Matt Hoss is a touring stand-up comedian, podcaster & broadcaster. He is live streaming all of his favourite games with his comedy pals. Matt loves light-hearted, congenial chats, but also takes the games too seriously. A joyous over-competitiveness mixed with warm, insightful banter #AlanParTwitch
"edgy comedians never make it very far".....dave chapelle? Kevin Hart? Jeff Dunham? Literally eveey major name in comedy is edgy and uses dark and controversial humor
I hear you, and this is a point that gets repeated often in the comments. The nuance is that those people have the necessary skills and experience to successfully tell edgy jokes in a funny way. Open mic comedians 99% of the time do not have those skills and *they don't go very far*. Also shock humour only goes so far for an audience, unless your audience are coming to you for that. I recommend a vast range of jokes, not just edgy to allow people to grow. That's my take- you are welcome to disagree, and that's okay!
Greetings Matt! I truly appreciate your video, very informative and encouraging. I recently reentered to comedy world with my one of a kind Blind Dog comedy act! With the finally being my dog stands on my head while i play a 12 String guitar and sing a song about people misgendering him. I’ve been booked as a musician for 20+ years and now to share our comedy. It’s truly one of a kind, so naturally the next step is how to get regular comedy bookings. Peace and much gratitude🙏
Rule #1: if you aren't funny, then try and make people think you are Rule #2: don't work the crowd. Everyone is expecting you to do it, so don't do it.
I just did my first ever open mic set. I think it went well. I was nervous until they called my name. Once i got up, all that went away. Im addicted to it now. I watched your video and definitely did so things wrong. But i was totally comfortable. Please check me out for a critique. Id love your opinion. AJ Chavez Comedy.
I didn't say that. Of course edgy comedians can make it. However you need to learn those strong writing skills first; which a lot of open mic comedians lack. That isn't a dig on open mic comedians, but to articulate and pull off edgy jokes for a substantial amount of time onstage requires experience, typically.
6:00 so you can be edgy, but mix actual humor in with it. A laugh is a laugh, just dont over do it. Dont get attached to your style if it doesn't get laughs
11 years here’s my tips. Be yourself. Talk to the crowd. Point out the obvious. Have a beginning middle and end to your set. In between work with the crowd to the next part of your time. Open mic night is a pissing contest. Performing for comedians is tough cuz they don’t usually work with people they like to hog the glory and they’ll make you know it. No gross out humor. Shows your inexperience.embrace silence and use it if you can. Point out how unfunny something is and people will tend to agree with you and in return that’s funny. Every gig/open mic is a different experience. No two mics are the same. There’s good times and bad. Even for the professionals. So no one is above a bad performance. Just take the slap on the wrist and try again. Don’t be afraid to fail. You’re gonna fail more than you’ll succeed at first so you might as well get used to it. Lastly practice. Hope all this helps.
These are just my tips and you are welcome to do what you want from them, so you are free to do what works best for you. Personally, I would be sober as it helps me remember my script more and you can deal with situation a lot better.
To state the obvious... every rule here can be broken if you're good enough. Don't insult the audience? Bill Burr Philly. Don't get too drunk? Ron White. Might be better considered as: "if you failed, and you did one of these, maybe dial it back, *OR PUSH IT HARDER*". I have never heard of Matt Hoss (no disrespect, just a fact). You probably haven't either. Don't take his advice :D
Good point. In his defence, this might be good advice for inexperienced comics. Don't ape the behaviors of successful comedians and expect to instantly kill. It might backfire.
I needed this video before last Thursday. I walked off stage crying 😂 I had nerve’s every and thought “I had it in the bag!‼️ I had a tall coke and Jack strong😂 smoked half a blunt O Lord ! Why! I am definitely going to follow all these tips. Maybe all the reactions to Family like being shocked about me doing it 😂 My Dads reaction was priceless. I went out thinking, I owned the crowd the first time. Very Unprepared thinking, I could wing it! I appreciate these tips so much 🌹
Im so sorry to hear, it can be so brutal! Hope you feel better now. The best tonic is trying again next time. Be kind to yourself and try to use these tips. If I can do anything to help please let me know!
How do you treat friends who are supposed to come support your performance with their laughs rather come to judge your sense of humor thus refusing to even laugh when they are supposed to?
Some excellent advice here. Good tips. I instinctively knew to record my first standup set, unfortunately I could only get audio. Have been getting video since then. And I had been practicing that first five minute set for three years before I finally got to my first Open Mic. so I think my confidence was pretty good for a first time. A few of the other comics told me they were surprised that it was my first Open Mic. I’ve been doing a different five minute set each month, but I know I need to get to more venues, And do the same set more times to really get an idea of which jokes are number ones, which are number twos, and which ones really aren’t working. I’ll probably be re-watching this video again in another week or two as a refresher. Thanks again.
There’s some great wisdom here, but you should redo this with limited description and put the tip on screen so I know which ones were on if I skip around
Oh this is a great question and potentially a whole other video on the subject. I would say generally: No you are allowed to make up a funny story. Most comedians stories have been altered in someway to be funnier. It's very rare they are completely truthful depictions, because that's just good storytelling. I would say it would only be unethical, if it was dependent on WHAT you were saying. If you made up a story about you meeting a dog in a park, that's absolutely fine. If you made up a story about you having an awful disease just to make a few laughs, then that would be unethical and totally not cool. Does that make sense? Like it depends on the fabrication you are making and why you are making it. On the whole:It's okay just be mindful of why you are making the adjustment: as the audience's enjoyment should be your priority and making adjustments to your story's truth can enhance that
Great tips, but I disagree with "Don't be edgy". My first open mic at a real comedy venue, I got ZERO laughs for my clean jokes. I came back in the next week with all new jokes focused on politics, race, and sexuality. Every single joke killed. I think it just depends on the room.
Thanks! I hear you, it is weirdly my most contentious point on this video, so I totally see where you are coming from. I suppose what I mean is: Ive seen tonnes of acts do edgy material and die an absymal death. If you can write edgy material and it works for you, good for you! I just have seen that it typically (particularlty in the UK) it doesn't land very well unless you are particularly honed in your craft. Hope this bit of nuance helps, but also great to hear you are doing well!
(Cole) I mostly do shock comedy and I've found those are the most memorable things from my set. I go up there with energy and no filter and the trick about making it last is you have several tricks up your sleeve amd apply them in different rooms
1. Don’t have an ego (be wiling to make mistakes and learn from them) 2. Don’t get drunk 3. Don’t be edgy 4. Don’t expect to be perfect 5. Don’t forget to learn 6. Don’t insult the audience 7. Don’t do crowd work 8. Structure your set 9. Don’t rush yourself (maintain comedic timing, delivery) 10. Don’t go over time limit 11. Get good at 5 minutes before 10 minutes (focus small) 12. Remember the comedic point 13. Learn how to use the microphone (not too far, not too close to mouth) 14. Don’t leave the gig early (stay for other comedians)
Lol I thought it was a funny joke, I would've said it for any other race/ethnicity. Once I started writing comedy literally everything became a joke. I laugh exponentially more now, and life seems to be much better. Cheers mate
