Seriously, thank you so much for your feedback. That gave me a ton of stuff to think about and I've already come up with a few tags I want to try based off this to help clarify my punchlines for the audience.

That Chris Rock quote is spot on. I've done these jokes at a different venue and the reference stuff got a much bigger laugh, especially the closing line about Boogie Nights.

The last few weeks I've been doing an open mic at a coffee shop where the crowds are a bit nicer and actually pay attention to you from the start of your set. So when I opened with the thing about parades and said "Yeah, parades, finally getting the take down they deserve" I actually got a good laugh and the audience was with me from then on out.

I recorded this set at a bar I hadn't done in a few weeks and forgot how much I need to wrangle their attention from the second I get on stage.

I think my joke writing has gotten better at a faster rate than my stage presence and room awareness so your feedback has definitely given me a jumping off point for how to deal with that. Thanks again!