Shayne-Michael.COMedy

Road Comedy NO .3: Adapting On Stage - by Shayne Michael

After you have tailored your act it's time to step on stage. Chicken wire may have been torn down by the last act. There might still be beer bottles lining back stage smashed into the wood tile at strategic points. Cowboys might sit at the bar. They may hiss at you as you talk over their favorite episode of the Dukes of Hazard. You do you're best bit about sex as the town slut looks at you in disgust and yells, "Liar. Nobody would do you, even in a joke."

The bar owner may own several guns. One might hang over the bar. Three others might hang under a swordfish he won in Fort Peck Montana. At least one was fired recently. That bar tender and his dog, who sits faithfully at his side, can probably shoot a tin can from a mile away. Some times he can even hit that can if a tree is in his way. It's a skill he learned during his militia days.

I love the road.

Even without my help, young comedians over visualize every small-town cliché possible when they play the road. In their mind, they're already in the movie Deliverance before they enter the town they're about to play. When they step on stage they do nothing but look for signs that prove what they've already accepted. Don't do that. Each of these elements are parts of a small town, but only parts. You probably won't see all of them in any city you play. Don't start by visualizing an audience that's not going to be there. If it was the town from the movie Deliverance, they probably wouldn't have invited you in the first place.

Yes you will see things that make you uncomfortable. There will probably be guns hanging over the bar. I can almost guarantee it. However, it's probably not going to be loaded. Don't focus on what might be there so much that you don't see what is there. Don't let the row of bikers in the front row prevent you from seeing the kind toothless couple rolling joints in the back.

Sizing Up Mountain Men, I Mean Montana

Shows are different on the road. But the differences are predictable. Road shows are more intimate. Crowds are smaller. People sit closer to the stage. The lights are dimmer. The audience tends to know each other better. That makes it easier to get laughs if you peg someone's characteristics or flaws. It also makes the audience speak out when you peg people incorrectly. If you call a lady a slut and she's a saint, small town crowds will know. Remember, in small towns everyone knows everyone.

You can't hide behind the bright lights of a comedy club. You will see their faces; the audience in turn will see yours. Because of this you need to hone your improv skills and be able to interact with people. When you can see into the eyes of each audience member, you have to come off as sincere. And, your act needs to seem more spontaneous, even if it's not.

Learning Improv Skills

The quickest way to become comfortable with improv is to start asking simple questions. The point is not to get a laugh. The point is to get comfortable talking to the audience. If a joke comes out of the interaction, it will come naturally. Don't force it.

If you feel uncomfortable with improv, open mics are a great place to practice. At open mics material rarely works anyway. That's especially true if you're in front of twenty comics who have heard your act one hundred thousand times. They can probably finish your punchlines without you. Why not walk on stage with nothing and just talk? See if you can't translate uncertainty and meandering direction into laughter. The more you practice the better you will get.

Start by simply listening as much as you speak. Start by asking yourself why is the show is unfolding the way it's unfolding, as you stand on stage.

But I Can't Do Improv, Even In LA

Yes you can. Let's say an improv bit gets a loud laugh from a lady I know is drunk. First I ask myself, "Why?" The answer is of course, "She's drunk. She'll laugh at anything." Then I ask myself, "How can I use that?" Let's say another joke bombs. I look at the same lady and deliver my next joke to her, knowing this joke is an even worse than the one that bombed. After the joke, I pause knowing she'll laugh at it, because she'll laugh at anything. The fact that she's laughing at such a moronic joke makes everyone else crack up. Then I call the situation. "Lady you might be the only person drunk to laugh at my material." From that point on, I can use that lady to bring energy back to the room when my material tanks. When a joke does well, I can use her to make it seem even stronger.

You don't need to be an improv genius to make your act more dynamic. In order to make your act more dynamic simply use each audience reaction to understand the crowd a little better. Be in the habit of asking why some jokes work and some don't from the stage. Just asking this question will cause you to adjust your act, even if it's just subconsciously.

Sometimes comics avoid learning improv by writing down every response the audience could give them and every comeback that the comic could answer with. What if she says this? Well then I'll say that. What if the bar tender says that? Well then I'll say that. What if the guy with the gun shoots this? Well then I'll dial 911, steal his Harley and ride away like I'm living in the sequel to Fletch.

This type of writing is a way of not thinking during the show. It's just as easy to ask yourself these questions when you're on stage. Comics only avoid the questions when they're in a robotic delivery mode. Keep in mind you can't answer every "what if" possible. That's why improv skills become critical. By improv skills I mean no more than feeling comfortable enough to ask yourself two questions while you're on stage. Why did that work? And, why didn't that work? You'll know instinctively if your answer is funny enough to use.

Listening To The Show

If you're in a new city, and someone's up before you listen to their set. If there are possible hecklers, learn who they are before you walk on stage. If someone asked that heckler, "What do you do for a living." Make sure you know the answer. People don't like answering the same question twice. Even though you are a different comic you're part of the same show. People naturally expect the next comic to be better than the one that came before. For that reason, you want every advantage possible. One of the strongest advantages you can get is to be able to build on what has already happened. Don't ask "what's new" if the last comic did shots of the town slut.

