Venue: Corner Bar
Date: 17 December, 2010
I saw the Dez.
Here's the backstory: In my senior year of high school (the prehistory of this blog and my standup "career"), I performed at a venue called Cosmics. One of the comics who also performed at Cosmics was a guy called The Dez.
Cut to 4 years later. We're performing in a better room. However, I'm using a lot of the same jokes, albeit with some reworking of the premises. The Dez is also doing a little of the same material, but it feels different. Has much really changed these last 4 years?
Maybe. I'm able to go out and see more things now. I have 4 more years of experience under my belt. I've seen most of college and a place in Australia.
I think there's something interesting about looking at my comedy moment to moment, seeing where it takes me and how I feel about it in that moment. But if after 4 years, I'm still doing a couple of the same jokes, then I'm probably not changing things up that much. I should look at it year by year.
Sunday, December 19, 2010
Saturday, December 11, 2010
open mic 12
Venue: Corner Bar Comedy Underground
Date: 10 December, 2010
There is a problem... I've hit a sort of plateau. Not some sort of awesome high plateau where I cannot come down from that. More like a 'decent' level where there's not too much to complain about, but also not too much to get excited about. But I'm gonna try and give lessons out of this. That's right, this blog is gonna be advice from a guy who's not qualified to give advice.
Three minutes per week isn't that much. I need to do more open mics and I need to get one of them voice recorders. That way, I'll be able to actually get more experience about which jokes I can cut.
I think I'm gonna have to cut the 'Martin Bryant' joke, if only because I apparently look a lot more like Jeremy Davies. And that's a good thing.
Date: 10 December, 2010
There is a problem... I've hit a sort of plateau. Not some sort of awesome high plateau where I cannot come down from that. More like a 'decent' level where there's not too much to complain about, but also not too much to get excited about. But I'm gonna try and give lessons out of this. That's right, this blog is gonna be advice from a guy who's not qualified to give advice.
Three minutes per week isn't that much. I need to do more open mics and I need to get one of them voice recorders. That way, I'll be able to actually get more experience about which jokes I can cut.
I think I'm gonna have to cut the 'Martin Bryant' joke, if only because I apparently look a lot more like Jeremy Davies. And that's a good thing.
Sunday, December 5, 2010
The 500 Open Mics christmas list
Hey nobody in particular!
It's that time of year, and I'm a greedy capitalist at heart. But this is the list of stuff I should get for my comedy career, to get me out there better.
- A professional headshot
- A voice recorder
- Business cards
- An update of my website that has all kinds of material about me on it.
I probably should get video of me doing stand-up on youtube at some point. That's a near-future goal.
It's that time of year, and I'm a greedy capitalist at heart. But this is the list of stuff I should get for my comedy career, to get me out there better.
- A professional headshot
- A voice recorder
- Business cards
- An update of my website that has all kinds of material about me on it.
I probably should get video of me doing stand-up on youtube at some point. That's a near-future goal.
open mic 11
Date: 3 December, 2010
Venue: The Corner bar, Minneapolis
My US re-debut! That, plus I hadn't done stand-up for a couple weeks. Plus, I hadn't done stand-up in this venue in like 6 months. Lotta pluses going on tonight.
The Corner Bar's Comedy Underground is held in a basement under the bar. It's a dedicated room: everyone who's there is there for a reason. The downside is that it's kind of hard to find the room in the first place... it's a little out-of-the-way, and there's not much in the way of signage to get you there. Here, the rules are different. You sign up the night of the event, and you get maybe as little as 3 minutes, maybe as much as seven. It seems to work.
But you really don't care about logistics. You care about the emotional pathos of it all. DID I SUCK?
Nope. I didn't exactly rock it out of the park, but people laughed. I was a bit out of sorts and I didn't have a set list going. All of this made me nervous. Next week, next week. I was really excited because I actually had an audience of supportive person (singular) there to cheer me on. Now that I know that people will laugh at my jokes, things are better. I need to visit more open mics, but I also need to get good tires on my car.
500... here I come.
Venue: The Corner bar, Minneapolis
My US re-debut! That, plus I hadn't done stand-up for a couple weeks. Plus, I hadn't done stand-up in this venue in like 6 months. Lotta pluses going on tonight.
