I thought this was really good!

The quoted is a very diplomatic response.

What some of you guys don't seem to realize is that comics are constantly inundated with people telling them what they should change about their act. It is a constant, never ending parade of people with no experience or expertise telling them how they should change their comedy.

99.9% of the time you tell a comic how to improve their act, they are going to smile and nod politely, then walk away despising you.

If you really think you know how to be a better stand up than the OP, there is an open mic nearby that is waiting on you, so go get started.

You did very well, and seem to be gifted for the stage. But as in music, they say the true test of the artist is not the first album, but the second. That's because a lifetime's worth of thought and work goes into the first album.

I guess I'm wondering if you're constantly on the lookout for material and/or if you ever alter your state of sobriety hoping to see something in a different or funny way for use as a later joke.

I can imagine there are funny things to say, and you know there's something there, but there's a creative process to find the right words, tone and timing etc. Do you like the creative process as much as the delivery?

there's also a difference between thinking a joke or person isn't funny and thinking you'd be a great standup comic.

That was great. Got to the joke with the hotness bar hand scale and when you said "easy" I paused it and restarted so my gf could watch as well.

We both thought it was really funny.

Cool that you had never used the New Jersey line with the heckler before, that seemed perfect and absolutely crushed.

Overall I thought it was a really good set, you seemed very comfortable and in control.

The starbucks joke was really good, the way you closed it with "yea, he could be a chick" was perfect. I'm also a sucker for jokes that seem like they are going on too long and then have an awesome punch line (Norm GOAT).

Spaceman,


Having a joke kill in a comedy club and having a joke do well on viewers watching it alone at home are two fundamentally different things. In order to achieve true success you are goi to have to have jokes that do both, whereas, IMO, a lot of your jokes only do the former(comedy clubs).

wazz: "I don't watch much that's on a lower level than Louis CK" who's on your long list of higher level than Louis CK comics?

Larry: "I'm also a sucker for jokes that seem like they are going on too long and then have an awesome punch line (Norm GOAT)." 100% agree w/ Norm GOAT for that, but it's imo a very risky approach that few can pull off.

spaceman: How hard is it to get to the level in comedy this girl is at, like how close are you to being able to get gigs like this if you want: http://amymillercomedy.com/myshows

I'm always thinking about material. Not actively, but it's always in the back of my mind. If an interesting thought pops into my head I try to remember to jot it down.

The creative process is a lot of fun. It feels great when you have a thought and think, "damn that actually is pretty good." Then you try it on stage and sometimes it sucks and you were wrong. Sometimes, you just need to work out the wording and can turn it into a good joke eventually. It's sort of like solving a puzzle. "I know this is a funny concept, how can I present it so other people see that also?"

One example of finding the right words is in my last joke. When I started using it, the line went "and if a girl can do that math..." and it did very well like 75% of the time, but sometimes the audience needed me to finish the thought before they would laugh. A couple months ago I changed the line to "as long as a girl can do that math..." and now it works over 90% of the time and I don't usually need to finish the sentence. By saying "as long as" the rhythm of the joke changed and it made the punchline hit harder.

Agree 100%

Well, I don't know anything about the Portland comedy scene so I don't know if she's doing big shows, bar shows, bringer shows, etc. Some of them look good if she's doing shows with Kyle Kinane and hosting shows featuring Sean Donnelly (who is awesome). Others on her schedule are showcases, which are often bringer shows.

Most of the spots you get come from networking. A lot of comics who run shows will book you if you can book them on a show that you run too. It says on the sidebar that she hosts a monthly show, so maybe some of her gigs come from that reciprocity.

I don't know her material -- do you consider her a good comic?

I read the thread before watching the clip, and went into it thinking it's going to be a cringey attempt at standup by a 2p2 reg, judging by the comments here.

What the hell are you guys talking about? That set was ****ing solid. I seldom lol at televised standup, and had a few out-loud laughs, especially the E-L-O-N bit.

Top-notch spaceman, wish you the best with this in the future. You're obviously one of the funniest posters on 2p2, glad that transitions into rl as well.

agree, I think most of the hate is jealousy, troll, thread hijack attempts.

Spaceman,

I haven't seen enough of her stuff to say how good she is, but a couple of YouTube clips I've watched seem promising.

She's a very close friend of a friend of mine and has performed a bunch at the main comedy clubs in SF (cobbs, punchline, etc) before moving to portland where apparently the weekly thing she hosts is really popular and well-regarded.

Last year she performed at a sunday night show at the knitting factory that Hannibal buress was hosting, which seemed pretty impressive to me, but I really have no idea and was just curious how hard it is to get to her level.

I know some people here (SF) who have progressed from open mic to locals nights at comedy clubs to short early warm up sets for pretty well known touring comedians at those clubs, and even getting to that level seems like a really tough grind.

Yeah, I turned the video off right after this opening joke and chalked it up to you stealing from Cheech and Chong. I don't think Cheech and Chong is as abscure as you think. I'm surprised none of your elder comics haven't given you **** about this. I would think it would be consider very hackey in comedian circles.

You are opening a set with a stolen joke, basically.

Not a stolen joke, parallel thinking. Happens all the time and every comedian deals with it on a case by case basis. If someone pointed out another stand up was doing a similar joke I would cut it (assuming they had come up with it first, or had more of a claim to it than I did). If it was in a film that I had seen, I would cut it because then I'd assume that it must have seeped into my memory at some point. If it was in a film that is well known, I would cut it. But if the similar joke comes from Cheech & Chong's 4th movie with a box office of $21 million that came out in 1982 and probably hasn't been aired on TV since 1995, that I and 99% of the population have never seen, then I would consider that obscure.

who the **** are cheek and chong

seems like two or three people could easily think up a similar concept for a joke

this.

lol

No-one

99.9% of comics disregard peoples' criticism and 99.9% of them will never get anywhere worth being.

He can dismiss it if he wants but even bad criticism is more useful than mindless praise.

Yup. Does the fact that I've been up on stage lend weight to my criticism?

I too wasnt impressed but I also didn't feel like it was a waste of my time.

In terms of material I would put you at the top of the bell curve for live at Gotham acts I have seen.

Your stage presence pushes you solidly to the 60-65 percentile, IMHO.

Your criticism was mostly "maybe I am an LOL Euro who doesn't understand the jokes, but they are bad."

Which makes your criticism pretty weightless, imo

While comical, karaoke doesn't count.

what possible value is he going to get out of "it wasnt funny you suck" from a few dudes out of many? what is the gameplan to build off that?

for beginners this is true, but once youve been doing anything for long enough, youve heard all the bad criticism that can ever be useful.