Post by nPo Wolfpack noleafclover1980 on Oct 4, 2012 16:44:17 GMT -5
So, as some of you know, I've been doing standup for a little over a month and a half now, and saw some video from my very first ever try at stand up... here's me a couple weeks ago at my first booked showcase in San Diego (I had done a show in L.A. the night prior) Still can improve obviously, but I think in just the short amount of time I've done this I've gotten much better.
I can see you started to find your "character" for stand-up but it's an ongoing process. Go further with that and get more specific. The easier it is for an audience to identity what your personality was after the show the more likely they are to remember you. Same would go for the owner of club. Even with comics people may not like -- for example, I don't like Daniel Tosh as a stand-up comedian but if I watched him perform for several minutes I would know exactly what his character was and the type of humor he goes for.
I think you have a good, grounded basis and you are comfortable with pacing and delivery. I didn't see any issues with eye connection with the audience or what I call "over-seeing" the audience where you look at too many people in the room and it comes across as unfocused. I would suggest focusing on your character, exaggerating it slightly and pushing it further, even if it feels a little uncomfortable.
A great example of that for me, would be your joke about the bus stop. I live in Los Angeles, I use public transit and I have never encountered a Jehovah's Witness at a bus stop so I couldn't relate to the scenario. You had a room full of people, since it was Burbank, who couldn't relate to the bus in general. However, you could still go with that bit and make it work by switching a few things up. What I relate to and most people who don't ride a bus in a large city would imagine, are crazy homeless people and people on drugs. I would suggest joking about a wilder encounter, real, imagined or a little of "A" and a little of "B". As long as you've established your personality they'll envision you in the situation and enjoy your reaction. Since stand-up comedy isn't a sitcom where you have other people to bounce off of you really have to create the other characters in the scene for an audience because once you establish your character they'll picture you bouncing off the other characters easily.
I have to take my "performer" cap off now because I can talk forever.
Last Edit: Oct 6, 2012 2:00:31 GMT -5 by slik-dan-go
Nice job dude! It's gunna be weird not believing you look like DDP anymore ;D
Not bad, though. Looks like you have a pretty good crowd there. Keep working on your character, man. Give them something to talk about other than just the jokes, give them a really good presentation. The most popular comediians of all time carried themselves in very special ways.
Good luck, and keep us updated!
Oh yeeyah, Skywalker; DIG IT! Proud owner of one Internet. Thanks Mr. Spicer!
I can see you started to find your "character" for stand-up but it's an ongoing process. Go further with that and get more specific. The easier it is for an audience to identity what your personality was after the show the more likely they are to remember you. Same would go for the owner of club. Even with comics people may not like -- for example, I don't like Daniel Tosh as a stand-up comedian but if I watched him perform for several minutes I would know exactly what his character was and the type of humor he goes for.
I think you have a good, grounded basis and you are comfortable with pacing and delivery. I didn't see any issues with eye connection with the audience or what I call "over-seeing" the audience where you look at too many people in the room and it comes across as unfocused. I would suggest focusing on your character, exaggerating it slightly and pushing it further, even if it feels a little uncomfortable.
A great example of that for me, would be your joke about the bus stop. I live in Los Angeles, I use public transit and I have never encountered a Jehovah's Witness at a bus stop so I couldn't relate to the scenario. You had a room full of people, since it was Burbank, who couldn't relate to the bus in general. However, you could still go with that bit and make it work by switching a few things up. What I relate to and most people who don't ride a bus in a large city would imagine, are crazy homeless people and people on drugs. I would suggest joking about a wilder encounter, real, imagined or a little of "A" and a little of "B". As long as you've established your personality they'll envision you in the situation and enjoy your reaction. Since stand-up comedy isn't a sitcom where you have other people to bounce off of you really have to create the other characters in the scene for an audience because once you establish your character they'll picture you bouncing off the other characters easily.
I have to take my "performer" cap off now because I can talk forever.
That show I posted was actually here in San Diego, didn't get video for the Burbank one because they charge you like $30 for a copy of your set. You're lucky though, because down here, you will get hit up by Jehova's witnesses and Mormon's at the bus stop very regularly. If you're lucky, they just want to give you some reading stuff, if not, you are now stuck talking to them until the bus comes. I'm definitely getting more and more comfortable with developing my on stage character though... I discovered the other night if I have a few beers first it helps a lot.. I know it's terrible to admit I'm better at comedy when slightly drunk, but after my set all my friends noticed my set flowed way more smoothly than before and seemed more confident and in total control of the audience.
Hopefully I'll get some more video up soon, since I have a lot of material I've come up with since then that I'm polishing more now that has been hitting well. It's funny because my friend who got me into this keeps telling me I need to polish the stuff I have, but I feel like I'm getting better as a joke writer so my new material is just all around better than my original stuff. I mean most of my set on this recording is the polished version of like my very first set.