The Corner Bar's Comedy Underground is held in a basement under the bar. It's a dedicated room: everyone who's there is there for a reason. The downside is that it's kind of hard to find the room in the first place... it's a little out-of-the-way, and there's not much in the way of signage to get you there. Here, the rules are different. You sign up the night of the event, and you get maybe as little as 3 minutes, maybe as much as seven. It seems to work.
But you really don't care about logistics. You care about the emotional pathos of it all. DID I SUCK?
Nope. I didn't exactly rock it out of the park, but people laughed. I was a bit out of sorts and I didn't have a set list going. All of this made me nervous. Next week, next week. I was really excited because I actually had an audience of supportive person (singular) there to cheer me on. Now that I know that people will laugh at my jokes, things are better. I need to visit more open mics, but I also need to get good tires on my car.
500... here I come.
Thursday, November 25, 2010
open mic 10
Venue: Newmarket Hotel, Brisbane
Date: 22 November, 2010
This was my last night in Australia. What a night it was. I'm not going to pretend like I was on fire or anything, but it felt good and people laughed a lot. It went well, so there's nothing really significant to say about that.
I am going to pick up on something that happened after the show. One of the comics, a semi-pro working out of Sydney, mentioned that my writing and style might have been a bit too smart for the audience. This makes sense. I'm performing in bars, mostly. It's not exactly the most intellectual of places, but it's not the least either. I can't exactly bring in hundreds and thousands of people who like my material, so I have to play to the audience I'm given.
There are lots of comics out there I don't find funny. These same comics are hilarious to millions of people. It seems that just about anyone who performs could find maybe 10,000 people worldwide who think that they're funny. Its just the question of how do you find those people who think you're funny: by doing open mics over and over again, and getting more people exposed to your brand of humor.
So maybe I'm a bit too smart for the average open mic crowd. I'm not gonna change it. I'm not gonna dumb it down. I'm gonna do 490 more of these, and maybe then I'll find the 10,000 people who think I'm funny.
Date: 22 November, 2010
This was my last night in Australia. What a night it was. I'm not going to pretend like I was on fire or anything, but it felt good and people laughed a lot. It went well, so there's nothing really significant to say about that.
I am going to pick up on something that happened after the show. One of the comics, a semi-pro working out of Sydney, mentioned that my writing and style might have been a bit too smart for the audience. This makes sense. I'm performing in bars, mostly. It's not exactly the most intellectual of places, but it's not the least either. I can't exactly bring in hundreds and thousands of people who like my material, so I have to play to the audience I'm given.
There are lots of comics out there I don't find funny. These same comics are hilarious to millions of people. It seems that just about anyone who performs could find maybe 10,000 people worldwide who think that they're funny. Its just the question of how do you find those people who think you're funny: by doing open mics over and over again, and getting more people exposed to your brand of humor.
So maybe I'm a bit too smart for the average open mic crowd. I'm not gonna change it. I'm not gonna dumb it down. I'm gonna do 490 more of these, and maybe then I'll find the 10,000 people who think I'm funny.
Monday, November 15, 2010
open mic 9
Venue: Newmarket Hotel
Date: 15 November 2010
I am not an expert in standup comedy. I can really only speak about how I feel about specific jokes and gigs - anything more than that is out of my expertise. That said, tonight was not good. I wouldn't hesitate to call it the worst gig I ever did the entirety of this blog.
So I've been seeing a lot of progress in my own comedy and I got a little cocky. I thought that I wasn't some kid that's only done this 8 or 9 times, I was a veteran who'd been doing this on and off for four years. I'd even watched the performances from the USC stand-up comedy club and thought that I was better then all of them. Not that I was an expert, but that I was clearly one step above them. I'm sure they've all been doing more open mics than I have, and I'm sure that if I were in that room, that the responses I'd be getting were about the same as theirs, maybe less maybe more.
There's a tendency to believe the audience laughs loudest for you. When you're on stage and rocking faces, you believe that your laughter is louder, longer and more frequent than it is for anyone else. That's just basic psychology, and there's nothing you can really do to change that.
This gig, I could do no right. My jokes and off-the-cuff material were all met with silence. I backpedaled, backpedaled on my backpedalling, and eventually just threw in the towel. I resigned myself to defeat before I'd even told 3 of my better jokes. Maybe it was my mindset. Maybe I'd just gotten arrogant. I thought that I was something I wasn't, and it bit me in the ass.
