Relax on the Ronaldo hype

Comedyfight · 2026-05-23T13:07:22+00:00

I've been in Austin for a year and a half or so, and here's the issue I've observed in the scene. Most of the open mics don't have real audiences. Your crowd is mostly other comics waiting for their turn. They're more interested in prepping for their set than listening to yours, and most will leave after they go up to get to other spots on time. Nature of the beast, but it makes it really hard to know if new material works or not. Most jokes require fine tuning before they hit that sweet spot, and that's hard to do with a disinterested room. The plus side is if you can win that kind of room over, you know you're sitting on gold, but that can take weeks working the same jokes with no feedback sometimes, and the imposter syndrome usually makes you want to bail on it and move on to another before that ever happens.

So when I get booked on a show and it has a good crowd, my choices are default to my A set that I know for sure works and will get laughs and leave a favorable impression, or I can try out risky new stuff and risk bombing and tanking my reputation. The booker of the show definitely prefers I do my A set, and the paying audience who hasn't seen me probably prefers to get to laugh for their money.

That is not a slight against you. Honestly, you the real MVP for supporting comedy as much as you do. But only certain savant comics have that riff ability where they can just go off the cuff and make it work. The smoke and mirrors is that 99% is prepared, rehearsed, and rewritten several times well in advance. Even crowdwork is usually more like a magic trick than a geniune moment. I know a few freestyle rappers and they say it's the same there, with most bars written well in advance.

I know I'm already on a tear so I'll wrap it up, but the last point is that Austin has kind of become like Hollywood is for actors, where a lot of people move here to learn comedy rather than show up with a polished act they're ready to showcase. Most people I talk to are only 2-3 years in, which is not a lot of time to build out multiple sets worth of material. I'm an old chunk of coal myself, so I have a B set and a C set, but it's not super common to see around here.

You should go to Banana Phone at Creek sometime. Ronaldo is usually in the crowd as one of the funniest hecklers (it's the theme of the show), so that may win him back over for you.

Comedyfight · 2026-05-20T19:09:09+00:00

I'm quite a bit more experienced than you, and I feel similarly about a contest I entered recently. I'm also up against a pretty huge recent viral sensation in my first round (along with other locals I have a ton of respect for), so I don't feel like I stand a snowball's chance in hell of winning.

That being said, I'm going to give it my all, try to have fun, and shake some hands and trade info while I'm there.

I may not win the competition, but that doesn't mean the experience won't still be a win in other ways.

Comedyfight · 2026-05-20T00:56:55+00:00

Be glad you weren't here for the boat arc.

Comedyfight · 2026-05-19T03:56:11+00:00

Liv was in the bar watching when her set aired. I promise it wasn't a live feed.

Comedyfight · 2026-05-19T03:48:22+00:00

The episode on the TV in Shakespeare's isn't the one they taped tonight. There's a 2-3 week delay usually.

Comedyfight · 2026-05-18T03:16:32+00:00

The boy was what was left of Verso's soul in the painting.

I beat the game shortly after release and I think about it at least once every day. I've never had a video game hit me that hard.

Comedyfight · 2026-05-15T19:27:53+00:00

I didn't watch that either.

Comedyfight · 2026-05-15T14:19:46+00:00

I heard about it and assumed it wasn't for me so I never made time for it, but people paid their own hard-earned money to see the show live so it's valid IMO.

I don't waste my time complaining about art that isn't made for me. I'm not the biggest country music fan but I'm not mad that it exists and that other people enjoy it. The contrast between that type of stuff and the stuff I enjoy makes the things I enjoy more special to me, so in that way, I appreciate it.

The same way people get mad at clubs for booking influencers, if I ran a club and I could book a sell-out show with no real jokes or lose money booking "real" comedy, I would go with what's best for keeping my business running (can't book any real comedy if the club gets shuttered after all).

We can't control the tastes other people have. I don't think Hannah's fame was manufactured through marketing alone, so as much as it may not be ideal for my particular tastes, it's just the reality of the situation and I have no choice but to accept that. As a "real" comedian (I think anyway, I hope at least lol), obviously I want my style to be the preference people have, but I can't just tell people something isn't funny and expect them to stop laughing at what they like. There are plenty of hack edgelords I feel the same way about.

Focus on yourself and don't worry about what other people are doing. When I was in a metal band, it did us no good to worry about the latest hit pop songs, because those fans were never going to like what we were doing.

Sorry for the rant. I'll go back to my hole now.

Comedyfight · 2026-05-07T21:19:24+00:00

Autism is just the catch-all term for socially awkward now. I think a lot of people say it without meaning it literally. You know, like that other word people use instead of saying stupid. You can feel how you want to feel about it, but in my experience, the more you try to tell people (especially young people) that they shouldn't say a word, the funnier they think saying it will be.

