Stand-up Comedy 101

Shorcuts wanted

2008-07-07T09:22:00.000-04:00

I think there's a lot of people in this world who spend their whole lives looking for a shortcut. All they need is to be seen by that one person. That one break that's going to propell them to stardom. Except the best way to succeed is to be, in Steve Martin's words, "undeniably good." All the time. Instead of spending all your time looking for a shortcut, why not spend it all on your craft?

Fire and creativity

2008-07-06T17:59:00.000-04:00

Sometimes I get very excited about a new movie, book or a comedian and I think to myself - "This is going to change everything." If I could just see that movie, book, or comedian - "Nothing is ever going to be the same." Except no book, movie, or comedian can change who you are. The secret to success is inside you, and nothing from the outside can make you or break you. All it can do is provide a spark, but it is up to you to keep the fire burning, one day at a time.

Watch your rhythm

2008-07-05T11:14:00.000-04:00

I've noticed time and time again how important it is to mantain a rhythm while you're on stage. A rhythm is a combination of your speed of talking, their amount of laughing and the overall mix of yours and your audience's energy. Sometimes you won't even notice a rhythm, but it is always there. And in my experience, it is always a bad idea to break the rhythm - what most comedians call "losing the audience." This usually happens for two reasons - either you interrupt yourself (because you forgot a part of your act) or someone else interrupts you. The best thing to do in the first case is thoroughly memorize your set before going on stage. And when it comes to audience interruptions, a quick comeback that keeps the rhythm going is usually your best option. I've seen too many comedians break their rhythm due to audience interruptions and very few getting it back. Sometimes losing a rhythm can make or break your entire set.

Culture of interruption

2008-07-04T13:16:00.000-04:00

I think today, more than ever, we are living in the culture of interruption. Everything you do and everywhere you go, you're bound to be interrupted. It is one thing if you're expecting to be, and quite another while you're working away on writing comedy. That's why the secret to productivity is to avoid distactions at all costs. I use a concept I call "non-interruption time" when I'm at home, where for a certain block of time I close the door to my room and turn off my cell phone. I find that one hour of uniterrupted work is worth at least three where someone or something is constantly bugging you. I feel that time is more important than money, because you can always make more money - but life is short, even if you are tall. If you want to get the most value out of your time, eliminate all interruptions. They're not worth your time.

Episode #25

2008-07-03T12:50:00.001-04:00

The service.

Getting paid

2008-07-03T09:38:00.000-04:00

When I was starting out, I was obssesed with getting a paying gig because I felt that somehow justified I was a worthy comedian. And while I still haven't recieved any money for doing comedy, I've stopped caring about paid gigs anymore. The more you want something from someone, the more power that someone has over you. Besides, I've seen enough paid comedians that weren't worth the money I paid to see them to realize that money doesn't prove anything. And as for never getting paid myself, for me stand-up comedy was never about the money in the first place. It was about the freedom to do what I want, when I want and how I want, and so far I have done just that.

Review: It is not about the bike

2008-07-02T09:30:00.000-04:00

Once in a while, I enjoy reading an inspirational book, and none was more inspiring than "It is not about the bike." You probably know that Armstrong had testicular cancer, but did you know that by the time he was diagnosed, it has already spread to his lungs and even his brain? You probably know that Armstrong won the Tour-de-France, perhaps the most grueling athletic event out there, but did you know he won it seven times in a row and only after he survived cancer? In order to beat cancer, he had to change everything he knew about himself. In order to win the Tour-de-France, he had to change everything he knew about racing. He used to only compete in races that counted on speed and were over the same day, but the Tour-de-France lasts weeks and rewards persistence and determination. Armstrong compares the Tour-de-France to life, where you tackle your challenges one day at a time, keep your eye on the prize and never quit. Sort of like stand-up comedy.

My dream

2008-07-01T09:06:00.000-04:00

Someday I want my birthday show to become a famous free NYC event, like the lighting of the Christmas tree or the Puerto Rican Day parade. I know how ambitious that is, but I can dream, can't I? Sure I can. While I am trying to get my foot in the door of comedy club this summer, at the same time I'm trying to bypass the comedy clubs alltogether. I'm planning to do it by listing absolutely all of the events going on in NYC and building up my website throughout the year and then heavily promoting my show there when the time comes. This will be my first year, so I am going to watch and learn as much as I can, but someday...

