I prepared a set almost exactly the same as the last half of my Northbridge street set from Saturday which got a good reception, so I knew it was good, and yet when I ran it last night it went okay but not great.
I didn’t feel alone though, despite there being about 60 people at the club, there was something off with the mood compared to last week, all of the professionals were struggling to get anything out of them.
I did do something different this time, every time I looked down at stage I reminded myself to look at the audience instead and try to make a connection. That didn’t work, I mean I did it, but there was no connection.
So tonight is my big night and I have to decide am I going to do the same thing as before that didn’t win it for me, or am I going to run my new stuff knowing it worked once and bombed once.
I was flicking through a book called Comedy Secrets, where it had a paragraph or two about why material works one night and not others, and that some studies have shown external factors have a big impact on how the audience will receive material. Still, I feel like as a performer we’re meant to be able to turn the crowd around and make them laugh because out stuff is FUNNY. Not just funny in the COLD or the HOT or on a SATURDAY but FUNNY. And when we know the audience can randomly like or dislike material despite it being funny, it’s hard to know where the line is between saying – I had a shit night – or – the audience had a shit night.
This was at the competition where you have to last 5 minutes without 3 audience judges gonging you off. I lasted just slightly longer than the first time I tried there, but still less than 2 minutes. In my defence, nobody made it through in the first round, just like last time. But more importantly they just didn’t think what I was saying was funny. So be it.
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.
Maybe watch this one, I liked it and it went over so-so, though it takes a while to get going.
Notes
I struggled so much to decide which material I’d been working on to use, switching things around up until the last day where I actually completely rewrote it based on the ideas of the routines I had, and came up with this. I think that’s why I could remember it all quite easily. I still wasn’t very happy with the opening though.
I missed a few punchlines where I had planned to do callback humour, swapped the mic from hand to hand too much, and stared at the floor when I should be looking at the audience. I was doing that to try to remember what to say. I also talked too fast at the end as my time was running out, and I went a few minutes over. I was particularly sad about that because I try so hard to get it to 5 minutes.
On the good side, I did it, and I moved the microphone when I went on and also used it mid-set, reduced my hand movements, thought up some new and better punchlines, and controlled my face more. Sometimes my eyes look a little weird like I’m begging for laughter and it tends to make things bomb.
Right after the show I felt I had bombed, but watching the video I feel, although it’s not as strong as I wanted to end 2009, I think it was a decent success.
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.
