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.
Thanks for sharing the bomb and the bit about not throwing off the people who are with you...because there might be someone out there who hasn't heard you and is trying to give you a chance.
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