Stand up Comedy - Your First Appearance on the Comedy Stage

Tips for Performing Stand-up Comedy

You think you're a funny guy or girl and you've gathered enough courage to perform on New Talent Night at a local comedy club. How should you prepare to face a room full of strangers and make them laugh? First, you need your arsenal of funny material. Take time during the day to sit down and write a joke with a simple joke structure. The simplest and most basic form of joke writing is "set up and punchline". "Setting up a joke" is providing basic information about an experience or topic. It establishes a place, a feeling and a presence. The punchline element produces the surprise and the unexpected ending. A genuine surprise elicits laughter from an audience which proves your joke is effective. 

 Memorize your jokes and rehearse them either mentally or verbally. Create a visual picture in your head of the subject matter and your first jokes will be more easily committed to memory. Continue rehearsing your jokes daily until they can be recited out loud and with confidence. Achieving a relaxed conversational tone will demonstrate command of the stage and put an audience at ease. Many new comedians assume they can stand on stage and be an "off-the-cuff" guy or girl. This can be a dangerous assumption. The first time on stage can be intimidating and it is very possible that increased nervousness will steal your mental reflexes and response time. You will be facing lights and strange faces as the audience stares at you, and you alone. Most likely, you will feel robbed of your humorous creativity as you know it. Having a solidly memorized "set" of material will give you a performance safety net on stage. It is better that improvising skills are utilized once an audience is engaged and laughing. 

 The first time on stage triggers the primal fear of facing a roomful of unfamiliar faces. You are taking on a very formidable challenge when standing on the comedy stage. Don't be too hard on yourself. Congratulations on conquering a fear that is only second to death. It does get better and more fun as you feel more comfortable on stage and as you get to know your "character". Performing on a weekly or nightly basis will make the joke writing easier and the performances will appear more natural. Taking those first few steps on the comedy stage are giant leaps in terms of personal goals and a lifetime of effort and enjoyment.    

ComedyBySally.com

Carrot Top - Behind the Scenes with the Comedy Stars

Before Carrot Toplanded a very sweet consistent gig in Las Vegas, he took his very funny prop comedy act on the road.  I first met Carrot Top at Zanies Comedy Club in Chicago.  Carrot Top was headlining for the week and I was the feature act.

     I knew I had a rough road ahead of me because pre-plastic surgery Carrot Top was a very cute redhead and he already had a huge fan base.  When a comedian becomes semi-famous and draws a crowd, his or her fans do not relish the twenty to thirty minutes they spend watching the feature, or middle act. 

    The room was packed and Carrot Top Fever was in the air. I delivered the best show I could but the impatient crowd did not return my energy.  I felt defeated.  That sense of defeat was amplified when Carrot Top hit the stage.  The crowd went wild with his first “How you guys doin’?”

     Carrot Top can work a room.  Each prop and joke surpasses the cleverness of the one preceding it.  At the time, his piece de resistance was a joke about fellow comedian Pee Wee Herman who had recently been arrested for indecent exposure.  Pee Wee Herman starred in his own funny children’s show even adults enjoyed.  However, he fell out of grace when he was caught playing around in a movie theater – with his privates.

     Carrot Top held up a jumbo popcorn container with a big hole in the bottom and shouted out, “Pee Wee Herman’s Popcorn Box!”  The crowd went wild.  It was a true eruption.  The audience was totally in sync with their comedy hero and it was in stark contrast to the ambivalent way they had welcomed me.

     I wanted to level the playing field.  I decided to play a joke on Carrot Top during the second show scheduled for that night.

     Following Carrot Top’s awesome performance, he chatted with fans and then made a beeline for the second floor green room where he could rest, relax and gather his thoughts for the second show.  Carrot Top did not watch my show and I decided to take advantage of that fact.  He would not know what I was planning while on stage.

     The second show started and I was met with the same ambivalence as the first.  They wanted Carrot Top.  I decided to get in on Carrot Top Fever.

     Because he left his trunk full of props on stage I had access to Carrot Top’s entire act.  I opened the trunk and saw the giant popcorn container with the hole in the bottom.  I held it up to the audience I said, “This is one of Carrot Top’s favorite jokes.  Let’s play a trick on him.  When he holds up this container and says, ‘Pee Wee Herman’s popcorn box ‘(big laugh), don’t make a sound – not a sound!”  I could see the delight in the faces of Carrot Top’s fans.  Everyone loves a good joke.

----------------------------------------------------------

     Carrot Top was at his best.  The crowd was with him and he was getting ready for the kill.  He reached into his trunk of wonders and pulled out the popcorn container.  “Ladies and gentlemen,” he said in a booming voice, “Pee Wee Herman’s popcorn box!”  ….  Silence…. Not a sound!  “Ladies and gentlemen – Pee Wee Herman’s popcorn box!” he shouted again.  Nothing!  The Carrot Top fans were pulling through for me!  I was stunned, delighted and even a little bit scared (of who might be kind of upset!) 

     “Ladies and gentlemen,” Carrot Top said as he stooped forward toward the crowd, “What don’t you guys get?  This is funny.  Really.  This is funny!  How can you not laugh at that?” Carrot Top held it up one last time, waved it around and dejectedly gave it a long toss into his long black trunk.

