4 minutes!).

However, I'm going to give a tip to all aspiring comics doing Standup for their first time.

If this is your first time on stage, you will need to learn about "The light". This is the signal given to tell you that it's nearing the end of your set, generally it means you have one minute left. Sometimes there will be a second light that means "you're done, finish up and go". Some clubs are a little lax about going over your time, some clubs are strict to the point where you won't be allowed to perform again if you go over time.

The other thing is that the stage lighting on stage is bright. Really bright. You probably won't be able to see "The light" unless you know to look for it. So if you're not careful, your first time you run the risk of going over time by a lot. Don't let this happen to you. We know you probably don't mean to be rude by going over time, but it's not something you want to do even accidentally.

Bring up a cell phone or watch: anything with a really visible time display on it. Check it periodically, if you haven't practiced your jokes before. Its okay if you go short, but its not okay if you go over time by too much. One of the best ways to get on an MCs bad side is to be known as the person who goes over time.

Open mic 22 (for real)

Date: 4 May, 2011
Venue: The Spot Cafe

I'm starting to get better at my material. I'm starting to have more consistency in my jokes and between my sets. I'll post a set that I feel comfortable with sharing soon.

So instead of talking about me, I'm going to share a lesson with y'all. This set, there was a performer who came out and during her set said "I'm not going to be as funny as the last guy". Big mistake.

Never plead incompetence. You can say 'this is my first time' but don't start from a position of weakness. In open mics, there is always a section of the audience that is looking for an excuse to not pay attention to you. Don't give it to them.

You have to turn everything into a position of strength. I'm awkward, skinny and I'm still not fully comfortable on stage, but I acknowledge that and turn it into a strength. You always want to acknowledge these sorts of things because it means you don't have to fight the audience. People go by first impressions, so once you accept that, you can use it.

I'm skinny. If I go out on stage saying things about how I'm not actually skinny, the audience isn't going to buy it. Which gives them a reason to not listen to me.

It gets back to "yes and". Yes, I'm a dork AND I'm so much of a dork that I can even make a leather jacket inhabited by the spirit of James Dean look uncool. Or, Yes I'm a dork AND it amazes me that the only time I'm not a dork is when I'm talking to people at taco bell. You start with ideas like that. You acknowledge something about yourself and then you either build on that idea, or you transform it and add information.