your first stand up comedy performance

So you’re ready to do your first standup comedy set after downing 5 shirley temples. You think you know everything on how to be funny. But wait, before you go up for your comedy debut, here are 5 tips you might find useful for your first stand up performance:

1. Bring your friends.

Bringing your friends to a show is a double-edged sword. On one hand, they might just laugh at all your jokes even if they’re not funny. On the other hand, they might not laugh at all even if you are funny. But if it’s your first time, you need all the support you can get. Having supportive friends in the audience should help you feel comfortable on stage and help build your confidence, unless they’re funnier than you. Get a few performances under your belt, then you can do without them because the groupies will start coming.

2. Channel your nervous energy.

Everyone feels butterflies in their tummies. I still do, I just don’t throw up anymore. The key is to learn to use that nervousness onstage. Convert that anxiety into performance energy. Commit to your jokes and say them like you really mean them. You’ll be surprised how useful this nervousness can be.

3. Stick to your time.

Nobody likes a comedian who goes over time, especially when that comedian is bombing. Whether you’re doing an open mic or a paid show, you should always be aware of your time limit and stick to it. This is a courtesy to the other comedians who are waiting for their turn and also to show the club owner that you are a professional even if you’re just starting out.

4. Memorize your set.

You don’t have to memorize your bits verbatim but at least commit your set list to memory. Know what jokes you’re going to open with and what jokes to close with. As much as possible, try not to keep looking at your notes as this will distract you and your audience. I actually should do this in open mics as well.

5. Enjoy.

Have fun. After all, if doing comedy isn’t fun then it’s probably not worth doing it, right?

If you like this article, here’s another one you might like Comedian’s code.

Comedian’s Code:

1. Thou shall not steal material.
Stealing another comedian’s joke verbatim is a big no no and so is just translating a Westerner’s joke into Tagalog. It’s plagiarism no matter what you call it. There is however this thing called parallel thinking: two people may think of the same exact premise and punch line. It happens. In this case, whoever performed it first should be the one to decide who keeps it. But any self-respecting comedian will challenge himself to write more original material that shows his unique point of view.

2. Thou shall not hack (or at least try not to).
What is hack? A general definition is cliche topics or comedians who use jokes that have been done to death. They hack a premise up to get cheap laughs. Bits like, men are different from women, what if men acted like women, what if Kermit and Miss Piggy were having sex, and any forced setup that leads to an Indian accent just because Indian accents sound funny. Take note however, you can make these hack premises less hacky by making them more insightful and specific. When it comes to fashion, women are weird but men are just stupid. Having an Indian accent is hard when you’re picking up on women.

Hack material is dangerous because they usually get laughs. And after all, isn’t that the whole point of being a comedian? Yes and no. Our job is to make the audience laugh. But at what expense? It’s like saying a knock out is a knock out on Mayweather’s cheap shot at Ortiz.

Do not mistake easy material with hack. They are not always the same. So hackiness is your own judgement call. At the end of the day, it is you who has to live with yourself as a comedian.

3. Thou shall respect your fellow comedians (at least on stage).
This means giving the next comedian the proper introduction. You don’t introduce him as an asshole even if you’re just kidding and are close to the guy. Remember, the audience doesn’t know that. Ask him or her how he or she wants to be introduced. And do not heckle your fellow comic while he is performing. Help each other out aswe are a small group doing revolutionary things. Let us support each other.

4. Thou shall keep to your time limit.
When you see the signal that your time’s up, nod, wrap up, and get off stage. We don’t care if you’re killing or working up to your best joke to save your horrible set. If you go long, you are taking away from another comedian.

5. Thou shall be sober during your set.
You might think you’re funnier when you’re high, but you’re probably not. You’re on the job so please remain professional by not drinking or taking mind altering substances while performing. Now after the show’s done, we don’t care what the hell you do.

6. Thou shall keep your set clean when client asks.
We don’t care if your joke about your dick in someone else’s mouth is funny. If you’re getting paid to do a clean set for a corporate gig, do a fucking clean set! You might kill with blue material but the client might not ask you or the group back for their next event. You can be vulgar at the open mic.

7. Thou shall respect your audience.
If they’re not laughing, it’s probably your fault. You need to adjust to your crowd. They paid to see you so give them your best stuff. There are rare times when it’s really the audience, specifically mooing cow audience members. Oh, and please control your girlfriend from throwing water at the audience, even if the audience is really rude or on fire.

8. Thou shall take advantage of open mics.
Open mics are meant for trying out new material. For the veteran comedians, write new stuff and try them out. For the new open mikers, polish your first 5 minutes before you write “new” material. Take note, if you haven’t been doing this for more than a year, all your jokes are new. You don’t have “old” material to claim. You are not required to do open mic, but it will help you improve immensely.

5 Rules of How to be a Stand Up Comedy Audience

Sorry, I don’t know how to embed the whole page so I just put the link.

Also check out this video from another friend and fellow comic Kevin Avery. Made me think on how to finish this “Once you go Flip… You’ll never…er… ”

Once You Go Black

Enjoy!

