Watch this, I did really good today, this is my new best set.
Notes
I really struggled to write this set because I bombed so hard last time at Laugh Resort, and this time I really wanted to push the limit of what I was joking about and I wasn’t sure how far the audience would tolerate it.
My opening half is something I wrote before I even started doing stand-up but never performed, while the rest was an amalgamation of some ideas from the past few weeks.
I didn’t make any particular mistakes, I moved the mic from hand to hand unnecessarily, and went a minute over my time, and used jokes which I didn’t have punchlines for yet, but that was all part of the plan.
I was surprised at one point where I was talking about Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie, and Madonna, and someone in the audience groaned. I didn’t realise it was a sensitive topic.
I didn’t practice as much as I usually would, because I was trying to make things seem fresher and less canned than before, which I think is partially why I bombed so hard at the Laugh Resort. I got laughter, more as time went on, and a few other comedians then referenced me in their acts and said they liked it after, which was the best thing ever – they actually remember what I said!
I think the main reason I got laughter here is because I had fallen into a character, exaggerating my personality trait of focusing on the minutia of mundane things and believing they revolve around me.
Some bits did fall flat, but I didn’t have to use my cheat sheet for the first time. Early on I accidentally went into a punchline too early, which broke that bit, and I didn’t even HAVE a punchline for my ending – but by using it I thought of a new one after the show.
Skip this one if you want to, I bombed pretty hard.
Notes
Here you go on stage and have to try to last 5 minutes without 3 audience members voting you off (which they do during your act by holding up elephant pictures). Of about 20 comedians only 6 made it to the semi-final.
I really screwed up here, missing a punch line, forgetting where I was the moment I stepped on stage, and having a facial expression where I’m begging for laughs from the audience. I really hated myself for that.
I felt worse for the other comedians, some were hilarious and deserved to win but didn’t. Others weren’t funny in the slightest but lasted the 5 minutes just by not saying anything controversial (or funny at all). The judges were extremely harsh in the first round, however then the judges were swapped with other people and were extremely forgiving in the second round. So that sucked too.
But to be clear I completely lost this one out of my own mistakes. Oh, and it reminded me it’s important to be able to run a clean set, which I won’t be able to do for a long time.
