WATCHED FIRST OPEN MIKE [stand up comedy BLOGRMAGE: DAY 7]

Not all comedians are funny.

Feeling more confident after attending an open mike night for the first time. I went back to the ACME COMEDY CO (one of the top 5 comedy clubs in America) and watched more than 20 amateur comedians.

This BLOGRIMAGE opened my eyes to a whole sub culture that I am very familiar with. Though I'm not sure what other venues are like, this club is very inviting. A few comedians bombed sets and the audience didn't heckle or insult the act. Actually, the audience was very forgiving and let the people try until some of the jokes came through--the audience wanted to laugh.

Not everyone was very funny. You can easily tell the polished people from the rookies. Stuttering over words, forgetting lines, making horrible jokes are all indicators of bad comedians. This night also help me to indicate something.

I can do this.

Next week, I'm signing up for the Monday night open mike. Newbies only get 3 minutes to perform and may not get stage time at all. Either way, I'm going to have material ready to go. Even if I suck, I feel like this can be a good experience. If I do my homework, practice and get some local feedback, there's no reason I should bomb the set.

Some of my observations from the night:

-Be confident
-One liners are great for building momentum or changing subjects
-Jokes need to be concise
-When the audience doesn't relate or understand, the humor is lost
-Jokes don't have to be in order. Changing subjects rapidly works
-Start and end strong. The middle can be paced a little more slow
-Body language really emphasizes
-Don't be annoying
-Build on laughter. Don't wait for the crowd to stop laughing
-Forgetting a line isn't the end of a set. Move on
-Some people look like they are going to be funny

Hope you enjoy the video above. Do you think she was one of the funny or unfunny comedians?

-Pradeepan

MORE RESEARCH [stand up comedy BLOGRMAGE: DAY 6]

Today was not too eventful or exciting. For today's challenge, I continued to research (watch other stand up comics) and write a little bit. Trying to write comedy like the people I see is a bit challenging. What material works and what doesn't s kind of a mystery. Hopefully I'll find out before I try entertain a crowd.

As I research, I'm acknowledging that there are many different styles. Joe Wong (the comedian I posted in the video above) is so unique. He's comfortable in his own skin, timing and content. Yet, his unorthodox material works.

A five minute set is not long at all. If I start off poorly, though, it will be very long. Tomorrow, I hope to attend an amateur night. I don't plan on competing but who knows what could happen.

-Pradeepan

WATCHING MY FIRST LIVE SHOW [stand up comedy BLOGRMAGE: DAY 5]

Tonight, I watched my first live show! The energy, crowd, atmosphere and the entire feel completely energized me. Instead of associating stand up with fear, seeing the ACME COMEDY CO invigorated and pressed a desire inside of me to be on that stage. The crowd wanted to laugh--everyone could feel it. More than anything, they weren't that scary. It felt like a family living room with everyone talking over each other to share the next funny story.

Also, for the first time I said, "I think I can do this." Something about the stage would bring out a different side of my humor. I think part of the unnatural presentations problems I've had resulted due to unnatural environments.

I'm excited to write material that works. I'm excited to work on body language and communicate. Causing a crowd to laugh and riding that rush has got to be amazing.

Right now, I suck, but hopefully by the end of 30 days, I will write a piece that works in real life.

-Pradeepan

Family Performance [stand up comedy BLOGRMAGE: DAY 4]

At 6PM today, spring break began for me! Now, I can focus on the projects--including comedy--that I've wanted to do. For the comedy project, I began "free writing" comedy pieces. Within five minutes I write down as many stories, jokes and thoughts as I can. This practice  has not caused a lot of fear or restriction.

The fear and restriction come from performance.

The unnatural sterility of delivering jokes comes every time I try to do stand up. This comedy gig is going to take a lot of work. I've been thinking of jokes all days. Ultimately I will have to get my performance down or I am going to get heckled or booed off the stage.

Performing in front of my family felt awkward, but the practice and criticism I receive is helpful. Because I don't have anything memorized, I read a lot of my skit. I talk too long in the setups and make everyone feel sad--not joyful. This is definitely not the goal.

You can see this in the video posted above. The second part of the video includes a second round of presenting the same material again. I pretty much sucked both times. I need to make progress!

I personally like the second take because my family suggested I try laughing to myself during the jokes--so that's what I did.

-Pradeepan

RESEARCH [stand up comedy BLOGRMAGE: DAY 3]

Examples help me learn. Once I see something, almost anything, I feel like I can do it with a little time. So, today I searched through stand up videos. I started by looking through some older stand up by Bryan Regan, and then went through the Last Coming Standing finales material.

Even viewing this material with the intention of copying it gives me greater confidence. My strategy involves dissecting their introduction, body movements and style for making people laugh.

Before I can get into all of that, however, I need to pick a subject. Something that has popped into my mind a couple times tonight is writing a 5 minute routine about people in Minnesota thinking I’m a terrorist and then wanting to “act like a terrorist.” Others of you have suggested that I write something about the Master Cleanse, which would also be and was hilarious.

I have a family gathering tomorrow, so I should write a little bit before that and present to them (while filming it of course).

Most importantly I want to write and perform stuff that is funny to me while being me. It’s encouraging for people to tell me that I’m funny—hopefully it translates to the stage.

What are some comics you’d suggest I research?

SOMETHING FUNNY:

My roommate scolded me for not recycling, and I told him, "Jeeva's don't recycle." He mentioned this to my sister, and yelled at me saying that Jeeva's do recycle. Within one minute of that, I changed the intro of the recycling wikipedia to say "Jeeva's don't recycle." I love technology!

-Pradeepan

MY FIRST PERFORMANCE [stand up comedy BLOGRMAGE: DAY 3]

Stand up comedy is hard! How do you even start a routine?

"Hello everyone! Who enjoys laughing? Great. I do too. Let's laugh together."


Not only is being funny on demand hard, there are hecklers to deal with--that's crazy. Anyways, for today's journey, I spent time researching stand up comedy. I asked some of my friends how it works and what they look for in comics. Then, I journaled about 20 or subjects for a routine.

Here are those subjects:

Sri Lankan family, music with hair metal mentor, living in Korea, Mennonite Indian girlfriend, college stories, working at a high school, Minnesotans, Fashion photography, Education, Grad School work, My old truck, My family trips to Sri Lanka, starting a band, girlfriend's job training, online education, being a boyfriend, french dining, getting a new roommate, boxing, cooking with my dad, the Church, Cultural assimilation, public order, applying for jobs, trying to eat healthy, the master cleanse, jumping rope, the future, and some others.

These subjects are the building blocks for a future set. I found out today that open Mike stand up routines last five minutes here. So, I have to do that.

Which subject should I choose?

Today, I performed at a campfire and it felt unnatural. Before I told them I was going to do "stand up" I told a lot of stories and got a great response. As soon as it was intentional, however, my whole setup got long and unnatural. I need to funnel my "natural humor," as my girlfriend said, and be myself. It was a start and recorded on the video above.

Okay! I got to keep writing. Let me know what I should write about.

-Pradeepan