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JTF,
Owwwww.......

JTF,

While Richard was wood-shedding for the material that became LIVE IN CONCERT---there were many nites that were bad...and he'd have to pluck a few gems out- like flowers out of a field of weeds...until one night the flowers outnumbered the weeds and all he had was an enormous field of perfume flowers !!!!
Today, comics fear the bomb so much, they aren't willing to do it...so they may grow...not willing to endure silences...or bombs...but it's essential...

Jennifer,

Wow. That's the most poetic display of imagery in a metaphor ever used to talk about working out ones material.

Rock.
Jane

Jennifer, Thank you so much! That's exactly what i needed to hear. To héar you say that is golden words for me. Love you and Richard

I find the frustrating thing is my inconsistancy, I to have a problem doing the same set each time up..if I don't riff or do something different I bore of my own material and don't sell it..And riffing can backfire on you depending on the crowd..

That Old Hippie Chick,thank you..it took a while but the last month has really started to pack in..of course we know the bells and whistles i had to use for that..

danithag,


What I've been taught is to tape or record your sets and analyze them to see what you did right the first time. it could be the attitude you used the first time it went well. You have to try and bring it back or toss the joke.

danithag,

Yeah we all bomb. It's part of process -- especially when you're first starting out. Your experience and mine are very similar. First time I went up, I killed. The second time, was good but not stellar. The third time was so bad, I used a stage name afterwards just to have enough courage to go up again. But eventually, it works just like Madame Lee-Pryor said it would. Your good stuff eventually outweighs the bad. Stick with it....you'll be glad you did. Nothing beats the feeling of making people laugh...

That Old Hippie Chick,

Thats true. Chemistry has a lot to do with it. Each audience has a different personality. Some crowds want to laugh and others don't. Certain venues are harder than others. The Velveeta Room in Austin -- is a perfect example. And then sometimes, you're just "on." You can do no wrong.

I advise people to tape their sets. But I almost never listen to my own. I just got into the practice early on and never stopped. Now I have a billion mini-cassettes around the house that I'm afraid to throw away. Superstitious fool I am. But I digress.

mojones,

I bomb so much that sometimes I feel like a terrorist. In fact, on my recent trip to the states, I went for 33 minutes in San Francisco to a very blasé response--and some of my closest friends were in the audience! It was harsh times. Still, I've found that after a bad set, there are always some people who got a kick out of it. That's a good way to keep a good attitude about it. And I did an open mic at the Velveeta Room once when I was in Austin--believe it or not, I did pretty well. I think there's something about Canadians that charms Texans. Or maybe it's just vice-versa.
Getting back to bombing, it's so weird how failure is such a necessary part of standup, because it certainly makes it hard to separate long-term shoddy 'comedying' from merely 'working stuff out'. All I know is that it seems that it can take a real long time before anything pays off.