Quote: Nat Wicks @ August 24 2010, 7:15 PM BSTThanks Charley- you should definitely give it a go ! Just so you can say you've done it once.
Stand up
Skydiving
Sex with the same gender
Slapping a policemen
Streaking (remember that!)
Meeting the Queen
Bathing in custard (or baked beans)
Farting (loudly) in church
Being in a band (the very best, in my opinion)
Quote: Reg N @ August 24 2010, 8:43 PM BSTStand up
Skydiving - I can not dive. Skybellyflop?
Sex with the same gender - I really don't do licking. Its quite sick.
Slapping a policemen - Done that.
Streaking (remember that!)- My hair?
Meeting the Queen - I would rather eat a horse cock whole.
Bathing in custard (or baked beans)Hmmmmm Maybe. Spunk would be nicer though. Bukakka.
Farting (loudly) in church - Done it & blamed my brother. I can not go in churches anymoreI melt.
Being in a band (the very best, in my opinion) I have been in a plastic hula hoop does that count?
Quote: Jason Bumford @ August 23 2010, 8:24 AM BSTMy biggest fear though is telling a story/anecdote that lasts 1.5 mins and not getting a reaction!
The longer a "joke" (or story, bit of material, whatever you want to call it) the bigger the pay-off has to be, for a bit that lasts 90 seconds, assuming there's no mini-jokes or laugh points along the way, the pay-off needs to be huge.
I always suggest to people that they write out their entire set and then go through it with a highlighter marking everywhere they think they'll get a laugh, if there are big gaps with no highlighted sections then restructure it so that there's never more than 30 seconds without a laugh.
Even comics who do long stories pepper them with little jokes or funny turns-of-phrase that will get them a laugh and keep the momentum going until they get to the big pay-off at the end.
Quote: Tony Cowards @ August 27 2010, 4:33 PM BSTThe longer a "joke" (or story, bit of material, whatever you want to call it) the bigger the pay-off has to be, for a bit that lasts 90 seconds, assuming there's no mini-jokes or laugh points along the way, the pay-off needs to be huge.
I always suggest to people that they write out their entire set and then go through it with a highlighter marking everywhere they think they'll get a laugh, if there are big gaps with no highlighted sections then restructure it so that there's never more than 30 seconds without a laugh.
Even comics who do long stories pepper them with little jokes or funny turns-of-phrase that will get them a laugh and keep the momentum going until they get to the big pay-off at the end.
I did just that ! I used two highlighters, one for giggle, and one for laugh!
Actually the story I was worried about went down really really well, a good laugh every 15-20 seconds, and a good belter at the end.
You're always good on the advice Tony, I think I nicked the highlighter tip from you on Chortle a year ago 
How nervous were you Nat. Did you actualy shit your pants & how did you stop yourself from shaking?
By the time I'd got there I wasn't nervous any more. I was a bit shakey at first, but I got into it
Good girl. Well done, proud of you my lovely.
Thanks
So you had no trouble remembering any of it?
A background in drama and memorising scripts must be a huge help for being a standup.
I seriously don't understand how anyone can memorise a massive script. It's literally super-human. I can't even remember one line of stuff.
I think that's why you need to write your own stuff.
Then you're not remembering a script, you're just making the things you remember into a script.
How were the crowd?
Quote: Tony Cowards @ August 27 2010, 4:33 PM BST
I always suggest to people that they write out their entire set and then go through it with a highlighter marking everywhere they think they'll get a laugh, if there are big gaps with no highlighted sections then restructure it so that there's never more than 30 seconds without a laugh.
My fear would always be that only I found the highlighted bits funny. I imagine that's all part of taking the plunge though.
Nice on Nat! Isn't it funny how you get all worked up but once you're up there it just kinda comes naturally. This thread's got me desperate for the show here in Rome to get going again...
Well done Nat. I'm glad it went well.
well done nat knew you could do it and kudos on getting offered gigsthat's pretty rare
Quote: Ben @ August 28 2010, 9:06 AM BSTMy fear would always be that only I found the highlighted bits funny. I imagine that's all part of taking the plunge though.
Of course this is the unpredictable side of stand-up. I've written what I thought were killer lines which got very little from the audience but on the flip side have included "filler" in sets just to make up my time which have ended up going down a storm.
Ultimately the audience is the judge to what's funny or not, through practice and experience you can also become a better judge but no-one, not even the top comics will know 100% what an audience will go for until they do it in front of a crowd.
I've seen TIm Vine, Milton Jones, Richard Herring, Lee Mack and many others all doing new material and having up to 50% of their material bomb.
Oh and before I forget, well done Nat, glad that it went well for you and hope to bump into you on the circuit sometime, great stuff.