When was the last time you bombed and how did you deal?

Phil O'Reily: Last Sunday at Clayton Fletcher's open mic. I lost my focus immediately. The flow was scattered. I was disappointed in myself and my performance. That stays with me a couple of hours and then goes away. The more ya do, the less a bad one stays with you. I have spoken.

Josh Goguen: The last time I bombed was about a month ago. I don't usually count a bad open mic set as bombing, but this one had actual audience members. I don't know what happened, but I somehow had offended some of them. I was annoyed because I was working on material that I thought was fairly tame, so I decided that if they were going to think I was offensive, I might as well deserve it. I threw out some of my worst which really turned them off. I left feeling happy.

Abbi Crutchfield: The last time I bombed was at a hostel with a mostly foreign audience. I did not flounder because of a language barrier, I just did not prepare properly. There was a lack of continuity with what I said and some ad-libs that dissipated into the dead air. People told me I had a nice set, but if I'm not comfortable on stage I'm usually disappointed afterwards.

Sometimes it's obvious the audience doesn't like you. The last time I did not fare so well with a heckler was at a club in the Lower East Side. A man sat in the front row with his arms crossed and a sour face. I asked him how he was doing, and he didn't say anything. Then I imitated him saying, "I came here to laugh tonight, then I saw you and changed my mind!" It made the audience chuckle, but I got nothing from the guy. Then I went into self-conscious mode and turned away from him saying, "That's okay. So where was I...?" and failed to make him laugh for the rest of the set.

I wrote a rebuttle in case that ever happens again, and I'm sure it will make even the stone-faced crack a smile. To be continued...