Never YELL at your audience NEVER – it is not endearing AT ALL
“HEY, YOU PEOPLE IN THE BACK, SHUT THE BLEEPITY BLEEP UP!”
Number 12 had had enough. He’d watched his fellow comedians being completely dissed. He was outraged at the lack of audience participation. He was thoroughly fed up with the other comics – including himself now – being ignored – talked over and mocked.
He was wrong.
The bar in question – is not a bad place. Actually I think it would have been a place I frequented in my bar hoping days – were it not some 60 miles away – I might venture in from time to time to get a bite now.
The bar ALLOWS the show to take place. They are not a “comedy” club and their patrons are not necessarily geared to laugh.
IF they do? SCORE! BONUS! You did your job.
If they don’t it does not mean they’re bad people or that you’re a bad comic – it means they didn’t come to laugh.
They’re not in the right mind-set.
And you NEVER scream at them – why? Because THEY are the ones making the club owner money, not you and your awful jokes about being short and eating Cheetos.
Oh, wait – those are my jokes but you get the idea right?
The Bar is your Training Ground
Those situations are like the boot-camps of comedy. You HAVE to crawl through the mud and muck of dive bars, mixed genre gigs other mics that will drive flat out nuts and listen to people yell obscenities at you like you don’t matter in order to maybe convince you to quit doing comedy before you ever really get started. And you know what…
…THAT”S WHAT THEY”RE THERE FOR!
IF you can push past all the Gobbledygook that come from the early stages of doing comedy – you just might get to a place where the people actually pay attention and laugh at your jokes.
Of course you’ll have to stop doing material about how your misshapen body resembles popular candy.
Opps, that’s mine again.
I am not a professional – YET – so I can use advice too. What pearls of wisdom can you string here for us? Don’t be shy – I WANT to know!
Mick Holt 