Even the drunks in the audience won't have missed that.

Observe which jokes and premises are not working for other comics. If you notice a premise doesn't work for anyone else ask yourself why. Let's say it's a fishing town and the first comic does a joke that shows he supports tighter government sanctions against hunters. Maybe the joke bombed because the same government regulations almost killed the town economy. Maybe that's why the entire town is at a bar on Wednesday afternoon. Maybe you need to be careful with jokes about Big Brother. Especially when the bar tender, who doesn't pay taxes starts to believe your an IRS spy from the nation's capitol, Albany New York.

If you're up first use test jokes. For instance, in South Dakota I walked 20 people with a rendition of the Top Ten Commandments. It's a long 2 1/2 minute bit where I make fun of those backwards religious folks. Who wouldn't laugh at that? Half the audience had come directly from church. The other half was going to church after the show. The other half was sacrificing virgins at dawn and couldn't be there that night. I was up first. Nobody could have given me a clue the whole city was Jesus fanatics. I didn't see anyone walk on water before I got there. The town was out of fish so who would have figured?

Now I open that two minute bit with a one liner where I invite a preacher who won't stop knocking on my door into my home. After he comes in, he asks, "Do I want to talk about the lord?" I answer with, "Sure, would you like to first join the Jehovah's Witness and Mormon Missionary at the bottom of my pool." The one-liner clearly conveys my attitude about religion. And using it, I can gauge the audience's attitude on the same subject. If they start to hiss, I know to drop it and go straight to the material where I call my ex a heartless slut who hates Jesus.

I Don't Get This Audience

Every now and then you play to crowds that make you really uncomfortable. Maybe you play for real cowboys on an off night. You delivered your best one liner. They just sit there picking bugs out of their beards and stare at you as if you're the Hatfields and they're the McCoys. You're sure someone's about to use their Lasso and pull you off stage. In some cases, that would have be an improvement. Maybe at a college bar in Aberdeen South Dakota, full of three hundred gorgeous college females dancing seductively, you heard a brunette yell you suck. And you were hoping to yell those words to her.

In my case, I was terrified of college crowds. My material is smart. College students were dumb. Actually, they're not, they just consider other things important. Those things that are important to them, I never touched on. I do almost nothing on sex or drugs. That type of material is boring and overdone, to me. So it's harder for me to connect with college kids. It's also harder for them to connect with me. I learned on the road to try to meet these types of audiences half way. I don't dumb down all the way to their level. However, I won't discuss Steven Hawkings new book with them either. What I might do is discus how Steven Hawkings might write a book on sex if he were on pot. That type of material would challenge me and interest them. There's never a reason you can't do both.

Why aren't they interested in Steven Hawkings? This is a question you should be able to answer on stage. Imagine an angry student yelling back at me, "Hey, if I wanted to here a lecture on physics I wouldn't have ditched lab to watch your show."

Adjusting When You Bomb & When You're Da Bomb

So what do you do, when you bomb? On the road new types of audiences are givens. You will play for black audiences. You will play for Hispanics. You will play for bikers. You will play for southern black Hispanic bikers.

One thing won't change. Jokes will either work or they won't. If a jokes doesn't work you must note why and adjust your set. If a joke works, on the other hand, you must note why and adjust your set. That isn't a misprint. The formula is the same for bombing and doing well. Either way you're trying to improve on what you did before. One answer tells you what to do; One answer tells you what not to do.

When a joke doesn't work your natural instinct is to move quickly to the next punch line quickly. It's a self-defeating defense mechanism. That's the comic saying, "They didn't laugh at that. let me move quickly to the next punchline. The quicker I get there, the more likely they'll forget the last one." Fight that tendency to speed up. If you do anything, slow down. After a bit bombs, ask yourself why. It only takes a second. Odds are, you were suppose to pause there anyway. If you don't you'll break up your natural rhythm. If you can't answer why, no harm done. If you can, you can make better decisions from that point on.

Here's an example. On the road when I did a joke about LA traffic I lost the audience. It turned out they had one traffic light and two stop signs. Material about driving was like a foreign language to them. What that meant was for the rest of my act was I don't discuss traffic, overcrowding or big city life. If I did that material, what I would be showing the audience is that I don't listen, I only talk. In some places, that even offends the men.

I have another strong joke, I hate to leave out. The joke involves me taking a nut and bolt on a roller coaster and as I throw it over my shoulder yelling, "The rides falling apart and we're all gonna die." It's a great joke. It's fun to deliver. It's fun to visualize the children scream as I deliver the joke, but I digress. Now imagine that same joke heard by someone who has never left Harding Montana. Imagine it's delivered to an audience that has never been on a roller coaster. Imagine that I tell it in a town that thinks Disney Land is the place in Florida with the great big bubble-shaped hotel that has a rodent problem. Great jokes only work when people can relate to them.

