Kyle Greenberg Standup Comedy (First Headlining Set!) Page 2

The clip started four minutes in for me when I clicked the link, too. Did you mean for it to skip the beginning, because the last three minutes has far more impact when the entire set is watched.

Anyway! I really liked your set...and I really like you. What I like most is how you jump in and out of pockets of vulnerability, which helps to keep a constant connection with the audience by inviting them to not only feel empathy for the situations you find yourself in, but also feel like you need their support. It's a very clever thing to do You don't just cry...oh poor me...these things keep happening to me. I would work to enhance that.

I'm sure you're full of ideas and have lots of clever observations that you've written down as and when. But I'd really like to see you group some of those ideas into separate scenarios and make short stories out of them. That would really help with long pauses between jokes, where it looks like you're searching for the next line in your head. If they're connected in some way, you're more likely to be able to run straight on without too much of a lull. You already refer to family a fair bit...why not weave the characters you've already given us into funny anecdotes, which also allow you to bring in your observational humour I think you would do well at that.

You seem to physically step back rather a lot to let the audience finish laughing. For me, that means you have to then warm them up again, if that makes sense. This is common with separate, unlinked jokes, so you're not alone. However, I think, with a story in your head that you're dying to tell them, you'll be able to step back briefly into your vulnerability, then step quickly back with...oh, and another thing! Does that make sense?

I honestly think, the more you gig, the more you'll find your own way...and there's nothing like putting yourself in front of an audience for finding out about yourself as a comedian...and what makes both you and the audience feel lucky to have each other.

You'll find that different people give different feedback...and if something just doesn't sit right with you (including everything I just said), don't try to push it. Enjoy what you write and be you, always.

Quote: Old Lady Leg @ 6th February 2019, 12:32 PM

The clip started four minutes in for me when I clicked the link, too. Did you mean for it to skip the beginning, because the last three minutes has far more impact when the entire set is watched.

Anyway! I really liked your set...and I really like you. What I like most is how you jump in and out of pockets of vulnerability, which helps to keep a constant connection with the audience by inviting them to not only feel empathy for the situations you find yourself in, but also feel like you need their support. It's a very clever thing to do You don't just cry...oh poor me...these things keep happening to me. I would work to enhance that.

I'm sure you're full of ideas and have lots of clever observations that you've written down as and when. But I'd really like to see you group some of those ideas into separate scenarios and make short stories out of them. That would really help with long pauses between jokes, where it looks like you're searching for the next line in your head. If they're connected in some way, you're more likely to be able to run straight on without too much of a lull. You already refer to family a fair bit...why not weave the characters you've already given us into funny anecdotes, which also allow you to bring in your observational humour I think you would do well at that.

You seem to physically step back rather a lot to let the audience finish laughing. For me, that means you have to then warm them up again, if that makes sense. This is common with separate, unlinked jokes, so you're not alone. However, I think, with a story in your head that you're dying to tell them, you'll be able to step back briefly into your vulnerability, then step quickly back with...oh, and another thing! Does that make sense?

I honestly think, the more you gig, the more you'll find your own way...and there's nothing like putting yourself in front of an audience for finding out about yourself as a comedian...and what makes both you and the audience feel lucky to have each other.

You'll find that different people give different feedback...and if something just doesn't sit right with you (including everything I just said), don't try to push it. Enjoy what you write and be you, always.

View original

Hello! Thank you so much for your feedback and taking the time to watch my feedback. The clip was not supposed to start in the middle, thanks for the heads up, Im going to try and fix that. Everything was so helpful so I have to thank you for your effort. I found this really valuable not in just the ways you have suggested I could improve, of those I do agree with and would not have come to those conclusions myself, but I think linking the jokes would definitively add a lot my set. And thank you for your encouragement and for saying that you liked the set It really means a lot when someone who clearly knows something about standup would take the time to say that. All in all this is a post I will be coming back to as I continue writing and thank you so much for gifting it as a resource for me.
-Kyle Greenberg

Quote: kev jod @ 18th January 2019, 2:50 AM

Hope you like it any feedback or opinions shared would be appreciated! Or any other comments would be cool to hear, and also that really was the first cigarette I ever smoked.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7C2AKZC9kLc&t=282s

View original

Link that starts the video right at 0:00

If you want a link to the beginning of the video, I suggest you try this one:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7C2AKZC9kLc

Quote: Rood Eye @ 6th February 2019, 1:32 PM

If you want a link to the beginning of the video, I suggest you try this one:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7C2AKZC9kLc

View original

Thanks Rood Eye! I dont know why I couldnt get it right the first time myself.

Quote: Old Lady Leg @ 6th February 2019, 12:32 PM

The clip started four minutes in for me when I clicked the link, too. Did you mean for it to skip the beginning, because the last three minutes has far more impact when the entire set is watched.

