Good day ladies and gentlemen,
This is my first gig which I completed at Up The Creek last night (21/07/11). I was pretty nervous and it was a tough room but, I thought it went slightly better than expected.
It's back to the drawing board for me now to hone some material and dump what didn't work but, I would appreciate your feedback on my performance/delivery if you would be so kind as to check out the link below.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QN0GXh7epIA
Many thanks,
Jason.
Immediate thought, don't have a (cheeky) pop at the audience within the first 15 seconds of being on stage, you haven't yet earned their respect and it'll just turn them against you even more.
Stand up is 99% psychology, if you tell an audience that they are great then they will be great, tell them that they've been tough and they'll be tough.
Some nice stuff once you get into your stride although like a lot of new acts there's a lot of visual signposting of punchlines (e.g. you pull the microphone away from your mouth), which can start telegraphing jokes and removing the essential element of surprise.
All in all though, a good effort for a first gig, let us know how your second one goes.
Rather groan-worthy, though that is the risk you take with puns. I liked the Lego gag, although it's probably been done elsewhere.
It is a good effort for your first gig, good luck with doing more.
Great first go, Jason. It takes a load of bottle to actually get up in front of an audience, so big respect to you.
When you review it, I'm sure you'll think that, in places, you needed to pause more and allow the audience to laugh (you were slightly 'steam-rollering' through their laughs).
And, like all newbies, you need more/better material, but that'll come.
All in all, a great effort - stay with it, young man!
Hi Thanks for your comments,
The night went rather badly prior to my coming on with one heckler being thrown out and the compere getting involved in being derogitory to earlier acts so the pop at the audience was a bit off the cuff but, I would agree Tony that this probably wasn't the wisest start to a gig (rookie mistake).
Looking back over the video myself I would agree with Tony that I was pulling the mic away for punchlines which you don't realise you're doing at the time I'll have to practice this plus, I was rushing a bit and not really giving the audience time to 'get' the punchlines.
Thanks for your feedback I'll go back to the drawing board with some of the material and will try to hone it for future gigs which I'm hoping will come with more experience??!!
I can't wait to start booking more gigs within the area and getting that all important experience under my belt.
Thanks guys,
Jason.
Hi Jason, I would echo the previous posters. Good effort for your first time but some of the jokes seemed a bit familiar. I don't do standup so I may be talking out of my arse here but I think you are missing a trick. I listened to some of your musical videos. You have a great voice and play a mean ukelele. Could you introduce this in to your act the same way Bill Bailey or even Richard Digance used to (singing a few lines, telling a gag linked to the lyric etc.). I think a good musician instantly has a good rapport with the audience. Good luck with it.
Thanks for the feedback Will,
I did try to write some material with the guitar/uke before but, as yet I haven't come up with anything. I've got a few stories I'm currently working on to make it a bit more personal and have recently joined twitter to get into the habit of writing more one liners which I would say is helping.
Hopefully, by the time I've booked my next gig I'll have some different material to add to the mix. Thanks for all of your feedback guys it's good to hear what fellow comics think about your routine and get an idea of where I can improve.
Many thanks,
Jason.
Nice one Jason. I'd be happy with that.
You seemed quite confident on stage although you were moving your hands about quite a lot. Also, you seemed to be rushing a bit - the pauses between jokes were very short at times, so maybe you could let these pauses breathe a bit.
Some of the jokes were groaners, but I liked the "hack it" one and the "planking" one although it didn't seem to go down well with the audience - full of feminists no doubt.
I liked your puns. A knowing silly pun goes right to the heart of comedy in my view - and hurts no-one. Having watched a couple of your other vides I would say bring the uke on stage. People want to be entertained and a bit of strumming, singing will get you a lot of credit that you can feed back into your act.
Hi,
Thanks for your comments and the feed back, I did rush quite a bit which I think was the error of trying to make the 5 minute set wiithout allowing time for laughter but, this is something I'll do for the future I.e. maybe drop some of the bits that are weaker and bits that won't be topical. I'll also look into using the uke and will try and come up with something catchy/funny to add into the set also but, I'm glad I've finally taken the plunge just need to get a few more gigs under my belt!!
Thanks Guys,
Jason.