You can’t help it, at some point in your stand up career, there will be a drunk guy who thinks he’s being funny and will try to heckle you with some stupid question. How do you handle it? Well, you have to put him in his place without being mean and alienating the rest of the audience. Most of the time, the audience is on your side, especially if the heckler is just plain stupid and is disrupting the show for everyone. So here’s a clip of one of my recent gigs where a heckler, who was probably thinking he was being good natured, asked me if I were gay. In his defense, the dude was actually a nice guy and I approached him after my set and he said I was funny and his friends credited me with a good come back. I hope this gives you some insight on how to handle the hecklers in your show. Good luck!

I found this Killer Standup website that claimed to teach you how to write in comedy chunks. At first, I was skeptic like I am with most products on comedy coaching (maybe because of that comedy coach I met back when I was an open miker – he had a pony tail and did his sessions in his bedroom). Then I found a testimonial on the site from a good friend of mine and fellow comic Joe Braza. So I decided to try it out.

Steve Roye was able to break down into a system how to come up with chunks of comedy material. Honestly, I know most of the stuff he discusses in his product but what was really valuable to me was his efficiency at creating material that revolved around themes. It took me a couple of actual sets of trying out his system before I got it down. Now, when I come up with material it is so much faster and easier. If I had his product when I first started, I’d probably have 10 times the material I have now.

If you’re starting out as a comedian or even if you’re experienced, you will definitely benefit from the Killer Stand-Up System (I’m beginning to sound like a used car salesman). Honestly, the 2 things that have helped me as a stand-up are Judy Carter’s Stand-up Comedy book and the Killer Stand-Up system. Of course, there’s still no substitute to stage time.

To purchase the Killer Stand-Up System Click Here!.

Hey, if it doesn’t work, Steve gives you a 60-day money back guarantee. And yes, I do get a commission if you buy it from this link. Helping other comedians and making money isn’t a bad thing.

Good luck!

killer stand up system

In my 13 years (and counting) of performing as a stand up comedian, I’ve learned that a lot of the skills I use on stage can carry over to other types of performances besides comedy, namely, public speaking, presentations, hosting, pole dancing, miming, puppetry, gay acapella, and selling yourself to Oprah. But specific to stand up performance, there are 7 simple yet effective techniques that I’ve learned that give me a better chance of having a killer set. Why 7? Well because 13 is too much and it’s bad luck. So here they are:

1. Commit.
Commit to the act. If you’re playing a serial killer in your bit, commit to it. Kill the cat. There’s nothing unfunnier than an act out that’s done half-assed.

2. Relax.
Like sexual predators, your audience can smell fear. If you can relax onstage, the more your audience will be relaxed. If they see you being comfortable, they will laugh more at your jokes.

3. Slow down or speed up.
Usually in small rooms, you can do rapid fire bits. The audience will easily keep up with you. Bigger rooms (and outdoors) require you to slow down your act a bit and annunciate every word you say. Maybe it’s the acoustics or maybe sound travels slower in a bigger venue.

4. Throw it away.
If a joke doesn’t work, throw it away. What I mean is to just perform the bit real quick that it doesn’t matter, kinda like a throwaway line. You blurt out the punch line then move on to the next joke before it hits them. Some of my weaker jokes become pretty strong when I do them as throwaway lines. It’s strange but true.

5. Don’t care.
Sometimes, it’s just best that you don’t give a damn. You just know that your material is funny and you don’t care if the audience gets it or not. It’s their problem. When you have this attitude, the audience mysteriously feels that they should laugh or it means they’re not in on the joke. Though sometimes this technique can also backfire. So you have to balance this attitude.

6. Acknowledge what’s going on.
If you’re bombing, just acknowledge it and show them that it’s no big deal. Doing this will relieve the tension in the room and allow the laughs to start coming in. If the waitstaff breaks a glass, say something about it. If the venue is a hole-in-the-wall, just say so but don’t expect the owners to be happy about it.

7. Visualize.
Before the show, visualize yourself killing. Oh, you thought I was going to say imagine your audience naked? That only works if you’re not doing a nudist camp. Athletes do it and it really works.

1. Find your light. Some comedians like to make use of the whole stage by walking around ala Dane Cook. But you also have to consider the lighting limitations. If you step out of your light, meaning the audience can’t see your face, you will have a harder time making a connection with them and getting the laughter that you so badly need. So the trick is, to figure out the space that you can move in without losing the light.

2. When you scream for emphasis or lack of a real punch line (sometimes screaming can fool an audience that you’re actually saying something funny even if you’re not), make sure the mic is far away from your mouth. Nothing is more annoying than a comedian screaming into the mic directly and blowing a few eardrums. We understand what you’re trying to emphasize, just hold the mic to the side or at least a foot away from your face when you do so.

3. If you’re the type to take the microphone out of the stand, don’t leave the stand in front of you. It creates a barrier between you and your audience. As soon as you take out the mic, grab the stand and put it to the side or behind you. You want to be as intimate as possible to the crowd without actually taking your clothes off, unless that’s what the act calls for (although I doubt it).