Anyway! I really liked your set...and I really like you. What I like most is how you jump in and out of pockets of vulnerability, which helps to keep a constant connection with the audience by inviting them to not only feel empathy for the situations you find yourself in, but also feel like you need their support. It's a very clever thing to do You don't just cry...oh poor me...these things keep happening to me. I would work to enhance that.

I'm sure you're full of ideas and have lots of clever observations that you've written down as and when. But I'd really like to see you group some of those ideas into separate scenarios and make short stories out of them. That would really help with long pauses between jokes, where it looks like you're searching for the next line in your head. If they're connected in some way, you're more likely to be able to run straight on without too much of a lull. You already refer to family a fair bit...why not weave the characters you've already given us into funny anecdotes, which also allow you to bring in your observational humour I think you would do well at that.

You seem to physically step back rather a lot to let the audience finish laughing. For me, that means you have to then warm them up again, if that makes sense. This is common with separate, unlinked jokes, so you're not alone. However, I think, with a story in your head that you're dying to tell them, you'll be able to step back briefly into your vulnerability, then step quickly back with...oh, and another thing! Does that make sense?

I honestly think, the more you gig, the more you'll find your own way...and there's nothing like putting yourself in front of an audience for finding out about yourself as a comedian...and what makes both you and the audience feel lucky to have each other.

You'll find that different people give different feedback...and if something just doesn't sit right with you (including everything I just said), don't try to push it. Enjoy what you write and be you, always.

View original

Hi OLL,

I think, I agree with you on 99.2% of what you just said.

The 0.8% we disagree is, a big problem I had as a London based comedian is that I was MASSIVELY influenced by random alternative comedians I heard of on WTF with Marc Maron, the most successful of these have mastered the art of backfoot comedy (i've just invented that phrase) - there's an art to being on the backfoot physically, having notes, unlinked jokes - the most successful proponents are David Cross, Maria Bamford, Emo Philips, Mitch Hedberg (RIP), Bob Odenkirk (etc)

So your advice is 100% accurate for me in 2012 - if you could have taught me how to be a British comedian in Britain that would have been perfect, but I think where Kyle is failing and the comedians I mentioned above succeeded, and therefore you and I agree, is that there is an art to linking jokes that seem unlinked. So if you watch any mainstream comedian like Dane Cook or Michael McIntyre or Jack Whitehall or Jimmy Fallon's monologue or whatever, they actually jump around from topic to topic, they'll rarely stay on the same topic and be consistent, even if they stay on the same topic for 10 minutes the angle they take will keep changing - the short story style you're suggesting is great for the Victoria Wood, Ben Elton type of stand up - which there's nothing wrong with but it has to be English because of the Theatre Circuit we have here, meaning audiences give more leeway.

Quote: Joshua Ross @ 11th February 2019, 1:34 PM

Hi OLL,

I think, I agree with you on 99.2% of what you just said.

The 0.8% we disagree is, a big problem I had as a London based comedian is that I was MASSIVELY influenced by random alternative comedians I heard of on WTF with Marc Maron, the most successful of these have mastered the art of backfoot comedy (i've just invented that phrase) - there's an art to being on the backfoot physically, having notes, unlinked jokes - the most successful proponents are David Cross, Maria Bamford, Emo Philips, Mitch Hedberg (RIP), Bob Odenkirk (etc)

So your advice is 100% accurate for me in 2012 - if you could have taught me how to be a British comedian in Britain that would have been perfect, but I think where Kyle is failing and the comedians I mentioned above succeeded, and therefore you and I agree, is that there is an art to linking jokes that seem unlinked. So if you watch any mainstream comedian like Dane Cook or Michael McIntyre or Jack Whitehall or Jimmy Fallon's monologue or whatever, they actually jump around from topic to topic, they'll rarely stay on the same topic and be consistent, even if they stay on the same topic for 10 minutes the angle they take will keep changing - the short story style you're suggesting is great for the Victoria Wood, Ben Elton type of stand up - which there's nothing wrong with but it has to be English because of the Theatre Circuit we have here, meaning audiences give more leeway.

View original

I see what you're saying, here, and thanks for the reply. I agree...when you talk about comedians jumping around from topic to topic, you still get that sense of different plots being funnelled into a huge punchline at the end. The audience won't always expect it, which is when the magic hits. It's better, as you say, to keep the audience fresh with different stories, otherwise they'll just feel like they've been trapped for days in a light-hearted seminar, or something. There is a way to roll all the observational comedy you're really excited about into one big ball. I think we're on the same sheet, here.

It's a real art to be able to interweave different observations like that...much like an author bringing several sub-plots together at the end of a book, so the readers go away feeling fulfilled.

For Kyle, I think it would be a good start to try a simpler format first, seeing as his sets are likely to be shorter at this time in his career. I think, as his natural story-telling abilities start to flow more evenly, he'll just keep moving up to the next stage, as it were. He can do it.