Hey guys I am new to this forum, I did stand up a couple years back for the first time. Was the best thing I ever did. I have it on YouTube however its not the greatest quality video. IF your interested at all https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-Mlj8KyQW68 . I am basically looking just to talk to like minded people and look for some advice to maybe help me get back out there.
Thanks for reading.
For a first performance, that was ok. Obviously you looked very nervous and the low sound and your Scottish accent meant I (a southerner)missed many jokes. But what I heard sounded original.
Whatever I say will be criticised by other bloggers but here are a few suggestions. If you're afraid of forgetting the next gag, take a prop on stage with you that has the keywords of the gags to remind you. I once wrote the prompts on the bottom section of a broom. My opening line was ""Friggin' agent! He said if you do the --------- Club, you'll clean up!" Then I swept part of the stage. While they laughed, I was reading the next keyword off the broom.
One comic used topical humour so he took on a newspaper and told the audience what he'd been reading. So he might have said "Says here a Glasgow man was arrested outside the Red Lion. He was looking in the window... and ----ing himself off! Police said he really made his mark on Glasgow that night...but mostly down the front of his khaki trackies. Back home his wife said "For God's Sake, Harry. Whatever came over you?" He said, "Nobody... it was all my own work!"
Or you could tell the audience what you did for the last seven days by looking at your diary. "Ah, yes. Monday... on Monday I did something I'd been wanting to do for ages" (big contented smile) ....."Then on Tuesday...Tuesday evening I walked past the Red Lion and there was a man looking in the window etc..."
Apart from that, face your audience full on. Make some eye contact. Don't shuffle from one foot to the other. If your nervous,walk up and down the stage. Or squeeze the mike or the lead to relieve muscle tension. Before you go on, tell yourself the audience is full of distant relatives who've come to support you. Take some water on stage for when your mouth goes dry.
I think once you've road-tested your gags over a few gigs and replaced any weak gags with really good ones, I can see you becoming a really good comic.
Hi there
Sorry for the late reply. Thank you very much for your advice. It got me thinking in differant ways in terms of phrasing things. Recently I have written a whole bunch of material. I have also worked in only the good gags from the video you have seen. Your words have encouraged me quite a bit to go out there and do a 5 minute spot or something. Will let you know how that goes.
Thanks again.
Glad you're doing well. There are so many things in Life that are absolutely ludicrous but nobody seems to notice. If a woman wants to breast-feed in a restaurant but somebody objects, it's headline news in the local paper. But if the same woman is turned away from a disco for wearing trainers, not a word!.
We have Western women criticising Muslim women for covering their faces in public. Yet a British woman might say "Somebody called this morning. Couldn't answer the door. Hadn't got my makeup on!" Who said women's faces were so hideous, they must never be seen with naked skin?
A feminist joke... Why are men like dogs? they're both perfectly happy aimlessly chasing a ball round a field for 90 minutes. If you said to a mate, "Do you want to come and watch 22 guys kicking a piece of inflated plastic?" do you think he'd go? But tell him it's football and he's got the car started before you've finished the sentence.
The above ideas would need fleshing out in your own words if you decided to use them. They're not very funny at the moment but you can see the potential.
Re the "rhythm of words", we recognise this in songs and rap but it happens in plays too. Think of famous lines from films or books "Alright Mr DeMille, I'm ready for my closeup" "Shut up and deal" "I'm a man!- Hey, nobody's perfect" - They'd be very easy to set to music. Even proverbs and prayers.
I have a strange feeling that you're going to do really well in stand-up. I don't know if you can send PMs on this site but if you want to contact me for any suggestions, I'm available.
Best of luck
Chris