Being different

2008-06-30T17:16:00.000-04:00

I think one part of being a stand-up comedian is the ability to see something positive where everyone sees negative, something funny where everybody sees sadness, and vice versa. The other part of seeing everything differently is showing the audience the world as you see it and trying to get them to come to your point of view. The stranger your point of view, the harder your job of getting your audience to see it, the sweeter the rewards. Nobody ever said it was going to be easy.

Social networks

2008-06-29T12:26:00.000-04:00

Social networks: is there anything they can't do? Well, actually, yes there is. It really doesn't matter if you have 1,000+ friends on Myspace if not one of them will come to see you perform. I think the an ounce of personal interaction is worth a pound you spend on Facebook. I belong to at least five different social networks and I will probably end up on five more by next year and not one of them has changed my life yet. My prediction is that in five years or less there will be one centralized place from where you can update all your countless social networks at once, and the sooner that happens the better.

Shift happens

2008-06-28T22:22:00.001-04:00

I've been thinking about the changes I went through my few years in stand-up comedy and the most obvious shift was that I started taking it more seriously. Of course I was having fun - that's the whole reason I got started in this business. But I also made a fundamental shift from hobby to something more. I cautiously doubled my dose of writing. I slowly began recording all my sets. I gradually alphabetized all my jokes. I began performing on a regular schedule. I happily started friendships with other comedians. My biggest change and challenge was starting this blog and committing to post every day. What changes have you gone through since you started? Any major shifts?

Some catch

2008-06-27T10:09:00.000-04:00

Just like you can't get a job without experience, and you can't get experience without a job, the world of stand-up comedy is no different. I've asked around, and it looks like you can't get into a comedy club without TV credits, and you can't get on TV without comedy club experience. ""That's some catch, that catch-22," he observed. "It's the best there is," Doc Daneeka agreed." How do you solve this connudrum? And on the other hand, why are comedy clubs so obsessed with the fact their performers have been on TV? Everytime they bring up a comedian on stage, it is as if they're required by law to announce "You've seen him on (first pointless TV show) and (second pointless TV show.) If I wanted to see comedians from TV, I would have stayed home and watched the tube. Anyway, what was I talking about? Oh yeah, Joseph Heller's "Catch-22." Check it out sometime.

Questions and answers

2008-06-26T09:28:00.000-04:00

I got inspired to do my first q&a session with the audience by Andrew Dice Clay, who did something similar on one of his comedy albums. You can hear the results by listening to the end of the episode below. People responded very enthuastically to my request for them to ask me anything, and that was the reaction I was hoping for. For some reason, I didn't expect them to ask questions in reference to the material I just performed, so that was lesson #1. Lesson #2 was that I haven't considered they would ask very simple questions, like "Where are you from?" Overall, I did manage to come up with a couple of funny answers, and that's a sign I'm on the right track. The whole experience brought me back to the first time I've ever done stand-up comedy. Over 2 years ago, I went on stage for the very first time, and only had a couple of funny lines, but they gave me the courage to keep going. It feels like I have come full circle and I'm starting from scratch again, but this time I'm even more optimistic.

Episode #24

2008-06-26T09:24:00.002-04:00

The logos.

Critical mass

2008-06-25T09:35:00.000-04:00

Have you ever been to an open mic where the room is dead? Did you know no one was going to laugh at your jokes even before you even went up? Do you think there's anything that can reverse the situation? Have you ever seen anyone turn a dead room into a live one? I'm fascinated by this problem because I feel there is a solution but I can't figure it out. I also think that the amount of people in the audience plays a major role in the outcome of any comedy show. Just like nobody wants to be the only one eating in a restaurant, nobody wants to be the only one laughing in a comedy club. Therefore, the more people in the audience, the easier it is for them to laugh. In popular culture, the term for this is "critical mass" - the minimum amount (of something) required to start or maintain a venture. The term comes from nuclear physics, where critical mass is the amount of fissionable material needed to sustain a nuclear chain reaction. I am going to say that once you have 20 people in the audience, you've reached critical mass and you're bound to have a good show. This is coming from my own experience, what would you say your number is? And what should you do when you have 5 or 10 people in the audience and nobody has been laughing the entire time and you're going up next?

