There are many opportunities to practice your stand-up comedy on stage. This article discusses several of the ways and places to hone your stand-up comedy skills.
Showcase Clubs
These are unpaid, but they have space for you to get stage time. Showcase clubs will generally have a lineup of 10 plus comics each night, whereas traditional clubs only have three. Ensure your growth and improvement as a comedian by getting yourself a regular spot at one of these clubs. You will be able to perform consistently and see rapid improvement.
Pick a club to be your hangout.
As mentioned earlier, building relationships with the people who work at clubs gives you an advantage. Find a club to make your regular hangout, and get to know the staff. This will show your dedication and get your more stage time. It is a tough road, but stick it out and everyone will know that you are serious about your career.
Clean Routines.
To really hone your skills and improve your comedy, consider using clean routines so that you are not just getting shock from foul language that shatters the assumption of society’s morals. Plus, you will never be able to use foul language on network television. Now, you are probably thinking about comedians such as Eddie Murphy who use foul material, but he and many others got their start on Saturday Night Live. Eddie also got a lot of his stage time in movies where he had to act as well as be funny. You will also find that clubs are more likely to book clean comedians; most actually insist that your material is clean.
Be Considerate of Time
The clubs you find will have time restraints. Beginners often make the mistake of going over time and creating a bad reputation for themselves. The club wants the whole show to end on time, so be considerate and respect the time restraints.
Put Your Own Show Together
Offer to arrange a comedy night at a restaurant or bar that has a P.A. system and microphone. You may have to do a little work convincing the manager of the establishment that it will help bring in more business and not cost them anything. And, to pull off your own show you will most likely have to do all the organizing on your own and pay for the advertising on your own, but you will have a great place to perform. There is always the option to find other beginning comedians to get in on it with you. You can then share the responsibilities and the cost.
Take some time to discuss what you are doing with the owners and see if they will let you build a small stage. Having a small stage gives the comedian a psychological advantage. Being level with the crowd can make being funny difficult.
One way to ensure you have an audience at your show is to have the other comics bring the audience with them. Have their amount of time on stage be determined by how many people they put in the audience, and if they don’t have any they don’t get to perform. This is a very popular technique being used in comedy clubs right now.