"Tell me a joke, come on, do the stand up thing you do."
I can't tell you how many times people have said this to me the second they find out I do stand up comedy. It always makes me feel a bit weird, almost like a dancing monkey of sorts, when someone asks me to, on cue, recite my routine like a party trick. Comedy is often looked at as a lesser performance art, which I'm sure is in large part due to the fact that it looks easy. I mean, we've all been hanging out with a group of friends and told a joke that has everyone laughing. We think to ourselves "that wasn't so hard, I could totally do stand up comedy". Sadly, it isn't that easy, there's a lot more that goes into it.
1. Every comedian has bombed more times than you could count
Every comedian from the greats like George Carlin to the lowly bottom feeders such as myself have bombed. It's just part of "paying your dues". The problem with comedy is you don't know if a joke is funny until you tell it to someone, hence the open mic. Open mics are where comedians go to work on their jokes, whether that be fine-tuning them or trying completely new stuff. Sometimes the jokes just aren't funny, and the audience lets you know through its soul-crushing silence; other times you bomb because of a drunk and belligerent audience that is so far gone they are unable to comprehend an entire sentence. Which brings me to my next point...
2. Dealing with hecklers is a learned skill
Heckling, for those of you who don't know, is when an audience member decides he should give feedback to the performer right now and proceeds to interrupt the performer with thoughtful criticisms such as "You look like the weird kid from the Sopranos!" or " Why is your head so big?". I once had a drunk guy walk up on stage and whisper in my ear about how he really needed to hear funk music and that he'd really appreciate it if I stopped my routine to play some funk. Dealing with people like this is like walking a very fine line. You want to keep the audience laughing and not kill the mood. Often times a comedian will end up making fun of the heckler in hopes of getting him to shut up; however, if you're too mean, the audience will turn on you. It is truly a skill that takes practice and a thick skin to learn.
3. Comedians don't like to listen to other people's stand up comedy
This was something that really took me by surprise when I first joined the stand-up world. I grew up listening to all the comedy I could. I thought when I met other comedians that they would be big comedy nerds like myself. I quickly learned that most comedians don't listen to much comedy outside of where they are performing. I found myself doing the same, after a year or so. See, when you listen to comedy regularly, then you go and try to write your own jokes, you start to worry that you're subconsciously ripping off a joke you heard earlier. There is no quicker way to become hated by comedians than to steal jokes. So, to protect yourself from being too heavily influenced by outside sources, you end up not listening to much stand up comedy.
4. There is no standard method to writing jokes
Each comic writes jokes in their own way. Some comics just write rough outlines and riff about the subjects on stage, Robin Williams was known for this improvisation stand-up of sorts. On the other hand, you'll have some guys who will spend an hour trying to re-word a single punchline. Everyone has their own routine and creative process, and it's all about trying to find what you're comfortable with.
The best advice I ever received in regards to doing stand up is to just do as many shows as you can. Every chance you get, take it, because you can learn something from every performance. After dealing with hecklers and drunk audiences you come to find that experience is the best teacher in the end.