     Facing a sea of Carrot Top fans, his loyal audience let me into their circle to have some fun that night. Carrot Top demonstrated great sportsmanship when he found out the audience was in on the joke.  He took it all in good spirits and that night he was generous enough to let everyone share in the spotlight.

Gilbert Gottfried - Behind the Scenes in Comedy

     The unfortunate adventures that stand-up comedians may experience over the years are often referred to as “couch stories.” They generally contain elements of pain and embarrassment for the performer and repeating them has a cathartic effect until they become funny and tolerable.  A good storytelling comedian knows pain becomes funny over time.  A great story is memorable gold when riffing on the couch with a talk show host -should that welcome opportunity arise.

    One of my favorite couch stories concerns a very talented and hugely funny comedian by the name of Gilbert Gottfried.  (Now a favorite face on the line up of comic roasters as seen on Comedy Central.) 

     Gilbert is a very unique comedian from New York who delivers his material in a whiny voice while squinting his eyes.  What is most unique, however, is his very original material emerges from the deep recesses of his twisted yet creative imagination.  Gilbert Gottfried’s appearance is as unique as the jokes he tells.  His height and weight border petite.  

     I was a bit star struck driving up to Milwaukee where I would be performing with Gilbert at The Comedy Café – an intimate room where the crowds are always pumped and ready to laugh.  Gilbert is a true talent and I knew the three days of performing with him were going to be top-notch.  One of the thrills of being a comedian is working with people whose comedy I admire.

   “Hi.  How are ya’?  Hi, how are ya’?  Nice to meet you.  Good.  Good.”   Gilbert Gottfried made his way through the standing-room-only crowd of fans.  His intended goal was the swinging door on the far side of the room that would take him to the long narrow hall that led to the green room.  Head down, eyes squinting, he rarely made eye contact with those he passed. 

     Reaching the swinging door at the same time, we bumped into each other long enough for me to say, “Hi Gilbert.  I’m Sally and I’ll be your feature act tonight.”

     “Hi.  Very nice.  Pleasure to meet you.  Good.  Good.” 

     And those were the only words we exchanged that week.  He seemed to neither see nor hear me when I ran into him again and again over the course of four days.

     As a young comedian, it is very exciting to know while you are on stage your act is being watched by someone in the business you admire.  It is also in the best interest of the headliner (the “star” of the show or closing act) to watch his or her opening act to ensure they do not repeat the same premises and/or jokes to the same audience.  It is a type of self-preservation.  As a headliner, it is humiliating to bring up a topic your opening act has explored.  It is embarrassing to repeat subject matter and reduces perceived professionalism.

     Gilbert Gottfried never watched my act.  He wasn’t worried I’d bring up any of his very original premises.  He wasn’t concerned with the possibility I might be so funny he could not follow me.  He never made an effort to see my show or  engage in friendly conversation with me.  I was invisible to him.

     Gilbert Gottfried went on stage that night and he reeled the audience in with his incredibly funny stories.  He talked about the bizarre and he intrigued his fans as they listened to a personal story about how he went outside one morning and found a turtle in the radiator of his car. He talked for twenty minutes about that turtle and the audience stayed with him.  Anything is possible in Gilbert Gottfried’s world.  As he exited the stage, two very tall, big-breasted blondes became his moveable bookends as he made his way directly past me down the hallway and to the green room.

     It had been four days since Gilbert Gottfried had acknowledged me as an acquaintance and fellow performer.  In four days, I grew tired of being invisible and decided it was time for a prank that would shake Gilbert Gottfried out of his big- breasted, blonde stupor.

    Saturday night, I approached Gilbert in the green room.  He looked at me as if he was seeing me for the first time.  I said, “Gilbert, I’ve been opening for you all week.”

     “Ah, yeah,” Gilbert responded with no expression in his voice.  

     “Gilbert,” I continued.  “Have you watched any of my shows?”

     “Ah no.   I haven’t had a chance to get up there.” 

     “Well Gilbert, I have something to tell you that may be very important to you.”

       “What?  … There’s something important to me?”  Gilbert leaned in closer and listened with great interest.

      I continued, “You know those jokes that you tell about finding a turtle in the radiator of your car?”

     “Yeah,” he said.

     “Well Gilbert, you won’t believe this but I do jokes about finding a turtle in the radiator of MY CAR!” 

     Gilbert let out a loud long excruciating moan.  Gilbert Gottfried grabbed his chest and fell forward on his knees yelling, “Oh my god.  No!  Tell me – No!   Oh my god. No!  It’s not true!  It can’t be!  Oh my god!  Oh my god!”

      He completed his descent until he was on all fours at my feet. 

    “Gilbert!” I shouted.  He raised his head as he brought himself up to a genuflecting position. 

    “Gilbert!”  I said.  “It’s O.K. Get a hold of yourself.  I’m only kidding!”

(I've since worked with Gilbert Gottfried at Zanies Comedy Club since this exchange and he has been much more engaging!   It's an honor and fun to work with him!)

Gilbert Gottfried and Sally Edwards at Zanies Comedy Club.