RichardPryor.com Forums

I will soon be setting my first milestone in the art of stand up. My first Open Mic, and not at any old club. It's the Comedy Connection in Boston. It's in 2 more months.
All I know is, I better not bomb. The same thing that every first-timer thinks. Maybe I'll suck back about six Vodka and Cranberry drinks before I do my thing. But I better not bomb. I think I have it all figured out, but if you've done this before, I imagine that you're smiling because once you're in front of all those waiting eyes.... it's do or die time.
I can see it now.... Me, standing there silent, shaking like a hooker in church, sudden amnesia, slowly shitting myself, sweating like R. Kelly in front of his Momma, you know the routine. Some asshole in the front row yelling, "Hey, look, he pissed himself!!!
Okay, I'll have ten instead. Liquid courage. I'll go to the local supermarket, buy a package of Depends just in case, and go for it. Fuck 'em! Wish me luck and I'll keep you posted......

Jermane S,
Good luck to you! I"m not a comic myself but I follow the careers of alot of comics. Hope ya make it big! And if you DO make it big, hows about lettin me build YOUR website (I am trying to get into web designing myself).

Jermane S,

I wish you the best. But sometimes it's worse when you do well. Lulls you into a false sense of security. My first time up was great. My second time not so great and my third, disastrous. But you'll progress, evolve, overcome and excel in time..

Jermane S,
How long have you been writing jokes? Because If you just started then you're in trouble. When everyone first starts writing they think everything they write is good. I think my first joke was hey are there any fat whores in the audience? That's just an example. Be confident in your jokes and in yourself you have to know you're funny too, it'll show through. Oh and analyze your set and count how many times you find something funny, and divide it in two. That's how much laughs you'll get if you're analyzing your jokes correctly. Hey but bomb anyway, that way you'll be amongst the greats.

boner,sneakypreacher, mojones

Thanks for your comments and best wishes back to you.....

Yea, I wish you luck... Stand up is a very talented profession and I know its not easy... I did it at a friends party and erm... left the table which I stood on as a stage with orange juice in my hair... Thats when I knew I wasnt destined to be... so started Rappin' insted.. good luck again..

Funn DementaLL,

ONE MORE WEEK until I go up on stage. I've been all over the web trying to find out anything I can about doing it right the first time. I made the mistake of telling my friends about it and now they all made plans to come watch.
It's one thing to embarass yourself in front of people you'll never see again, but your friends is another story. I guess I'll just have to wait and see. Statistics say that 99.9% of first timers bomb within 2 minutes. That's really therapeutic to know. I have a .1% chance of killing them, but realistically I signed up to make an ass of myself.
Then again, what fun is life without taking risks? Tuesday Dec. 28th, I'll give you all the full report on my night at open mic..... Merry Christmas Everybody!!

Jermane S,
NEVER LET EM' SEE YOU SWEAT!!!
And

GOOD LUCK HOMIE!!!

Jermane S,

Let them see you sweat--sweatophiliacs in the crowd will like you more. But really, good luck. And keep at it no matter how it goes, unless you have a dream where God or Richard Pryor tells you that he's not proud of you. But if you havea dream where your dad tells you he's not proud, disregard it.

astonamous,

How weird....I mean check this out. I had a dream that I was in Cali and it was a party at the Pryor's home. I don't know how I got there, but there they were, Jennifer and Richard with a bunch of other people just socializing. For some reason though, Richard never said anything to me, he just sat there with a cigar and gave me a look. Not a bad look or anything, but what I could read was "If you want to follow in my footsteps go ahead, but you gotta be one bad mutha fucka, jack...." and then I woke up and started writing. Had me wondering ever since.