George Carlin

2008-06-24T09:17:00.000-04:00

What can I say about George Carlin that hasn't already been said? He was the first comedian I've ever listened to, and he was so good he inspired me not to do comedy. The more I heard, the more I thought "I could never be this good in a million years." It took a lot of bad comics to help me convince myself to start stand-up comedy, and eventually I decided I don't have to be as good as George Carlin in order to perform. Since the first time I heard him, he is still my favorite comedian of all time. The hardest working man in stand-up comedy with over 20 comedy albums behind him, it is a shame the only thing most people will remember is the "7 dirty words." He was a true artist who mastered the craft (instead of turning it to a gateway to movies like Eddie Murphy, Robin Williams, Adam Sandler, etc.) and withstood the test of time. If you're a stand-up comedian looking for a role model, look no further than George Carlin. I have an audition tonight at the Ha! comedy club, and I'm dedicating my set to him.

Problem solving

2008-06-23T09:30:00.000-04:00

I have noticed over time how the majority of comedy writing for me is problem solving. I will usually start with a punchline and I will keep trying to find the best solution to the problem. And what helps me get better at this is practicing problem solving over and over in real life, outside of comedy. For me, anytime I have a problem of any kind, at work or home, I pause and take my time to come up with the best solution. Problem solving is a skill, and it will always come up in humor writing. It doesn't matter how small the problem is, there are always at least two solutions. And it is always worth it to keep looking for the best one.

Just talking

2008-06-22T15:16:00.000-04:00

If you don't have any new material, but don't want to torture your fellow comedians by telling the same jokes over and over and over again, why not simply talk about what's going on in your life? It doesn't have to be funny. Just talk about anything and everything in a way that makes it interesting. I think most people would prefer to hear something new that's a work in progress rather than the same old jokes. I saw someone do this on stage not long ago and it went quite well. In fact, as the person was simply talking about the stuff that happened over the week, there were at least two moments that had everyone laughing. I'm a big believer in finding raw material first, and turning it into jokes later. There's got to be something interesting out there that's worth talking about.

More, more, more

2008-06-21T14:15:00.000-04:00

If you've never done more than one open mic in a row, this post is for you. Compared to other cities, New York offers a unique opportunity to do two, three or even four open mics in one day. It makes a lot of sense since it is great practice plus you're already out of the house anyway, so why not make the most of it? The only thing I'd say is that it is rude to leave right after your set so I hope you'll respect the comedians going up after you. I often do the Comic Strip followed by Maui Taco on Tuesdays and I stay until the end of both shows. I haven't done more than two open mics in a row yet, but I'm planning on taking a week off work before my birthday show and hitting as many as four mics in one night. If you live outside NYC and don't have this option, perhaps you're simply not aware of all the open mics in your area. I'm building a list of all the major open mics in all the major US cities and I hope you'll contact me to help build the most reliable open mic list in the country.

Natural choice

2008-06-20T09:16:00.000-04:00

I am happy to report I have chosen the venue for my birthday show. In the beginning I was eager to do it in a real comedy club, thinking it would cost me about $250 to rent a room for an hour. After all, I have long ago decided to make my show absolutely free by paying for the room myself and not charging a cover. So I made a list of nyc comedy clubs and emailed them for a price quote. The cheapest quote was $750. For one hour. Talk about sticker shock. Then I looked into renting the downstairs room of a bar in the Village that I really like. It was $500. Then I thought to myself, why not perform in the same place where I perform new material every week? So I talked to the owner and for $100, it looks like my birthday show will be held at Maui Taco. In the time I've been doing stand-up comedy, I've heard the same advice over and over again. "In this business, you've got to start at the bottom." It doesn't get any more "bottom" than Maui Taco.

