How NOT to do Open Mic Stand-Up Comedy in 14 Tips 

I actually wrote this video after seeing you perform............. Jk, but yeah shock humour doesn't get you far. It may get you one big laugh, but you have just shot yourself in the foot as there is nowhere to go after that, unless you're fantastically skilled, like a Frankie Boyle.

Thanks for the summary, that is helpful for others :D

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!

@@matthosscomedy well Thank You so much 🌹 I really appreciate you ❤️

Absolutley, it really used to annoy me. It isn't very supportive and it shows a selfishness and only thinking that what you do is the only important thing. This happens mostly with either comedic genuises or just totally wild comedians.

People that leave early also miss out on one of the best aspects of comedy; conversations with other comedians. I hate talking to most people, but most comedians are a LOT of fun to talk to. They understand conversations should be entertaining.

@@get8bit also if *anyone* is going to have good advice for you, it's them. They just watched your gig. They're doing the same thing. And, as you say, it's not like it's staying late to talk to your bank manager.

Hey Anthony, thank you so much for this. It's not really geeky at all, it's really helpful and kindly framed advice. I'm still learning and growing my youtube, so comments like this are great to help me reflect on how to improve. I'll bear this in mind. Thanks buddy!

Weirdly enough, my next video is ALL about how to talk to promotors and what not to do when you apply for a gig! Thanks Lexi, much appreciated!

My pleasure, thank you for watching. I'll be doing a lot more comedy tips on here, so keep an eye out for my tips and hints!

Thank you so much, really happy to read that. If I can help support you with anything else, please let me know :D

tysm!

Thanks Tris, really appreciated

This means the world to me, thank you Peter

Thank you so much!

Thank you so much!

thanks mate!

Thank you!

Great question! I will be doing a video about Gong shows very soon! Thank you so much for the lovely comment.

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.

Hey there Warmag! You are more than welcome. I also started out with true stories and that is perfectly acceptable as comedy. The trick is to add jokes along the way to the story's punchline. It's very natural. And comedy doesn't have to be perfect the first time, you can take many attempts to refine it, that's what new material nights are for. If you need any further help, don't be afraid to get in touch!

Thank you!

There are tonnes of open mic gigs in the UK. Where abouts are you based and I can give some suggestions. I think that is unusual to do paid work on your second gig, because unless you are some comedy prodigy, you may not be ready to do paid work and you need further work on your craft. And also those gigs wil be harder to do and not necessarily suitable to be learning your craft. Imagine you pay for a ticket to see shakespeare and the lead role is someone who hasn't acted before, nor has had any training or rehearsal. Open mic gigs are like rehearsals, as it's the only way to learn. Does that all makes sense?

that's what the chapter headers are on it for :) - I don't know if it doesn't show them on a phone but I'm watching from a laptop... HTH!

😆 That is a very good point haha

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

Thanks Anarchy Seeds! Hope you got some help from this

Hey! Honestly, If you cant stay, then thats okay! Seems totally reasonable and everyone has a life outside of open mic comedy. The point in the video is if you have means of getting home at anytime and don't need to leave right away, but then you do anyway - that is what would annoy people. Just hearing your brief story, I would find it hard for people to be upset. I used to regularly get the last train home, and people understand! And typically promotors will work around your needs. Its okay if you need to leave early -its on the other acts if they dont understand! Basically, you don't need to worry and hopefully my nuance here is helpful! And thank you for the kind words!

Thank you for the reply and encouragement! I'll keep going! even if I have to travel 2h to and 2h back just to get on stage for 5 min it's worth it! I'm loving it and I'm filming it and learning every time! Great channel and lots of good advice. thanks a lot

Try practising in front of a mirror, and learn your jokes. Know your punchlines and how the jokes flow from one another. You need to get used to the routine and how comfortable you feel with it. Rehearsal does help :)

Thanks mate! Hope things are going for you now!

And did you bomb? I'm doing my first five minute set next week and it's peppered with edgy stuff. After seeing this video I can't decide whether to persevere with what I've got or tone it down....

