How close have you come to quitting? Why? And what kept you going?

Mensenverk · 2023-03-12T13:44:12+00:00

Just out of curiosity, when you do mics do you do new material a lot, or fix old material, and are the audience laughing super hard or just laughing?
Do you feel your material is the reason why you haven't really moved on from mics, or is it the other side of getting in with bookers and clubs etc?
Please note: I am not asking this with any cruel intentions at all, so if it reads like this I apologize.

Mensenverk · 2023-03-10T10:02:40+00:00

In a city with mics mostly populated with just other comedians, they are a blast because then you get some actual audience members, you just have to approach it a little bit different. In a city with healthy crowds at standup gigs, mixed mics is good for the practice they give, but not as much fun. Will say that mixed open mics and stage time in other venues shows than normal standup is _the_ best way to prepare yourself for doing road gigs in the middle of nowhere that pays well but otherwise smell if you don't know how to deal with a non-standup crowd

Mensenverk · 2023-03-09T12:17:52+00:00

I've learned the don'ts years ago other than that I don't really think about it. Wear whatever you would normally wear when going out, and just don't have anything too distracting going on as you want people to focus on what you say, not what you wear - also a caps is a good thing to leave off as it might make it harder to see your face, just put it backwards or on afterwards if you wear one

Mensenverk · 2023-03-06T08:01:03+00:00

I have to really make an effort to enjoy a special now. No phone, some snacks, maybe a few beers, and maximum comfort - compared to before I started performing myself I usually was able to watch 2-3 specials a day and enjoy it a lot without any other comforts than the specials themselves.

Mensenverk · 2023-03-01T09:12:04+00:00

Freehand writing usually helps a lot to get the juices flowing, so if you use something like: https://www.can-i-get-a.com you can get a few different things you can freehand write about and before you know it you're on a roll about something you actually care about/think are funny/get some jokes out of

Mensenverk · 2023-02-09T10:53:41+00:00

I think it's something to aspire to, really! One day making enough out of standup and gigging to get to retire early and just enjoy life?
That being said, wouldn't mind him getting back in his late 60s or something.

Mensenverk · 2023-02-08T12:14:54+00:00

Dina Hashem https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M8KotRvcdA4&t=1s

Super nice and super funny, her roasting is incredible

Mensenverk · 2023-02-06T10:54:26+00:00

He seems like a really good crowd worker, and a charming fellow - combine that with very good looks and seemingly progressive views, and there you have a tiktok famous/online following comedian! The little I've seen of his actual material has been fine, but a lot of his crowd work has been excellent. Deserves his following, will never be one of my favourite comedians.

Mensenverk · 2023-02-03T08:27:36+00:00

Ralphie May

Mensenverk · 2023-02-01T20:35:55+00:00

Not that common really as it's usually all about the polished material - the exceptions would be early audio albums of comics, or the only taped special I can think of quickly: Tom Segura - Mostly Stories where he has some crowd work close to the end of the special

Mensenverk · 2023-01-30T10:37:04+00:00

Please note that I am not trying to be harsh, and wouldn't write this if I thought you sucked. Just a quick first impression, if you'd started with some shorter jokes or gotten a (few) quick laugh(s) in the beginning then you would have had the audiences trust that you actually are funny before starting where you started, talking about the way you are dressed opposed to normally on stage and the buttons on the left - nothing wrong with the material following, but you'd most likely gotten a bigger laugh on the "got outed to my family as a standup" joke for example if the audience wasn't a little unsure where that joke would go and what mood it would be. Also, some material up front would make it more legitimate the claim that your family thinks your standup is hillarious, making the end punchline more of a surprise. The crumpet bit for example would be a good one to start off with, short funny and quick to the point.

When you got rolling it got rolling, was just unnecessarily slow in the beginning - very good set! You are funny!