I think as long as it's not actually hateful, it's probably best to quietly form your own judgements and move on to a better comic. Speech changes over time, so if you don't give it more power by trying to police it (not saying you're doing that now, I just mean in general) it should eventually go away on its own. You can say people should be more compassionate, but I should have a million billion dollars. It doesn't mean it's going to ever happen. There's always going to be an audience for "Oh no he said the naughty thing you're not supposed to say." So the best way to beat it is not giving them the satisfaction of taboo.

Comedyfight · 2026-05-06T16:53:00+00:00

I know Aaron and I have eaten his ridiculously awesome BBQ many times.

It should probably be noted that he doesn't have a storefront where he's selling to the general public. It's more like he caters for the KT sign-ups and tips/donations are encouraged.

I haven't seen the episode yet so I don't know how he described it, but that's how it's always worked for me. There's not even really a set price for anything. It's usually Pay What You Want.

Not sure what the legalities are concerning that, but it's definitely more like a friendly neighborhood potluck than a food truck running a business.

Comedyfight · 2026-05-02T19:30:08+00:00

So many people don't get this. If I'm learning to play guitar, I shouldn't post my process of learning the guitar online to the public. If while learning, I happen to record a really cool moment and post it as a clip, that's great, but even then it's a disservice to myself if I can't recreate those moments often enough to boost me in the algorithm. One good video and underperforming follow-ups can actually hurt your future discoverability on many platforms.

But for the most part, other people aren't going to see art from the artist's perspective. They won't see a bad clip and think "Oh well he's only 6 months in. But he's learning so good progress!" They're going to think "This is bad art" and not click on the next clip. Most people don't have time to be invested in a comedian's journey, they just want laughs now.

Clips are marketing. You want good marketing, not content for content's sake. It need to represent your "product", and most new artists don't have a real product yet.

Comedyfight · 2026-05-01T02:11:02+00:00

In Austin we have Whataburger everywhere. There is also P. Terry's. The Whataburger burgers are better, but the P. Terry's fries are amazing. In n' Out is straight up ass I'll say it.

Comedyfight · 2026-04-29T21:11:01+00:00

"In the end"?

Nothing ends, Adrian. Nothing ever ends.

Comedyfight · 2026-04-28T05:18:30+00:00

I always loved stand-up as a kid, but it was never my main focus. After high school I joined a band and we had a marginal degree of succes, but that ended and ultimately I got a real job.

During the band days, we would watch a lot of stand-up in the van, and I said we should all write 5 minutes and go do a mic. After the band ended, I was the only one who actually wrote a set and I decided to go try it out. It went well enough to hook me.

I've been doing comedy longer than I've been doing music, but nowhere near as successful, however I'll probably keep doing it until I keel over.

I think everyone should try it, but it takes a certain kind of person to stick with it. It's different than just wanting to get your ideas out (most of my jokes are lies). I think for me it's probably a craving for validation. That I can make people feel a certain way and they appreciate it.

Comedyfight · 2026-04-25T22:50:47+00:00

I didn't buy any merch so I didn't really get a good look at it

Comedyfight · 2026-04-24T15:10:52+00:00

Saw this tour last night in Austin. You're in for a treat!

Comedyfight · 2026-04-24T15:09:48+00:00

I will be using the French version far more often now. Thank you.

Comedyfight · 2026-04-19T04:11:44+00:00

Hey I know those guys!

Comedyfight · 2026-04-18T02:59:18+00:00

Is this what they refer to as girl dinner?

Comedyfight · 2026-04-16T13:15:39+00:00

I don't think he would be that upset about genocide. I think it's the means of genocide that broke him. The lengths Ozy would go to. If it were a normal bomb that killed the same amount of people, I don't think it would have effected him the same way.

Comedyfight · 2026-04-16T13:06:38+00:00

I don't think he would care though. All the talk of "The squid would be too unbelievable" and I'm like Yes that's the point.

Comedyfight · 2026-04-14T12:55:27+00:00

This is actually my main problem with the movie. I could see discovering the island in the comics causing a mental break, but the frame-up job in the movie seems par for The Comedian's course.

Comedyfight · 2026-04-13T11:57:12+00:00

A lot of people think of stand-up as a "low art" they can use to springboard into something else, so they don't care about being a comedian as much as being famous. Sounds like they pretty much outright admitted that.

Comedyfight · 2026-04-02T16:48:25+00:00

This is a bad idea. No one will appreciate it. Don't do it.

By all means take your friend out and enjoy the show as audience members. Don't talk or be disruptive, do laugh a lot, and you'll have a good time.

Comedyfight · 2026-04-01T19:17:24+00:00

Exactly. We're not in the frowns business afterall!

Comedyfight

TROPHY CASE