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I performed stand-up comedy for the first time last night. I didn’t bomb, phew!  

I’ve been a comedy fan for my entire life. I grew up listening to all of the greats on albums and watching them on TV. I studied improv at Second City in Toronto. I’ve performed improv in Canada, US, England, Scotland, and Ireland. But standup comedy is a different medium than improv.

In improv, actors rely on one another to support and build a scene together (or to save them from one with a stage swipe) using the audience's suggestions AKA gives. Standup is solo, though. You’re on your own. 

As a keynote speaker, I’m pretty comfortable on stages in front of audiences. I’ve delivered many presentations to thousands of people over the years. Audiences are more forgiving in these arenas because they are there to learn. 

A presentation can’t be crammed with countless facts alone; that would be a train wreck. But a comedian is the opposite when you replace facts with jokes because their success metric is the number of laughs they receive in a set.  

Stories are the medium used to deliver facts, gives, and jokes. 

I’ve performed at several storytelling events over the years. This experience is vital for professional speakers, improvisers, and comedians to consider. Stories are the medium used to deliver facts, gives, and jokes. 

When I think of my favorite comedians, it’s all about the story. Developing that narrative and fitting the jokes within makes excellent comedy.

Tips for first-time comics (even at 50-years-old)

Here are some tips if you’re planning to perform standup for the first time. I'm no expert, of course, but here are some things to consider. 

Build a network. I took stand-up comedy classes at Third Coast in Nashville. I wanted to learn about standup performance, but my second goal was to meet other newbies. This support group will give you honest feedback and hold you accountable. I believe this is crucial. Thanks to Caitlin Price for joining me!

Arrive early and plan to stay late. I arrived just as the doors opened at 7:30 to be sure to add my name to the list. I was the tenth name, and the sets were four minutes. In theory, I should have been on stage at 8:10, but I didn't get selected until - 10:00. The host was choosing people he knew first, but I understand why this is if the host is considering the audience. He needs to be sure the audience is having a good time and won't leave.

Prepare, prepare, prepare. I wrote my script on paper. Then I transcribed it on my computer. I printed that script to rehearse and added the main bullets on a notecard (large enough to refer to on stage without my readers. I’m fifty now, and I need readers - you will too.) I then paced across my living room floor back and forth with a timer reciting the performance. Over and over and over. My goal is not to bring the card on stage with me. It’s best to have more than enough content because, on stage, your nerves make you go faster than planned.

Study the art. I watch stand-up specials on Netflix and YouTube all of the time. I listen to brilliant podcasts like Good One, where the host Jessie Fox dissects hilarious comedy with the actual comedian. I also recommend storytelling podcasts like The Moth and This American Life. See live comedy! Note what you like and dislike from other comedians when you are in the audience. Be there to support these brave people!

Respect the house and the host. When the host flashes a light or gives you a wave, it’s time to wrap it up. As a speaker, I’m anal about time because I want to respect the next speaker, the audience, and the meeting planners. You can throw the whole schedule off if you go over your time speaking at a conference. You also want to respect the club for providing a space to perform. Order drinks and generously tip your server. 

Record your set. As cringe-worthy as it is, it’s essential to review your performance. Count the laughs (I got nineteen in four minutes for my first time, I included chuckles.) Note where you can improve—test new bits. You can buy a little tripod for your phone or ask your friend to record it for you. The recordings will reveal how much you’ve improved over time.  

Keep smiling. It’s easy to feel deflated when you’re picked last (or third from last.) It felt like my attempts to play sports in grade school. Since it was an open mic night, many talented comedians were testing new material, while others were amateurs attempting stand-up for the first time (like me). Regardless, smile and stay positive, and do your best up there. 

If at first, you don't succeed, try try, try again. This was on a fridge magnet at my mum's house when I was a kid. It was solid advice. I love this quote by Norm MacDonald about bombing, "Comedy is surprises, so if you're intending to make somebody laugh and they don't laugh, that's funny."

Want to hear more about my adventures with standup? Follow the journey here.

If you're looking for more advice on performance, writing, and comedy, check out this blog post. 

What’s your experience with stand-up comedy? Have you performed before? Would you like to try? Leave a comment, I’d love to hear from you.

I'm a slow reader, so when I finally finish a book, it's a big deal to me. I wish I could burn through books like many people I know, but I need to nurse them like a fine wine. I do my best to take notes and highlight sections that stand out to me. I did this a bunch reading Judd Apatow's book, Sick in the Head: Conversations About Life and Comedy. 

