My experience with standup comedy after 4-5 months

Published

October 3, 2020

Experience with Standup comedy after 4-5 months

I find it quite funny, that after finally setting on a blog style, specifically made for Machine Learning and Data Science style. I choose to write the first blog on here on Standup Comedy instead and my experience with it so far.

Getting into Standup Comedy

I’ve loved standup comedy for quite some time, comedians like Dave Chappelle, George Carlin, Louis C.K. were some of my initial favorites in American Standup Comedy, and obviously there’s many, many more.., but I’m not going to list them, cause what’s the point?

My first try at standup comedy was my second semester of freshmen year of College, which was an Open Mic Night within the University. I went twice, bombed horribly, no timing, somewhat plagiarized jokes (on the advice of my roommate). And basically it was bad, but I didn’t feel like it was a bad experience, since going up on the stage, in some ways or the other, gives me a confidence boost. And then I didn’t do it anything until the next academic year.

The push for actually doing standup comedy instead of just fantasizing about doing it came from a TV show and a movie, being Marvelous Mrs. Maisel, and the Big Sick (I don’t know why this pushed me to do comedy, but it did). Also with the massive boredom I was facing in my life. Then I found out about a local scene happening from the local subreddit and started going to them. First Mic was a bomb, but the second one went alright.

What I learned

  1. You’ll never be for everyone
  • And that’s okay! Your goal is to make people laugh, not make all the people laugh. Some people won’t appreciate your jokes, some will find them offensive and tasteless. What’s funny is different for everybody! Some time it’s the audience, some time, it’s just you who sucks, know which ones which.
  1. Don’t insult people! (Or the venue you’re at, or the other comedians)
  • Light Batter, and some passing jokes are fine, but picking someone in the audience and just roasting(read insulting) them cause they’re fat or just look peculiar (this advice doesn’t neccessarily apply to clothes and stuff), when they’ve been nothing but nice to you, just cause you think it will get you a few laughs. Don’t do that! Please.
  1. Stick around for a little bit after the show
  • I think Standup comedy, can just be a great social experience. You get to meet people all from very different backgrounds as you, with the common love for Comedy, or at least seeing people laugh which I think is a great thing. See if there’s anyone doing a podcast, or anything new with their lives. This becomes a family away from family quite fast!
  1. It’s a science of ONE
  • Listen to advice and criticism of your comedy, but don’t necessarily take it to heart (especially if you’re have an aversion to criticism). Every comic there has a different method of doing comedy, emulating their behavior and patterns is not going to get you the same place where it led them. Find your own science and process of doing things. This video by Exurb1a is a good watch.