So You Want To Be A Standup Comic Read THIS!
So, you want to be a standup comic? Please let me know where to send the flowers for your funeral. All kidding aside, standup comedy is one of the loneliest things anybody can want to do. There you are on stage in front of all those people with nothing between you and them but a mic and your pounding heart that’s just jumped out of your body into the orchestra pit. No music? You’re lucky. You won’t have to worry that your heart will B flat. Okay, that was bad. But not half as bad as your first night will be if you don’t make sure you’re prepared.
So how do you get prepared? Well, you want to start small. You don’t want to perform in front of a paid crowd before you’ve had the chance to perform in front of people who have nothing invested in your routine. For that, go to as many open mic nights as you can. These are places where they just call up people from the audience to come and do their shtick. If you can’t cut it here, you have a lot of work to do to get where you want to be.
As far as your routine itself, don’t read it like you’re reading off of a cue card. You want to be as natural as possible. You want to react and respond to the audience. If somebody heckles you, play along with it. For example, somebody says, “Hey man, you stink.” Respond with something like, “I beg your pardon sir. I happened to have showered last Thursday.” This reply will get a laugh because of the absurdity of the time frame of your last shower. The heckler himself might even get a laugh out of it. Again, don’t let them see you sweat.
Here’s one tip that you won’t hear often but it’s very important. Be yourself. See, there are some types of comedy that require a certain personality. For example, could you imagine Bill Cosby doing a routine of nothing but four letter words? No, you couldn’t. This is why when Bob Sagat did his standup routine, people were shocked as it didn’t fit his personality. Okay, know who you are and pick a routine that fits that persona. Otherwise, you are going to lose your audience because you won’t come over as true to them.
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