The book is a collection of interviews with many of the biggest names in comedy, from Jerry Seinfeld and Chris Rock, to Mel Brooks and Sarah Silverman. It's a treasure trove of thought provoking advice about life, writing, and performance.

I have always enjoyed Apatow's movies like Funny People, Knocked Up, The 40 Year Old Virgin, This Is 40, and I loved Freaks and Geeks. All of his work speaks to me. What I didn't realize was how dedicated he is to the art of comedy. 

It begins with guts and dedication

Some of the interviews in the book are from the 1980s when Apatow called comedians to request interviews for his radio show. When they agreed, they didn't realize a 15-year-old high school kid would show up with a tape recorder. That takes guts and dedication. He did air the interviews on his school radio station, so it wasn't a lie, but the station didn't broadcast past the walls of the school. 

Apatow went on to perform stand-up comedy in Los Angeles. He seemed to cross paths or work on projects with some of the best names in comedy. He was an executive producer of The Ben Stiller Show (one of my favorites), The Larry Sanders Show (another favorite), and so many more classic shows and movies. I love that he has been inspired to start performing stand-up again after all of these years. 

Reading Sick In The Head has reinvigorated my interest in performing comedy. I've written here before about studying and graduating from Second City in Toronto. I even had my own improv comedy troupe for about a year in Galway, Ireland, where we performed every Thursday night. I've never done stand-up, but I have material floating around in my head and in notebooks, so who knows. I also used to record fake radio shows and crank calls, when I was a kid. Garry Shandling mentioned that, "for some reason, every comedian he knew pretended to have a radio show as a kid." Perhaps I should take this as a sign.

I learned so many lessons about life, writing, and performing from the interviews. I have transcribed them below for you. I highly recommend you pick up a copy of Sick In The Head. I expect each reader will find gems that apply to themselves. There are many more guests in the book like Steve Martin, Martin Short, and Steve Allen. Here are the quotes from Sick In The Head that stood out to me most. I hope these inspire you too. 

On Life... 

Albert Brooks

• "There's no line at the bank for being ahead of your time."

• "Be generous and you can be the best person who ever lived."

• "The subject of dying and getting old never gets old."

Chris Rock

• "You learn more from fucking up than you do from success, unfortunately. And failure, if you don't let it defeat you, is what fuels your future success."

Keegan-Michael Key

• "You've got to delegate. Trust people and delegate."

• "But then you get the tools, and one of those tools is the confidence to say, "Of course I can do that."

Louis C.K.

• On setting goals... "I had a direction in my life."

Sarah Silverman

• "You don't get what you want, you get what you think you deserve."

Spike Jonze

• "I always wanted to know why before I believed something."

• "...but in skateboarding, the city is a playground. Look at things differently."

Eric Idle

• "People are always interested in conversation because they don't get any."

• "To tolerate assholes is not a good idea - it only encourages them."

David Sedaris

• "Don't expect everything to work."

Jay Leno

• "You learn from the bad jobs. You don't learn anything from the good jobs."

Judd Apatow

• "…success never satisfies whatever you thought it was going to do for you."

• "As soon as I let go, everything went better….my career took off."

• "I feel like, as creative people, we're all on this journey to get comfortable with who we are, to understand who we are, to find a way for our art to express that."

• "…life is about finding ways to connect to other people…"

• (On Garry Shandling's advice) "You have to have a dream before you can execute it."

• "…they have a vision, and they work their asses off to make it a reality."

• "A lot of the need to be productive is the terror of things falling apart."

• "(Jay Leno) made me want to treat people kindly."

On Writing...

David Sedaris

• "When you become a grown-up, you realize how much weight your words might have -- to a younger person."

Jerry Seinfeld

• "It's one thing to see something. And I think the next step is to do something with it."

• "If you always want less, in words as well as things, you'll do well as a writer."

Garry Shandling

• "The most important thing a comic can do is write from his insides."

• "Whenever you turn to what the organic state of any given character is, the fears and the anger and the struggle, you're going to get conflict and a lot of hilarious stuff."

James L. Brooks

• "It's worth it. Writing is worth it."

• "You can't do your best work when you're self-conscious, when you're conscious of yourself."

Jon Stewart 

• (On comedy writing for Daily Show) "I never think about its purpose. I think about its process…"

Mike Nichols

• "What matters is how much it connects with people."

