Entertainment & Music 'Open mic' stand-up comedy

[LouisCK]

There's no aggression here nicky, I just don't tiptoe around telling people why they're wrong.

If you take that as aggressive, its a fault with your own personality. I have plenty of faults myself, but aggression isn't one of them. I think you just don't like having your points of view challenged, as you're usually not capable of backing up your assertions.

As for Hicks, he could be prone to some pretty shit efforts too. Nothing as bad as some of Mitch Hedberg's live shows but he lost his mind pretty regularly on stage.

As far as best stand ups I've seen though, at their absolute best:

1. Steven Wright
2. Richard Pryor
3. Lenny Bruce
4. Louis CK
5. Bill Hicks
6. Eddie Murphy
7. George Carlin
8. Mitch Hedberg
9. Daniel Tosh (some people hate this guy, because his personality is so arrogant)
10. Dave Chappelle

 

[Xtreme]

It would be something that i would love to try, i don't think i'd be very good at it (never was crash hot at public speaking, let alone being the center of attention at birthday parties etc). I have some amusing anecdotes about every day life that get a good laugh from small groups of people.

 

[Smiling Buddha]

Gees, nearly two years since I went to my first open mic night.

In the meantime I have written thousands of words of material but never actually gone and done a set.

Most of my material is probably crap. The only stuff I read back on and laugh at is the stuff I wrote while I was tripping on acid some time ago.

I've called up the local open mic company a few times but they are always booked way in advance.

Sucks living in a backwater I guess. I imagine there'd be heaps of open mic places in Melbourne/Sydney.

This is still one of those things I want to give a go, even if I expect to bomb out. You just never know...

 

[nicky]

Personally (of course), I can't think of a more courageous thing you could do.

 

[BALKAN]

I used to write material and record myself on my computer doing it (Thank God I lacked the confidence/delusion to put it online) and it was all shithouse. I'd still love to do it, not to make a career out of it but just to do it once. But the thought of public speaking makes my bowels twist, and to actually get up and try and make strangers laugh makes me sweaty.

 

[nicky]

I think you'd be brilliant if you found a way to get over the trauma of speaking in public and trying to get a bunch of strangers laugh.

As "Caesar says" - find your voice and go with it.

Anyway, i need to watch some comedy. ****ing "Oz" has been giving me nightmares and anxiety. I feel like bloody crap. I'm done with Oz. The thing is, i'm usually in bed asleep by 10.30, but have been so addicted to this show that i keep torturing myself, only to sleep like crap because of all the prison nightmares.
Need to watch some cartoons.

But i digress. Totally endorsing your ambition to be a comedian. It's valid.

 

[DrVanNostrand]

This is actually something I'd love to do one day too. I emceed my mate's wedding earlier in the year, did about 10 minutes of material and actually surprised myself with the audience reaction and my own ability to speak to a large group of people without freaking out. So I'd love to try again one day in a more formal setting. I wrote all my own stuff (no internet jokes for me) so I think I could come up with something if I put my mind to it.

It turned out no-one actually expected me to tell jokes and stories (NFI what they actually expected me to do then) but I had heaps of people I'd never met coming up to me afterwards and telling me how well I did (I think most of them were genuine...I hope). Although it helped that I was essentially just taking the piss out of my mate in front of all his friends and family. Still waiting to get the tape before I do anything too drastic. Heading off backpacking at the end of the year so that will give me plenty of stuff to write about and plenty of time to do it.

 

[Hot Pocket]

I think you'd be brilliant if you found a way to get over the trauma of speaking in public and trying to get a bunch of strangers laugh.

As "Caesar says" - find your voice and go with it.

Anyway, i need to watch some comedy. ******* "Oz" has been giving me nightmares and anxiety. I feel like bloody crap. I'm done with Oz. The thing is, i'm usually in bed asleep by 10.30, but have been so addicted to this show that i keep torturing myself, only to sleep like crap because of all the prison nightmares.
Need to watch some cartoons.

But i digress. Totally endorsing your ambition to be a comedian. It's valid.

Check out Workaholics if you haven't yet. Hilarious.

 

[Howard Littlejohn]

I used to write material and record myself on my computer doing it (Thank God I lacked the confidence/delusion to put it online) and it was all shithouse. I'd still love to do it, not to make a career out of it but just to do it once. But the thought of public speaking makes my bowels twist, and to actually get up and try and make strangers laugh makes me sweaty.