So let's try this again. Hi, I'm Nick Klaus, and I'm new at this. I don't really have much of a clue what I'm doing. After 500 open mics, maybe I'll have a bit of a clue. Maybe I'll know even less.
Date: 15 November 2010
I am not an expert in standup comedy. I can really only speak about how I feel about specific jokes and gigs - anything more than that is out of my expertise. That said, tonight was not good. I wouldn't hesitate to call it the worst gig I ever did the entirety of this blog.
So I've been seeing a lot of progress in my own comedy and I got a little cocky. I thought that I wasn't some kid that's only done this 8 or 9 times, I was a veteran who'd been doing this on and off for four years. I'd even watched the performances from the USC stand-up comedy club and thought that I was better then all of them. Not that I was an expert, but that I was clearly one step above them. I'm sure they've all been doing more open mics than I have, and I'm sure that if I were in that room, that the responses I'd be getting were about the same as theirs, maybe less maybe more.
There's a tendency to believe the audience laughs loudest for you. When you're on stage and rocking faces, you believe that your laughter is louder, longer and more frequent than it is for anyone else. That's just basic psychology, and there's nothing you can really do to change that.
This gig, I could do no right. My jokes and off-the-cuff material were all met with silence. I backpedaled, backpedaled on my backpedalling, and eventually just threw in the towel. I resigned myself to defeat before I'd even told 3 of my better jokes. Maybe it was my mindset. Maybe I'd just gotten arrogant. I thought that I was something I wasn't, and it bit me in the ass.
So let's try this again. Hi, I'm Nick Klaus, and I'm new at this. I don't really have much of a clue what I'm doing. After 500 open mics, maybe I'll have a bit of a clue. Maybe I'll know even less.
Wednesday, November 10, 2010
Open mic 8
Venue: The Bank, Fortitude Valley
Date: 10 November, 2010
I don't take compliments well. I'm my own harshest critic, so when people compliment me, I don't know how to respond. Obviously, the word 'thanks' leaves my mouth - I've learned that much. But what the hell am I supposed to say after that? But this was open mic #8 for me, I don't think I've earned the right to be thanked yet. Once I hit 50, then we'll talk.
I tried some new stuff, used some old stuff and people in the audience seemed to enjoy it. People say the Bank is a bad room. I don't disagree, but it's a country mile better than the Hamilton. People here aren't really distracted by pokies or conversations at their own tables. Yes, it's a smaller audience, but it's an audience that mostly wanted to be there. And I've had loads of experience in the past performing in front of small audiences. (this was 4 years ago, but the general principle remains) The only other downside is that there's a lot of noise coming in from the street and the bar across the way.
An aside: the Bank has a wood-fired pizza cafe next door that's vaguely associated with the bar. They have a 50% off deal on Wednesdays and Thursdays. It's a rather large pizza, and I thought that I could eat the whole thing. I was half right.
Another aside: A few weeks ago, some girl at a kebab place recognized me from open mic. She made some joke about how I was going to run home and blog about it. Well, I held off until now. I mean, it's cool that I'm recognized by complete strangers, but it's not as though I've hit some level of awesomeness that makes me famous.
Date: 10 November, 2010
I don't take compliments well. I'm my own harshest critic, so when people compliment me, I don't know how to respond. Obviously, the word 'thanks' leaves my mouth - I've learned that much. But what the hell am I supposed to say after that? But this was open mic #8 for me, I don't think I've earned the right to be thanked yet. Once I hit 50, then we'll talk.
I tried some new stuff, used some old stuff and people in the audience seemed to enjoy it. People say the Bank is a bad room. I don't disagree, but it's a country mile better than the Hamilton. People here aren't really distracted by pokies or conversations at their own tables. Yes, it's a smaller audience, but it's an audience that mostly wanted to be there. And I've had loads of experience in the past performing in front of small audiences. (this was 4 years ago, but the general principle remains) The only other downside is that there's a lot of noise coming in from the street and the bar across the way.
An aside: the Bank has a wood-fired pizza cafe next door that's vaguely associated with the bar. They have a 50% off deal on Wednesdays and Thursdays. It's a rather large pizza, and I thought that I could eat the whole thing. I was half right.
Another aside: A few weeks ago, some girl at a kebab place recognized me from open mic. She made some joke about how I was going to run home and blog about it. Well, I held off until now. I mean, it's cool that I'm recognized by complete strangers, but it's not as though I've hit some level of awesomeness that makes me famous.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)