That's incidentally why sex material is so overdone. It's a safe bet everyone in the audience can relate to it. And those who can't aren't likely to admit it. In small towns even the women put up with sex material more. Remember, only give people the type of material they're willing to swallow.

Adjusting When You're Da Bomb

It's just as valuable to ask yourself why a joke worked as it is to ask yourself why it didn't. If a joke about my dad kills, what can I assume? I know it's a family joke. Maybe this audience is very into family. Maybe if all my family bits are doing well I should spend more time on on those family jokes I usually drop from my act. I don't usually talk about my Grandma. But in a room full of people who think about nothing but extended family it's a good time to share how grandma knitted condoms for the old folks home. Maybe it'll make a small town in Florida nostalgic for apple pie.

Don't Over Rehearse Or Overact

I'm not big a fan of acting bits out to death. Among other things, it takes too much time. I never know exactly what I'm going to say or do on stage. You don't want your blocking to be too rigid. Words are hard enough to adapt midstream from the stage. When you're movements are set in stone they're even harder to change. When you rehearse, I advocate delivering material several different ways so you aren't locked into a overly rehearsed rendition. Look for common threads between the methods of delivery you like. Those common threads are much more important than knowing which angle to move your foot, as you lean back 45 degrees and pretend to Steven Hawkings falling from his chair in a pot induced stupor, while your right hand pens your next great book, "Life, The Universe And Everything, How Douglas D. Adams Stole My Fuckin' Ideas..." Who cares if its your right or left hand?

Remember, a soap opera is still a soap opera, even in Montana. Don't oversell a joke. If a joke doesn't work, the audience isn't connecting with it. Make the joke clearer first. Any acting you do should make the joke easier to visualize and comprehend. But, if you've already pushed the joke to a point where the audience can easily visualize and comprehend it, and they're still not laughing: more facial expressions, more hand movements, and more attention to blocking won't change the underlying problem.

They got the joke. They just didn't like it.

Imagine overacting like this. A joke doesn't work. It doesn't work because the audience honestly didn't see it as funny. So you deliver it again, only louder. Here's an example. In my mind, Beavis & Buttehead was a moronic show. Well, those two high school misfits are gods in most college towns. Rather than listen to their reactions and opinions, I made my opinion even clearer. I ignored their faint hisses. I made crisp, clear, well blocked out impressions of the moronic Beavis and Buttehead fans. I praised the show's cancellation. I mocked the creator. Would you want to follow me that night?

Practice acting out your material. But don't insist on selling material that can't work. The only way to know when to stop selling material is if you know why the audience isn't buying it. On the road, bringing a strong visual presence to your material will help you sell your act, just not to someone who hates the material from the start. There's a point where the audience understands exactly what you're saying, they just don't like it. More acting and a louder voices will not change their opinions. Just move to material that they want to hear.

Common Threads In Comedy

The more shows you do on the road the better you will become at performing. Some general principles of good comedy apply to the road. Start strong. Handle your mistakes quickly. And always tie your ending back to your beginning.

Clear endings matter. Nothing's worse than an act that just stops without warning, well, except an act that never seems to end. The second worst type of act type you feel should have ended three times but is still going. Look for early signs that your ending might not work. If you're closing joke might not work, make sure you have at least two other ways of closing your show. However, the only reason you should use an alternate ending is when the first ending dies yet your overall act was still strong. If the act was weak don't end twice. Comedians are the only entertainers I know who do the encore even when it wasn't asked for.

Summary Of This Pamphlet

This pamphlet talks about how to adapt when you're on stage, even if you hate improv. It's about making the most of your mistakes. It's about making good decisions better. Let go of your prejudices and don't assume the room is a living cliche. That image is more a product of your imagination than reality. Start every show by sizing up the audience. Who is there? Are they already drunk? Were they drunk before you arrived? Talk to people before you even start the show. When the show starts, watch the comics who are up first. The less comfortable you feel, the more observant you should be.

Don't dumb down. But don't expect the audience to understand things that aren't commonplace in their world. Meet them half way. Come halfway to their level. Let them come halfway to yours. Handle the jokes that are not working. Do it by taking the time to ask why things are and are not working. That simple pause will help you connect with your audience and make you much less likely to repeat premises that can't work. That way you not only avoid the wrong subjects, you also emphasize the right ones.

Have a strong opening. Have a clearly defined beginning, middle and end. And make sure your ending ties back to the beginning. Always have at least three ways to end your act. But don't use your second ending when the entire act bombs. Along the way, act out your material without overselling it. Overacting won't help you make your point.

You can't avoid every bad show. You can learn something from every reaction you get. That knowledge will give your act a dynamic quality. With each joke that passes delivering good material will become easier and easier. And, by the time you finish, that toothless biker polishing is rifle and cleaning his mounted swordfish will be your biggest fan. Who needs the Dukes Of Hazard when they have you?