There's half a routine right there.

 

[Bunk Moreland]

I think you'd be brilliant if you found a way to get over the trauma of speaking in public and trying to get a bunch of strangers laugh.

As "Caesar says" - find your voice and go with it.

Anyway, i need to watch some comedy. ******* "Oz" has been giving me nightmares and anxiety. I feel like bloody crap. I'm done with Oz. The thing is, i'm usually in bed asleep by 10.30, but have been so addicted to this show that i keep torturing myself, only to sleep like crap because of all the prison nightmares.
Need to watch some cartoons.

But i digress. Totally endorsing your ambition to be a comedian. It's valid.

Oz is intense. I think it's that there's no downtime - other heavy shows have the odd ice breaker - a bit of black comedy, o something. Not Oz. It's just inside those walls and it's wall to wall malice and hate.

 

[nicky]

Yes, i wasn't able to continue watching it. I liked it though but everyone has their limits and Oz is well and truly beyond mine.

 

[MF]

9. Daniel Tosh (some people hate this guy, because his personality is so arrogant)

Really?

Obviously I don't the guy personally but surely his on screen/stage personality is just a piss take. He actually seems like he'd be the opposite IRL. Someone who actually was an arrogant arseh*le IRL probably wouldn't see the comedic value in acting like one, whereas someone who was far removed from that type of personality would.

I dunno, that's just my take on it.

 

[Hot Pocket]

Really?

Obviously I don't the guy personally but surely his on screen/stage personality is just a piss take. He actually seems like he'd be the opposite IRL. Someone who actually was an arrogant arseh*le IRL probably wouldn't see the comedic value in acting like one, whereas someone who was far removed from that type of personality would.

I dunno, that's just my take on it.

Probably, I just mean the persona is really over the top. I love him, but I could see why some people wouldn't.

 

[nicky]

Louis!!!!

zetgarn?

 

[Piss Poor]

I would love to try it, but like most on here, public speaking makes me nervous and I'm awkward, I guess if I actually attempted it I would prefer to do it solo, I wouldn't have any friends or family come along because I feel that they would distract me from my material- which at the moment I don't have any material at all- Plus sometimes I cant string a sentence together or I just start going blank and start forgetting everything, recipe for disaster.

 

[Vic Vinegar]

Damn, I think I'm the opposite of everyone here. I love public speaking, can get up in front of just about anyone and talk.

Problem is I'm not funny at all, cant tell a story or joke for quids.

 

[Geelong_Sicko]

That is fairly cynical thing to conclude. Bill hicks is in a league of his own because his execution was incredible..

Yeah, there's a fair few folk out there who swear he was murdered by the State rather than dying of pancreatic cancer.

http://www.abovetopsecret.com/forum/thread437842/pg1

http://www.godlikeproductions.com/forum1/message680399/pg1

Some people even reckon his death was faked and that Bill Hicks is in reality conspiracy buff Alex Jones!

http://www.atlanteanconspiracy.com/2013/02/alex-jones-is-bill-hicks.html

The Truth is Out There...

 

[Smiling Buddha]

Well I finally managed to book a space at a local open mic night in a few weeks.

Looking forward to it.

Some people even reckon his death was faked and that Bill Hicks is in reality conspiracy buff Alex Jones!

http://www.atlanteanconspiracy.com/2013/02/alex-jones-is-bill-hicks.html

Mind = blown.

Not that I believe it. Jones is a nutter whereas Hicks was a prophet.

Still fascinating.

 

[nicky]

Well I finally managed to book a space at a local open mic night in a few weeks.

Looking forward to it.

Mind = blown.

Not that I believe it. Jones is a nutter whereas Hicks was a prophet.

Still fascinating.

Where? Melbs?

 

[Smiling Buddha]

Where? Melbs?

Nah I live in Brisbane these days. Hopefully not for much longer but that is a different topic for a different thread.

There's a company up here who put together open-mic shows at different venues. They used to do four or five per week but these days only two, which means there's dozens and dozens (I'm told hundreds) of amateurs out there who want time but only enough space to fit in maybe twenty or so per week. Hence the long delay in me finally getting a spot.