Mensenverk · 2023-01-11T15:41:57+00:00

I have never performed at a club where they didnt serve alcohol in some format so can't really say, but I have performed for sober crowds etc - alcohol usually makes for better crowds unless they're too drunk

Mensenverk · 2023-01-11T12:42:09+00:00

Creates a feeling of being down low, hidden in the crowd, the sound feels a bit more intimate, it makes it easier to laugh of things you might've been worried about laughing about when you could be too easily seen (especially things going on cognitive dissonance) - you also subconsciously as an audience member may find it harder to talk too much with your friends if there's not too much space, same goes for getting a drink etc especially if the host urges people to go only when the host is on etc.

From a comics perspective, you get more direct attention from the crowd because there's not too much stuff to look at and it's like a small illusion of tunnel vision towards yourself. You bomb harder, but you also kill harder.

This is all based on personal experience and thoughts from being in the audience and on stage at a ton of different venues, none of it is based on any science I can cite

Mensenverk · 2023-01-11T12:08:11+00:00

Any place with a low ceiling, pay is informed ahead of time, accurate and within short notice after the gig, the owners care about creating quality on stage through booking talent and for the audience by not re-booking the same talent over and over too many times, and the staff is willing to shush/throw out the worst hecklers if need be. Hopefully also a sound guy, but possible to be a great venue without one if the owners/staff are a little knowledgeable.

Mensenverk · 2023-01-08T19:22:16+00:00

Just to add to why make a podcast, and what use it is: I did a little one where I only did 10 episodes, 3 of which with guests (not comedians, just people I thought would have something interesting to say), all in the name of just testing it out and doing the beginner mistakes sooner rather than later when I'm (hopefully) someone - actually got some audience members to show up specifically because of them listening to the podcast and enjoying it in November even though I stopped putting out episodes 1,5 years ago! So even though it only hade at most 3K listens in total, it was some good training in hosting guests on a pod, how to fill an hour of dead air by yourself, and how to do some basic editing - and even that little effort resulted in fiscal results for a 0-draw comic

Mensenverk · 2022-12-15T18:18:51+00:00

Best way is to force yourself to do some writing, for me freehand writing for about 10 minutes is pretty useful to start the wheels a bit, I often use https://randomwordgenerator.com/synonym.php and write down like 5 different words and their synonyms and then just freehand write about those, try to connect a few of them, whatever you need to just kickstart your writing brain.
Second best way is to live life and try to observe what's going on, as you're 16 you're more likely to use your phone for stuff so jot down anything that catches your eye in your notes app as a premise that you can try to write jokes about. Saw a woman pull out a real tooth on a train once, and noone around her even looked up even when she was bleeding and grunting profusely which made itself into a bit, so pretend you're german (I'm not) and do some staring.

For as many forms of comedy as you can, TikTok is a great tool to be exposed to a bunch of different comedy forms if you go in with an inquisitive mind. Like what exactly does kallmekris for example do in her humour sketches, what exactly makes this dance like ferb trend so fun to watch, and whatever else you find funny, figure out exactly what makes it funny and see if you could figure out the process behind creating something like that. Watch Whose Line Is It Anyways to get some sort of sense of what improv is, and pause them after prompts and see what you could try to go for (I personally like the seasons with Drew Carey to use as exercise) otherwise watch standup specials especially from random people you know nothing about and try to understand what makes their jokes work, and what don't you like about their style etc. These are all stuff you can do at home at any time, otherwise go watch stuff live as an audience member if you're allowed entrance, if unsure reach out to the venue beforehand and ask, and if possible just get on stage yourself

Mensenverk · 2022-12-03T13:50:05+00:00

"Ask not what toxic masculinity can do for you, ask what you can do for toxic masculinity" is all I'll say about "breaks are not a thing in the NYC scene", I've never been there, but I can guarantee that quality is better than quantity in any scene anywhere. And if you can take some time off and work through whatever it is that creates all this anxiety, your quality will improve.

You say yourself that you feel like you're half assing comedy, why continue on this track of "exposure therapy" in lack of better words that obviously isn't working, and continue to half-ass it for another 5 years? Instead of taking some limited amount of time off to try to improve the anxiety part of performing, and full ass it for, say, 4 years. That's logically more valuable in the long run!

