allright folks. Anyone here no anything about starting out in standup? I have a mate who is the business but doesnt know where to start. all help appreciated
If he's in the business how the **** does he need to start <erm> Most comedians start by writing jokes and sending them other comedians to use and build a reputation that way. Frankie Boyle used to write alot of Jimmy Carrs stuff.
open mics, as many as he can do. The best way. I have a couple of mates who are comics. one is pretty decent and he makes a living out of it has an agent and all that stuff, the other just tapping away on the open mics. That is where they both started out. The professional one used to do 3/4 open mics every night just to see what worked, how it worked and where it worked. i went along one night and he died on his arse. 2 hours later, he did the same set in a different place and he killed it. strange old business.
Making your mates laugh is slightly different to a room full of pissed up strangers.. Tell us some of your mates jokes / stories
we all realise its not the same thing, but he will never know unless he gives it a go. might fall on his arse but needs to do it to see I think he could make it, as i watch a lot of standup and think he has got it no guarantee obviously as there are other factors, nerves etc
find out the local open mic nights, tell him to write every idea for a joke he has down. write 5 minutes worth of jokes and compile a set of 3 minutes. do an open mic, do it again and again and again and again. then do 5 minutes over and over and over and over. take away things that don't work, try new things, change the order about until he gets it down. Unbelievably hard graft. Talk to all the other acts and learn from them. get critiqued by them and just stick at it.
you talking from experience? We are trying to find the open mic's around here, probably have to send him to manchester or somewhere
No, just that is what I saw my mate do. always writing stuff down. working a full day and then traveling miles and miles to maybe get a spot on an open mic, doing maybe 2/3 a night. I only ever saw him do a gig after a drink once. He fluked it massively and it with a storming set, but that was pure luck. I used to go all the time and got to know a few faces. They all talked each other through each gig. feedback from each other every night. I got to see it, but not involved. Nottingham & Manchester are big places, but stoke shall have open mics some place
nice one. will pass this on to him. will probably find a local one for him and push him into it hope he remembers us when/if he makes it
good luck to him. No offence to some of the acts I have seen but some have been absolutely brutal and the crowds were totally unforgiving. This one guy, I'll not name names, was the envy of most of the young comedians. his writing was absolute gold. I sat in a silent room three of four times where these amazing jokes got butchered by the guy who wrote them. it seemed to be a labour of love and these guys an girls worked their balls off for no reward, just to get better.
