My first gig

Hi Guys

I endured my first stand up gig last night in Manchester and may have suffered a crisis of confidence so I am hoping for a bit of advice from a more seasoned comic...

The competition was to see if you could last 5 mins without getting voted off stage and even though the audience were a bit tough throughout the night I started well and got a few laughs, albeit with easy jokes. However when I tried more risky material it just bombed and I basically fell apart Alan Partridge style on stage before being put out of my misery after 4 and half mins.

Needless to say, this has shaken my confidence a bit and so I would appreciate any advice.
-Should I stick to easier jokes until I get used to stand up?
-Should I go away and re-think my approach or get straight back into it?
-Should I give up or does it get easier?
-Has anybody else had similar experiences?

Any help would be greatly appreciated guys, sorry to bother everyone with another boring 'cry for help' leeching thread

Right, firstly Gong Show's no matter how friendly are not great for true beginners as they can be very adversarial and don't really cater for novice acts, they are much more about the audience enjoying having power over the performers, so try to get a proper 5-10 minute spot booked in somewhere before doing anything else.

Secondly, not entirely sure what you mean by "easier jokes" but if you mean more audience friendly material then my advice would be yes, try to master your stagecraft and confidence before you start trying to revolutionise comedy or "push the boundaries", even the most avant garde Jazz musicians have to learn scales and the basics before they can do the wild, eclectic stuff.

Basically, you've taken the first step in a journey which will take thousands of steps, don't panic because the first one went ary (although lasting over 4 minutes is already a fantastic achievement).

Thanks Tony! I was just feeling a bit sorry for myself and I went into it very naively, but I am at least glad I did it.

I will try to look for a less daunting opportunity for my second gig but these are difficult to find.

By easier jokes I meant 'knob gags' basically, trying to find cheap laughs to get me through it (I was obviously bricking it).

I appreciate your help and advice though, its hard to put it into perspective yourself when you're riddled with embarrassment and regret so I just needed a bit of guidance.

Thanks again

Mr Coward has pretty much said it all. I'm new to stand-up. just started in October last year. My first 4 or 5 gigs went really well so when the inevitable(and no matter who you are it's inevitable) "death" was a nightmare because I freaked out. It's all part of the learning mate, I record audio or video of every gig. Do this and listen/whatch back, see what went well and what didnt. Video is great for seeing how you hold the mic etc and any "ticks" you have. For example I realised early on that I pass the mic from hand to hand if im nervous so I can address it now.

Quite a rant but keep going. Don't do gong shows too much unless you treat like stage time, one joke falls flat at a gong and your off even if everything after is is gold. You learn nothing from "perfect" gigs. Ask the other comics on the bill what they thought? Be prepared for honest answers though!

Always remember Sarah Millicans 11 o'clock rule: If you have a bad gig you forget about it and move on at 11am the next day. Same if you have a good gig. Do as many gigs as you can AND DONT DO RAPE, PAEDO JOKES! Unless they are f**king brilliant. Find your own "voice" What do you find funny? Why is it funny? What does your mum find funny? and why? Your jokes need to make you both laugh. When your only playing to 10 people if you lose half of them the others will follow.

As I said before, I am still new to this myself but above is a mixture of my experience and advice ive been given by some very well known comics I've been fortunate to meet.

Let us know how your next gig goes!

I did a gong show on my 4th gig. I don't recommend it. Knocked my confidence. Even though I almost beat the gong, it was a hard 4 and a half minutes.

I did 3 more ordinary opens spot and haven't gigged since...