This phrase is said a lot at shows, but it has a pretty deep and meaningful purpose. I did an open mike at Surly Girl in Columbus last night. I used to do every open mike every night when I first started and I would like to do more, but the strain of working full time, plus the lateness of the shows kill my ability to do them sometimes. Plus, as you get a solid act, it’s mentally tough to try new stuff for various sized, usually smaller crowds, that could bomb.
That said, every great comic has to figure it out. The only way is try new material until you get some good stuff, plus all the other ancillary things. For example, when I first started, I was so nervous, I would stomp all over my punchlines by starting a joke when laughs were still going on. “That’s why I never get laid.” (Laughter) My brain immediately said -NEXT JOKE! NEXT JOKE! Plus I used to take a drink of beer after every semi-supposed to be funny line. I watched my first feature set (I had put it on MySpace) and I drank a bucket of beer in 22 minutes. That’s not distracting at all. Or helpful for my legal driving status. By the way, I deleted that stream due to extreme humiliation at my unfunniness in 2007. It made me feel terrible watching it alone.
Most importantly, if there’s no audience, there’s no comedy. I did a show early on where the bar owner was pissed that only four people showed up. He told me if I didn’t do 45 minutes, I was not getting paid. The bounty? $40. That was the longest night of Andy DuFrain’s life. So thanks for coming out and watching me in the past and other probably not that funny or horribly awkward comics stumble around their acts like drunks during Mardi Gras. That said, if you don’t laugh, we may attack you.
Side note – check out www.columbusisfunny.com for local Columbus shows. Unless you don’t live in Columbus, Ohio…then I have nothing for ya, man. Flava Flav’s got problems of his own.