@@daviebluebird1254 I wasn't booed off the stage, but I extracted painfully few laughs while on it (and if anything the awkward silence is almost kinda worse). My advice would be to just keep it as simple as possible your first time on (advice I still have trouble following). It's very hard to remember what you wanted/planned to say if (or when) you're nervous, so the simpler it is, whether it's edgy or not, the better. I still kind of don't regret going edgy my first time out (my first joke was about Ukraine, but targeting self-righteous internet people who post flags to feel better about themselves but don't actually do anything to help, and not the tragedy of the conflict itself) because like I said in my initial comment I wasn't 100% sure that I'd keep doing it so I thought just in case it's a one-off thing I might as well go hard rather than play it safe. I'm still doing it, though, sometimes less unsatisfactorily than others, but last night not so satisfactorily either. I think a lot of aspiring comics (myself included) go into it with a mentality of needing to prove something as the new person, like yeah, I may be the "new guy," but I'm not afraid to go dark and controversial (like an inmate who feels he has to fight on his first day in prison to show he isn't a pushover). But it's not necessary and I agree with Matt Hoss here that it's best avoided (especially if you know you're probably going to do it more than once; I wasn't so sure, until I got home that night and at some point before my head hit the pillow I realized I'd fallen in love with it and was crazy to ever think I wasn't going to keep doing it). It's going to be hard if you have nothing to compare it to, but probably the biggest mistakes I made my first time out (and still make if I'm not careful) were structural ones. I was too invested in stringing all of my jokes together and tried to memorize a bunch of stuff to say in between them to connect them, and the connections were loose and tenuous at best. Practice jokes individually. Practice them in different orders. Rehearse 5 to 15 jokes individually that are 20 to 60 seconds each, depending on your style (you might want to tell a story longer than 60 seconds your first time up, but I've seen other comics attempt it a few times but never seen it work too well with new comics). Put each jokes on a card like an index card (I'm 40 so I'm old-school.) and shuffle and move the order around as you practice. (I think this is much better than trying to memorize the whole thing start to finish from second 1 to minute 5 because if you do that but then miss a line onstage it can really mess with you, so have a flexible order so you can think on your feet and work around mistakes more easily.) If you have your jokes down pat, in between them you're more likely to be more relaxed and little lines to add in between jokes (if any are even needed) will come to you in the moment (including mild self deprecation if (or *when*) a joke doesn't work). Also, f*cking make sure to have fun with it, no matter how it goes! My wife advised me that from day one and that's another thing that took me way too long to get a handle on. As you can see from this long-winded response, I struggle to keep sets to within 5 minutes, and as one final note that Matt Hoss probably has somewhere in this video as well, don't "run the light." Get off at 5 (or before) even if you didn't finish telling all of your jokes. If your second last joke gets good laughs, it might be better to cut your set 30 seconds short and end on a high note rather than try to squeeze one more joke in the final seconds that doesn't land as well. (Yes, this is also a mistake I made last night.)

@@patch8376 Thanks mate!

I would love to help, is there a way for me to contact you best and I can help?

Good question: I think it depends on you. I do not want to bring my friends, especially as I am learning my craft - nothing worse than dying on your bum in front of your friends (something I have done loads). However if you friends are in the room, you have a higher chance of the gig going well, because you already have people in the room who have your back and will laugh more readily at your jokes. So it's your choice, i would recommend taking your friends to a nicer gig. Like there are some rough open mics i would say NO to bringing friends to, but a really fun room which is more comedy friendly (like The stand) i would say YES to. Does that help?

It absolutely does feel like that when starting out. 5 minutes is the typical british slot to start with setting out, though certain clubs may offer 2/3 sets when starting out, but honestly, these are very rare. Keep writing and those 5 mins will fill out. Also, time yourself too. Rehearse how long it takes to say each bit. 5 minutes tends to fly by when you are onstage and things are going well.

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!

Yup it's a real thing! They used to run the course at the University of Kent, and they do it in different places now (I think University of Brunel?)

Thank you so much! I suppose it's important to stay true to yourself and if that's the comic you want to be, then fair enough. I would recommend exploring doing a range of jokes, but staying true to who you are. I suppose if you are purely out to shock, then that won't be helpful in the long run, but If you can craft really interesting, and dark jokes that is in keeping with who you are, then that is great!

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.

Write more!

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

@@matthosscomedy I appreciate you taking the time to answer my question so thoroughly Very helpful 👍

I hear that, this is purely my stance, and I appreciate others would disagree. I suppose I just would offer caution if people wanted to completely do shock humour. The books and my experience agrees with my point, but you know, people have to do what works for them, and fully back that :D