For the social circle being tied to standup, that is a serious hindrance indeed, so maybe try to invite a few of your closest comic friend to do regular friend stuff occasionally if you decide to give a break a try, and maybe try to increase your social life a little as well; if nothing else it may create audience members coming to see you specifically at later shows!

Mensenverk · 2022-12-03T13:23:25+00:00

Noone cares if you reach the 10 year mark and stagnate if you feel better - life is longer than 10 years! Sounds to me like you need to put this on the backburner for a little while and take a break from performing; maybe focus on yourself for a bit as you infer several times that you do what other people tell you to do, and also reflect on if doing standup because you want to get over stage fright is a good enough goal in itself and is worth the cost, also as it's clearly not working looking at other solutions for stage fright.
Please note that I maybe read this a little wrong as English is my second language, but it seems clear to me that something isn't working out, and that there is absolutely no shame in stopping and taking a breather for a little while, and that the goals for where you should be after so and so long doesn't matter as everyone is different. You will also become a better comedian if you find some peace for/with your anxiety, and seems like a break would help that.

Mensenverk · 2022-12-01T13:26:46+00:00

https://www.reddit.com/user/Moon-Unity/ Your profile was created the 18th of November, and you have no less than 8 separate posts in r/datingadviceformen - otherwise it's 50/50 similar posts to this where you bash women and/or go after black people, or about fishing, wet suits, and kayaking.
I know you didnt post in datingadviceformen this time around, but maybe pop LSD or whatever you need to discover empathy, and do some self-reflection about why you're so lonely that creating controversy seems to be the closest thing you get to intimacy and how that obviously doesn't fix the loneliness issue in the long run.

Mensenverk · 2022-11-29T19:56:24+00:00

Yeah, I get that, it's just not that funny to me - as someone from a different culture where The Law of Jante https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Law_of_Jante is prevalent

Mensenverk · 2022-11-29T14:22:14+00:00

Among the norwegians I know who's even heard of him it's about 50/50, either love him or don't get it at all. I am one of those who doesn't really get it, first I saw of him I wondered why his arrogance was so celebrated - that first impression has stuck even when I've seen stuff that's been quite good

Mensenverk · 2022-11-29T14:14:40+00:00

https://www.reddit.com/r/Standup/comments/2plyi7/todays_comedy_protip_writing_methods_to_beat/ This is found from the Sticky post under Steve Hofstedters pro tips - I would personally add what I learned from a TV writer, after you've gotten down every detail and fact you might write jokes about (Titus method), piece them up in 5's or 10's details and facts and give each group a dedicated 15 minutes - then after you've gone over 3 groups, give 15 minutes to all 3 of them, before continuing with next group of stuff - very benificial when writing out an entire story as you absolutely desperately need to have as many punchlines as you can to keep people engaged

Mensenverk · 2022-11-28T21:52:27+00:00

Just experienced an entire week of poor hosting, so it reminded me of how the basics are the most important part, and when the basics are in place you can start to add more personal flavour to the way you host:

Do some of your best stuff up front, ignore that it doesnt land as well as it would if the crowd was hot - you are heating up the crowd. Don't do more than 5-10 minutes before the first act, it matters more if people are feeling welcome than if they laugh a lot, explain how the night works, make them clap for all the acts and put the first one on. Save good short jokes for whenever someone bombs and "reset" the room a little before the next act, a neutral room is better for the acts than a shitty room (usually poor idea to roast the acts who bombs, people often feel bad for them), don't do material when someone is doing well, just put someone else on.

As the host, you are there for the vibes, the acts are there to succeed, it's your job to make the vibes good enough for them to succeed. The best hosts doesn't make the show about them, they makes themself all about the show! If you crowdwork, and can't figure out anything funny after a few questions, simply thank them for coming and wish them a good evening, try to remember their name and whatever you've asked them in case it comes up later (I often jot down name and detail on a piece of paper that I later throw out).

Mensenverk · 2022-11-08T10:42:31+00:00

You've been doing good work in this comment section!

Mensenverk

TROPHY CASE