(no subject)
I finally did stand-up. I finally did it. I went to the open mic at the LA Improv and let me tell you...
...I totally bombed.
But so did everyone that went up. I was the first person to go up which was nice. I really liked being up there and it didn't even bother me that only one person laughed at each one of my jokes.
I got a groan from one girl on the Jew uncle/gas shower joke which worried me, making me think, "Oh, that was kinda hacky and I probably shouldn't do that joke anymore" until I saw her go up and do her incredibly original Tony Montana material. I just love jokes about Scarface. I mean, who doesn't?
Yes, I bombed. But I felt like I was the only person there that even knew how to construct jokes. Everyone else just had a premise that just sort of got to a point and then just stopped. There was no setup-punch. It was just setup-"man, I thought you guys would like that one."
Example: "Hey, don't you hate it when you tell a girl you like her and she says, 'I just want to be friends.' I don't want to be friends with you, bitch!"
And a million other examples, including Arnold Schwarzenegger impressions and Bill Clinton jokes that wouldn't have been funny at the time of the scandal.
It doesn't make me feel too bad bombing in front of these people.
But this guy on A Special Thing made me feel better:
Hey, I was there last night. You did fine. In fact for your first open mic, you did great. If you stuck around you might have noticed that there were guys there last night who have been doing this a while who couldn't deal with not getting laughs and bailed after their first joke. You went up, did your time, and left with balls intact. Open mics are for bombing. Don't feel bad that you didn't kill. Feel good that you got some feedback on your material. I did almost all new stuff last night and little of it worked. I'd prefer laughs all the time, but when something doesn't get a laugh, I'm usually cool because I know I need to rewrite it or try another angle. No big deal. This thing takes years to get good at. It's like going to college and every open mic is like sitting through one more lecture and taking one more test.
...I totally bombed.
But so did everyone that went up. I was the first person to go up which was nice. I really liked being up there and it didn't even bother me that only one person laughed at each one of my jokes.
I got a groan from one girl on the Jew uncle/gas shower joke which worried me, making me think, "Oh, that was kinda hacky and I probably shouldn't do that joke anymore" until I saw her go up and do her incredibly original Tony Montana material. I just love jokes about Scarface. I mean, who doesn't?
Yes, I bombed. But I felt like I was the only person there that even knew how to construct jokes. Everyone else just had a premise that just sort of got to a point and then just stopped. There was no setup-punch. It was just setup-"man, I thought you guys would like that one."
Example: "Hey, don't you hate it when you tell a girl you like her and she says, 'I just want to be friends.' I don't want to be friends with you, bitch!"
And a million other examples, including Arnold Schwarzenegger impressions and Bill Clinton jokes that wouldn't have been funny at the time of the scandal.
It doesn't make me feel too bad bombing in front of these people.
But this guy on A Special Thing made me feel better:
Hey, I was there last night. You did fine. In fact for your first open mic, you did great. If you stuck around you might have noticed that there were guys there last night who have been doing this a while who couldn't deal with not getting laughs and bailed after their first joke. You went up, did your time, and left with balls intact. Open mics are for bombing. Don't feel bad that you didn't kill. Feel good that you got some feedback on your material. I did almost all new stuff last night and little of it worked. I'd prefer laughs all the time, but when something doesn't get a laugh, I'm usually cool because I know I need to rewrite it or try another angle. No big deal. This thing takes years to get good at. It's like going to college and every open mic is like sitting through one more lecture and taking one more test.