So either this Stand-Up forum is new, or I’m blind.
In any case, I’m curious as to any chewers who do stand-up. 5-6 years ago I was doing it regularly, making a decent enough living off of it and doing a couple of small regional tours. It was a fun and interesting time. I haven’t done it since though. Recently I started writing again for stand-up and I’m looking for venues where I can work on my new material and start crafting a new routine.
So any other chewers do stand-up? I’m curious to hear how you write and develop jokes, where/how you find your venues and any good stories or anecdotes. Hey, we can even network from here!
Getting into it! I’ve got roughly five minutes of stuff, still paring it down, adding to it, and working with a friend on some details. I haven’t officially done any shows yet, but I’ve been hanging around comedians for the past couple of months and just getting used to the scene and the personalities in it before I dive in. I’ll do a few open mics, but my first official show will be sometime mid-November - it’s the graduation show for the class I’m currently taking.
Writing and developing is pretty much taken from real-life stuff. I develop jokes by adding my own twist to it, but mostly I agree with my friend’s statement that “you don’t find the joke, the joke finds you”. That seems to be how I’ve come up with most of my material - something happens, I think “Hey, that’d make a great joke/anecdote/whatever”, write it down, and then just let it go and see what happens.
Dude, I am so stalking you and heckling you. You better be fucking funny. I’m a tough critic as I find stand-up to be the lowest form of art, right under performance art.
Good for you, Jake. I think a solid 5 minute set can be one of the hardest things to create. I think it’s oft-times harder than creating a good longer set. With a longer set the audience can be a bit more forgiving. You can have a better ebb and flow between small jokes and big jokes and the audience doesn’t seem to resent any missteps or detours. With 5 minutes it’s got to be nothing but gold that builds and builds upon itself. It’s a tricky thing to create.
I also carry a notebook with me everywhere to write down any and every idea that may come into my mind. I like creating what I call skeletons of a joke - loosely defined setup and a couple of different punchlines/directions where the joke could go. Then I like getting in front of an audience at an open mic and adding in the meat to the bones of the skeleton. I use a lot of improvisation to feel around for where I can add more punchlines, see what works, see which is the best direction to take any given joke, etc. After a few sessions at an open mic I’ll usually have a pretty solid joke crafted from any given “skeleton.”
I love the feeling of creating a joke, writing it down and thinking, “This joke is great. It’s going to kill.” I love just knowing that a joke is golden as I write it. And then getting up onstage and delivering it and having it fall completely flat. Ha! That reversal of fortune is glorious.
Awesome, Jake. Let us know when you get rolling with that. A suggestion: you should combine jokes with deadlifting weights onstage. Just to be different.
I performed standup for about 8 years from '01 to mid-09. I got to the feature level, but never got to do any long headlining sets.
Zanies is apparently starting up a new show for locals, and I was thinking about getting back on board. I haven’t performed in over a year, so my comedy muscles are pretty much atrophied at this point. The first few times back promise to be brutal, but I’m still looking forward to it.
I’ve thought about doing it. I know I can be funny when I want to be, and I’m a passable mimic with potential (if I bothered to practice). But then I always remember that making your friends/colleagues/family crack up, and doing the same thing to people who don’t know you are two very different things. Also, dying onstage sounds like the kind of nightmare I’m not sure I would handle well.
Not a Chewer anymore I guess, but I think Mr Beaks was a stand-up comic too. I would pay to see him do an hours worth of The Swarm related material.
Bombing can be brutal, but everybody goes through it. It’s not pleasant, but it certainly toughens you up.
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Writing and developing is pretty much taken from real-life stuff. I develop jokes by adding my own twist to it, but mostly I agree with my friend’s statement that “you don’t find the joke, the joke finds you”. That seems to be how I’ve come up with most of my material - something happens, I think “Hey, that’d make a great joke/anecdote/whatever”, write it down, and then just let it go and see what happens.
Same here. From a practical viewpoint, I tried to take stuff from my life simply because it’s harder to steal. (Fucking hacks.)
I’ve got a pretty great guru on my side, and she’s already taught me a lot of shit. But yeah, stalk me, fuck with me, whatever, just buy me a drink afterward.
That being said, if y’all haven’t watched Jerry Seinfeld’s “Comedian”, do it. It’s pretty much him going through the struggle of him working on getting decent material. It ain’t that easy, even for someone as high-profile as him (say what you will about his sense of humor, I can’t fucking stand the guy but it’s still interesting).
I’ve worked with a shit ton of comedians in the last five years. It’s not a profession I’d care to get in to but I admire the fuck out of anyone who wants to give it a try.
The DVD of Funny People has a decent documentary bit on the actors going out and practicing their stand-up, but the favourite bit is where Jonah Hill absolutely dies on stage. Personally, not sure I’d ever have the gets to get up there- too afraid of drying up. Although for whatever reason, if I see good stand-up (e.g. Louis CK), it seems so easy that I think ‘I could do that’.
If they were open mics in L.A., they were probably going to die no matter what. Open mics out here are either brutal, or they’re mostly filled with comedians working on their stuff so it’s gonna be a bad crowd.
My worst moment was when I auditioned for Last Comic Standing and completely froze. I think it was when the jib camera sailed over my head as I walked up on stage that I realized I was being filmed for television, and was a total deer in headlights. Holy hell, that sucked.
When I used to gig with my bands I’d think, “I’d love to have a crack at stand-up and not have to share the door take with these other 3 reprobates,” but my dream was crippled by me not being funny.
I just got into it because A) I wanted to do comedy, and B) I wanted to do something that, in theory, scared the shit out of me. Now if I can do both of those and eventually pay the bills with it (not be rich and famous, even though if that happens I’m okay with it), I’ll be stoked.
Originally Posted by JakeView Post If they were open mics in L.A., they were probably going to die no matter what. Open mics out here are either brutal, or they’re mostly filled with comedians working on their stuff so it’s gonna be a bad crowd.
Oh no, Hill was horrible. And it was the first time they tried to film some live stuff, and he’s apparently been killing before that. Seth Rogen, in particular, loves watching Hill fail. But more people should buy Funny People anyway.
I’ve bombed as part of a play (slapstick to a dead crowd is fucking horrible) but I could always hide behind my fellow actors and commiserate with them after. Alone. On stage. In a bar. No damn way.
Yeah but Ryan, you’re not a redneck, and you’re from Alberta. That alone is sad enough it’s hilarious!
And Jake, if you ever get to Montreal, I’ll be your #1 groupie. And we have one solid comedy festival, so if you’re get here, things are looking good for you.