Basically they strike up a deal with a pub to put on the show in their establishment on a regular basis, then pay various pro/semipro comics to emcee each event, who does maybe 5-20 minutes of their own material (often promoting their own show which is either playing simultaneously or due to begin soon) and introduces each amateur (sometimes there is also the occasional semi-pro working new material) onto the stage when it is their turn. Each amateur gets five minutes.

The pub gets patronage (maybe 40-70 rock up to each of the two weekly shows), the emcee gets coin/to promote his/her own show, the amateurs get an audience to try their stuff. Winners all round.

I've been writing stuff for a couple of years now; the hardest part will be deciding which material to go with.

 

[nicky]

Awesome, well if you ever do anything in melbourne let us know.

 

[Smiling Buddha]

Most of my material is probably crap. The only stuff I read back on and laugh at is the stuff I wrote while I was tripping on acid some time ago... This is still one of those things I want to give a go, even if I expect to bomb out. You just never know...

Well I finally had a crack at it tonight. I highly recommend anybody with an interest in comedy gives it a go. You can't do too much worse than me tonight and I had a ball.

I give my performance a 3/10 which means I wasn't the worst on the night (definitely bottom half though, and imo probably bottom three), and not too far off the average, but still not a good start to the career. Luckily I went in with low expectations for myself.

Cons
I was way too under-prepared; I ought to have practiced at home at least once. None of the jokes came out quite as they were written, because it was the first time I had ever spoken them out loud. In the end I had gotten through my planned list of bits just three minutes in, and forgot the two most important bits I had hoped to do. My choice of opening material was poor in hindsight - the punchline was too subtle. I didn't engage with enough of the audience (i.e. look in their direction - I pretty much kept my attention on two parts of the room for some reason). List goes on.

Pros
Somehow I still managed to get a few laughs, which was a nice feeling. My voice held well, I didn't stumble over any words, didn't seem nervous. The bits I tried touched on all of the topics I like comedians to discuss (religion, politics, society) and varied from trivial (bus drivers) to dark (I'm so glad I didn't forget to do the bit where I analogise Ronald McDonald to a paedophilic uncle). I've got no doubt the content has legs, and with a bit of effort I reckon I can nail the delivery.

Other thoughts
Can't wait to try again. Learnt ****loads tonight and enjoyed the experience. Because of the adrenaline it goes so fast that all of a sudden you realise you are up on stage telling jokes and think, 'Gee, this is something'. I manged to add a quick gag about a personal thing and it was cathartic to say it out on stage; it is hard to describe how good those particular laughs felt.

I've been writing stuff for a couple of years now; the hardest part will be deciding which material to go with.

So much this. I didn't even pick the bits I would use until about ten minutes before the show, and the strongest bit I did was something I thought of on the way there. Need to make the decision and practice the stuff beforehand next time.

 

[BALKAN]

That's awesome Smiling Buddha congrats for putting yourself out there, that takes some brass balls. I can't believe you didn't practice though! Didn't that make you feel anxious? If I have to give a 2 minute talk I practice it until my balls fall off otherwise I'll be shitting myself.

You thinking about your next crack yet? Gonna have another go at the same material or scrap it and start over?

 

[Smiling Buddha]

Yeah as chance would have it I was able to book another spot today when I called up to confirm what time I was supposed to be at the venue for tonight. It took me months to get my first spot, and I got my second spot almost accidentally. I now have just over two weeks to get my shit together and give the next go a proper crack.

In my defence this time around, I just finished exams last week, and my mate lent me a Volcano the other day so I've spent the last few days baked as a cake. As enthusiastic as I am about comedy, it took a back seat until about 4pm today. I'll have way more time to prepare for the next one.

As for the material, none of the six bits I did tonight were done properly, so I'll probably give them all another run next time. The fact that some got laughs even when misfired tells me they have real potential. There are some people on the local circuit who do the exact same set (same bits, same order) every time, week after week. I don't plan to ever be like that but I want to give the jokes I have written a decent chance to succeed, which tonight I don't feel I did.

Give it a go, man. You seriously can't do too much worse than me.

 

[bresker]

I'd recommend this https://www.facebook.com/pages/Rocket-Clock-Story-Slam/108020775921700?ref=ts - http://rocketclock.com.au/ as a good open mic night - you don't even have to be funny as long as you can spin a yarn. It's a bit more gentle than stand up comedy. The only thing that makes it a bit daunting is that some of the entrants are clearly professional or aspiring comedians/performers