Sarah Silverman

• "I tried to teach myself how to think ahead."

Stephen Colbert

• (Quoting a teacher) "Write what you know, and write what you are interested in."

Jay Leno

• "The whole trick to being a successful comedian is to make fun of the things you like… So you find a common bond with people… everybody has a TV, so you talk about TV."

Judd Apatow

• "Start with an incredibly immature person who needs to learn a lesson."

• "Think in terms of the human story." Garry Shandling… "Yeah, this is the big bang of it."

• "Then I read somewhere that the best gift you can give other people is your story…"

• "…you write movies to figure out why you're writing the movie."

• "And that was probably the turning point for my whole career, realizing that the little moments that I thought were boring or just not interesting to other people are actually the things that people would be most interested in."

On Performance...

Garry Shandling

• "What you see on the stage is really how I am when I'm funny."

Amy Schumer

• (On Seinfeld advice to repeat his material) "Not everybody's watching everything you do, you know."

Harold Ramis

• (On improv) "focus on making everyone else look good because in that process we all look good."

Chris Rock

• "When you get real (honest), you have your biggest success."

• "When he (Louis C.K.) revealed himself, the whole world connected with him. "

Jay Leno

• "You just get better the more you do. The real trick is to listen to it and throw out everything that's not funny." Do this with a tape recorder.

Judd Apatow

• "It is interesting if you watch the arcs of so many comedians. At some point, they just become themselves.

• "Hearing what's in your mind truly makes people feel less alone and gives them hope for things that they want to do and get through things that are difficult."

• "Do not be afraid to share your story, or to be vulnerable and open when telling it."

• "Talking about this kind of stuff onstage means a lot to people. It frees them up to not feel ashamed for struggling. "

Lena Dunham

• "There are always people telling you that your experience doesn't matter, that it's navel gazing or unnecessary… But we do need to hear it, because that's who so many people are! I mean, it can be the difference between someone feeling like they have a place in the world and someone feeling they don't… art has a place in making people feel less alone."

The Main Conclusions...

The main conclusion I can draw from Sick In The Head is to be brave and honest enough to write and/or perform stories about your life. It's our stories that resonate with the audience and readers, especially when they are familiar. Treat people kindly and be complimentary. Don't fear failure. Believe in yourself. 

Even if you don't plan to become a comedian, you should start a journal and write every day. David Sedaris said, "(In your journal) each morning look at the day before and think, Okay, what was the defining moment of the day? What was the most interesting thing that happened? What was worth remembering?"

Next Steps...

I think this is a great starting point for me. I am also already getting involved with Nashville's comedy community. In the last two weeks, I have seen one improv show (LOL Nashville), several stand-ups, and even went to see Louis C.K. perform. Keep your eyes open for these hilarious local comedians, Michael Hampton, Nate Bargatze, and Dusty Slay. 

I've been talking to Luke Watson who is doing amazing work with Third Coast Comedy. I'm craving to perform improv again, maybe even stand-up. If you're subscribed to my newsletter, I will let you know when this happens.

Go grab a copy of Sick In The Head. Be sure to follow Judd Apatow on Twitter. The man is clearly a genius and generous person. I'm excited to see what new projects he has planned for us.

UPDATE: Suddenly, I'm performing improv again! 

Photo from Flickr by Sonia Recchia for Canadian Film Centre.  

I was listening to Marc Maron's WTF podcast. He was interviewing comedian and comedy writer, Brian Kiley. Kiley has been a writer for Conan O'Brien for more than 20 years. He is a tremendously successful comedy writer, but it wasn't always that way. 

He explained to Maron how he used to go out of his way to visit a local library to watch old footage of his favorite comedians. This was way before YouTube and this whole internet thing. In order to master his craft, he had to make a point to study the greats.

Kiley described how he once shared a small apartment. In order to stay up late writing jokes, he would go to the bathroom and sit on the toilet lid. It was the only source of light he could use without waking up his roommate. Sometimes his roomie would knock on the door to actually use the bathroom. 

It cracked me up how Kiley said he now does the same thing when he is with his family in a hotel room. He uses the toilet as his chair and the bathroom light for reading and writing, so he won't wake anybody up. 

Sometimes you need to take the extra steps to get the work done and to become the best at what you do. Even if it means working from a toilet in the middle of the night. 

Check out the full episode of the podcast. Maron also interviews Brian Posehn, who I love!