How often to incorporate new material?

Hi all,

A newbie to the world of stand up here, only done a couple of gigs since September so far (shameful I know, but it's hard to balance with Uni...)

The problem for me now is writing and performing anything new, I did the same routine on both occasions with a couple of tweaks for the second time around. But just how often would you recommend trying out new stuff and how much of it? Is it better to maybe just ease a new minute in each gig, or alternatively just use a minute of your best stuff and try out something completely new?

I'm sure this question gets asked a fair bit and I'm also sure it doesn't really have a definitive answer... But I need a bit of a kick up the arse to put it bluntly, so any advice would be great.

Many Thanks!

As a rough guide I would suggest never trying more than about 10-20% new material in a set as it needs to be surrounded by stuff that you know works for it to be given a reasonable chance.

Also you need to try it at least 3 times before deciding to keep or bin it.

Obviously things are slightly different at a billed "New Material Night", where the audience are expecting things to be a bit rough and half-arsed, then you can try a whole new set out, although bear in mind that audiences at these nights can be too nice, a bit that might kill at a new material night still might bomb on a regular night.