Other comics in here... how often are yall actively writing new material? Ive noticed most the regulars at the spots here do the same shyt over and over. I hate the idea of that though. Ive written maybe 4-5 solid five minute sets and performed 3 of them.
Is your focus mainly to perfect an act that works, or to be as diverse as possible? This is tough for me because there are so few venues, getting stage time is a bytch, so i want to kill, but i want to experiment too.
Ive got a three round talent search tournament coming up im excited for, i know i can get past round one, i just want to see what these other dudes will have when forced to mix it up, because i stay writing
you gotta force yourself to write sometimes. me and another comic friend of mine will tell each other to write 10 new ideas whether they be jokes or just statements and then we get together and discuss them and try to help each other make them better. usually 8/10 of these ideas get thrown out and not used but ive gotten some good stuff outta doing this so far.
as far as what you are working towards for sets it really depends.i used to just go up and do random material but i recently got booked for my first show so i really wanted to have a good set. so for 2 weeks i basically did the same set over and over again and got it perfect, it was cool because after about a week i got the set down really good and i was having good sets everytime i went up culminating with me having a really really good set at my first booked show :bless: (video coming soon) but also during those 2 weeks i got really sick and tired of telling those same jokes so after the show i told myself that i wanted to write a new 5 minute set so i just been doing all new material for this past week.
it can make you really anxious and there are a lot more highs and lows when you are doing new stuff but the feeling of trying something new that works good is great. on the other hand doing the same shyt that you know works is great because you dont have to think about your set or prepare you just go up and make people laugh and look good doing it.
ok now for the hating on you part. watched some of your video, looks like you have had the benefit of going up in front of a "hot crowd" as we call it in the "biz." in those situations where the crowd is warmed up well and there arent any distractions happening in the room it is pretty easy to have a good set even with material that is not that great. You should try doing stand up in a harder environment if you can, you will get a better idea of what part of act works and what part you should improve on or get rid of.
there is a room where i live where the audience reaction is always really really huge and while it is great for a confidence booster it is not a good place for trying out new material or testing your set out because for some reason the people in that room will laugh at anything even if it isnt very funny.
also you say you have written 4-5 "solid" 5 minute sets, im just gonna inform you that there is a high possibility that the majority of that material is probably not very good. right now you are on a new comic's high, where youve had a couple sets they have went well you are probably thinking that you are maybe some sort of comic genius or prodigy (like we all do at first) if you keep doing this your first bombing experience is gonna be coming up shortly, it will make you reevaluate everything,
edit: holy shyt i wrote an essay, edit: don't read comedy books, the advice in there is terrible.
that's a harsh list. i like sinbad. not a dane cook fan but i don't hate the guy. i see where they're coming from but the issue seems more with the crowds laughing at these comics than the comics themselves.