Be happy

2008-06-19T09:38:00.000-04:00

Over the years that I've doing stand-up comedy, I've met two kinds of comedians - they either say "I don't care about being famous, I just want to be funny" or they say "I don't care about being funny, I just want to be famous." That's how I used to feel not too long ago. Now that I'm in my third year, I realize the only way I'm going to be happy is by not wanting anything. As long as I have an audience, I will keep writing and performing and what more can you ask for?

Going the distance

2008-06-18T09:27:00.000-04:00

Following advice of Matt Kirsch, whom I wrote about earlier, last night I went to a paid show in the hopes of getting to know the comedians and getting a spot there in the future. For my experiment, I chose the 7:30pm show at the Ha! comedy club in Times Square. To sum it up, there were 6 people in the audience, myself included. I don't even remember the last time I went to an open mic with only 6 people in the audience. The comics did a pretty good job, all things considered. I got to see Al Lubel, whom I've heard a lot about, and the headliner was Vanessa Hollingshead, whom I actually wanted to see ever since her interview in Punchline magazine. She was terrific on stage by the way. After the show I shook her hand and she offered me a free ticket to her show at Gotham. Eventually I told her my story and asked her how to get a spot at the club, at which point she reffered me to the host, who told me to come back on a certain day and talk to a certain person. I will have more on this story as it develops.

Google library

2008-06-17T08:45:00.001-04:00

While Google is busy scanning books and making them available for search purposes, they also made a little application called Google Library. It is nothing more than a list of books which you can associate with your Google account. As you may know, I am an avid reader and a weekly visitor to the Brooklyn Public library, where I request books online and then pick them up when they're ready. Unfortunately, unlike Netflix, BPL doesn't have a queue where you can add all the books you are planning to read in the future. I used to keep a spreadsheet for this purposes, but Google library changed all that. Unfortunately, it doesn't allow you to have separate categories for books you've read, books you're planning to read, and books you own, but I'm hoping these options and more will come later. I think this application has a lot of potential. For now, here's my link to all the books I'm looking forward to reading - in case you're looking for ideas and what not. And if you have your own similar list of books online, please send it my way.

Haruki Murakami

2008-06-16T09:26:00.000-04:00

Once in a while I get my hands on a free copy of the New Yorker magazine. This issue (June 9 & 16, 2008) had a great little piece by Haruki Murakami, a famous Japanese novelist (if you've never heard of him, you will.) Before he was a writer, he started a small jazz club in Tokyo, despite everyone's objections (he had zero experience.) After running the club sucessfully for many years, he sold it to become a full-time writer, despite everyone's objections (he had zero experience.) As soon as he decided to be a professional writer, he needed to figure out how to stay physically fit. If he was going to spend a long life as a novelist, he had to find a way to stay in shape. So he changed his life completely to become a complete success. He quit smoking. He changed his diet. He goes to bed and rises with the sun. And most importantly, he runs every single day. He says that everything he learned about writing was through running. "Writers who are blessed with inborn talent can write easily, no matter what they do - or don't do. Like water from a natural spirng, the sentences just well up, and with little or no effort these writers can compete at work. Unfortunately, I don't fall into that category. I have to pound away at a rock with a chisel and dig out a deep hole before I can locate a source of my creativity. Every time I begin a new novel, I have to dredge out another hole. But, as I've sustained this kind of life for many years, I've become quite efficient, both technically and physically, at opening those holes in the rock and locating new water veins. As soon as I notice one source drying up, I move on to another. If people who rely on a natural spring of talent suddenly find they've exhausted their source, they are in trouble."

Skills kill

2008-06-15T12:05:00.000-04:00

I have noticed that sometimes it is your talents outside of stand-up comedy that help make you a great comedian. For example, Steve Martin started out wanting to be a magician and learned to play the banjo in his free time. With time, both his magic tricks and banjo skills became permanent features of his comedy act. Interestingly enough, Dimitry Martin also plays a musical instrument during his stand-up, also leads a successful career and also shares the same last name. When everybody is doing the same thing, it is the thing that nobody else is doing that will make people pay attention. If you have a talent other than stand-up, see if you can incorporate it into your act. It just might be the ticket. As for me, I will have to figure out how to add a little more web to my comedy.