Trust me, with these simple tips you can improve your stage presence. It won’t make you funnier but it can make you look more seasoned as a performer and a speaker.

Never open with a new joke. Never! I don’t care if you think the new stuff is killer; rarely does opening with a new bit ever work. I always forget this rule. Tonight, was a painful reminder that new jokes should be treated like newborn babies. You don’t just throw them out in the water and expect them to swim on their own right away. You got to let them grow up first, sandwich them between stronger material, and let them develop stronger punch lines. My mistake was a classic case of over-enthusiasm. The new material drowned and with it, my stage confidence. So I had to fight an uphill battle the whole time.

Second mistake that I committed was going over my time. This is a rule I almost never break. But tonight because of desperation and my ego getting bruised, I went about 5 minutes longer than I should have. I got my big closing laugh at the end but I should’ve been more disciplined and considerate of the other comedians by ending my set when I should’ve, regardless if I ended on a high note or a low one. I don’t like stage hogs and I was one tonight. I will be better about this in the future.

Lastly, I have to remind myself never to beat myself up over one lousy set. A great comedian acknowledges that he didn’t have the best set but will move on and improve in his next performance. That’s why you got to keep hitting the stag and keep working out.

It’s very different when people come over to the comedy club to watch you and when you have to go to the corporate show and perform for the client. So here are some quick pointers you should know, if you ever get booked:

1. Do a clean set as much as possible. Replace “f*ck” with “freak”, “sh*t” with “shoot”, and “cheating son of a b*itch” with James Yap.

2. Avoid mentioning competing brands. Don’t mention Cialis if you’re doing a gig for Viagra and vice-versa. And if you’re doing a gig for either company, maybe it’s time to reflect on where your career is heading.

3. Start strong and end strong. Don’t mess around. Hit them right away with some quick one liners and get them by the balls (but don’t say balls in your set unless you’re referring to tennis balls). Most of the time, these employees tend to chit chat while you’re performing (which is what they do to bands) so get their attention and keep it til the end.

4. Act like a motivational speaker. Since they didn’t pay to come see you (their company did), they are not as forgiving as the crowd in the comedy club. So get them on your side by pandering a bit. Get them to agree with whatever you’re saying. Things like, “You guys like working for (company name)? Yeah! I love (company name)!” This will make them feel you’re one of them and it will make them more comfortable laughing at you, because in some strange way, they’re just laughing at themselves.

5. Get paid before you get up on stage. You never know who you’ll piss off, so better have the cash in your wallet before you perform. That way, if things go bad, at least you’ll be running out with the money.

Remember, the most important thing is to make the big bosses happy because they will be the ones who will book you again for future events. Also, be nice to the events organizers because you will probably work with them again in future projects. Happy corporate whoring!

One liners are like Manny Pacquiao, they are quick to the punch. These are good opening jokes to get the crowd going right away. Doing them in a long series gives your act a good rhythm. People will start anticipating the punchlines in your act, which most of the time is a good thing since it cues them when to laugh. If they get on board and dig your humor, then this could be a wild and crazy ride, which no drug can duplicate (well, I could be wrong). Most of the old school comics such as Rodney Dangerfield are great at this. There are some new comedians that also do this but with a modern twist, like the late Mitch Hedgeberg and the genius Dave Attell. But if the audience feels at some point, you’re not being real, then your act could become too jokey and contrived. I’ve seen Gary Lising do this and kill in the beginning but after 15 minutes, people got tired of it. It’s difficult to sustain for more than 15 minutes, unless you sprinkle it with other styles or have strippers in your act. The danger of having too many one liners is your act might become hodgepodge and not very memorable.

With Filipino crowds, I’ve noticed that this one liner works mostly with older audiences, especially if the punch lines are raunchy and have Erap or some other character as the butt of the joke. But with younger crowd, thanks to their exposure to Conan, Ellen, and Kimmel, expect a bit more than the usual dirty jokes.

Story telling is another style that is a bit more engaging when done correctly. Stories are susceptible to becoming lengthy with no punchlines. This is when an amateur comedian has a story that his friends find hilarious – and that’s the problem, only his friends find it hilarious, hence the cliche “Oh, I guess it’s funnier if you were there”. So the trick to a good story routine is to put punchlines and throwaways on the way to the end. Throwaways are just quick jokes that are too weak to call attention to and so you just tell them under your breath like you’re throwing them away – kinda like first born Chinese baby girls. The fact that you’re treating them as not that funny makes them a bit funnier (I know, zen right?). The other challenge also is the last punch line – it has to be way more hilarious than the other punchlines in the story.

So, here’s the hybrid: create a story around your one liners. Look at all your one liner jokes and find a theme. Your act will become more streamlined and memorable. Next thing you know, you have your own sitcom… which only airs on Youtube. Remember, these are not the only ways to deliver a joke. Watch your favorite comics and study how they do their thing.