Comedy New Talent Night - Showcasing on Stage

The Comedy Club Stage and New Talent

You think you're a funny guy or girl and you've gathered enough courage to perform on New Talent Night at a local comedy club like Zanies Comedy Club, the Laugh Factory Comedy Club r the Improv Comedy Club. How should you prepare to face a room full of strangers and make them laugh?

Write Funny Material

First, you need your arsenal of funny material. Take time during the day to sit down and write a joke with a simple joke structure. The simplest and most basic form of joke writing is "set up and punchline". "Setting up a joke" is providing basic information about an experience or topic. It establishes a place, a feeling and a presence. The punchline element produces the surprise and the unexpected ending. A genuine surprise elicits laughter from an audience which proves your joke is effective.

Memorize Your Jokes and Rehearse Your Comedy Routine

Memorize your jokes and rehearse them either mentally or verbally. Create a visual picture in your head of the subject matter and your first jokes will be more easily committed to memory. Continue rehearsing your jokes daily until they can be recited out loud and with confidence. Achieving a relaxed conversational tone will demonstrate command of the stage and put an audience at ease.

Avoid Improvising Your Act

Many new comedians assume they can stand on stage and be an "off-the-cuff" guy or girl. This can be a dangerous assumption. The first time on stage can be intimidating and it is very possible that increased nervousness will steal your mental reflexes and response time. You will be facing lights and strange faces as the audience stares at you, and you alone. Most likely, you will feel robbed of your humorous creativity as you know it. Having a solidly memorized "set" of material will give you a performance safety net on stage. It is better that improvising skills are utilized once your comedy club audience is engaged and laughing.

The first time on stage triggers the primal fear of facing a roomful of unfamiliar faces. You are taking on a very formidable challenge when standing on the comedy stage. Don't be too hard on yourself. Congratulations on conquering a fear that is only second to death. It does get better and more fun as you feel more comfortable on stage and as you get to know your "character". Performing on a weekly or nightly basis will make the joke writing easier and the performances will appear more natural. Taking those first few steps on the comedy stage are giant leaps in terms of personal goals and a lifetime of effort and enjoyment.

Carrot Top - Behind the Scenes with the Comedy Stars

Before Carrot Top landed a very sweet consistent gig in Las Vegas, he took his very funny prop comedy act on the road.  I first met Carrot Top at Zanies Comedy Club in Chicago.  Carrot Top was headlining for the week and I was the feature act.

     I knew I had a rough road ahead of me because pre-plastic surgery Carrot Top was a very cute redhead and he already had a huge fan base.  When a comedian becomes semi-famous and draws a crowd, his or her fans do not relish the twenty to thirty minutes they spend watching the feature, or middle act. 

    The room was packed and Carrot Top Fever was in the air. I delivered the best show I could but the impatient crowd did not return my energy.  I felt defeated.  That sense of defeat was amplified when Carrot Top hit the stage.  The crowd went wild with his first “How you guys doin’?”

     Carrot Top can work a room.  Each prop and joke surpasses the cleverness of the one preceding it.  At the time, his piece de resistance was a joke about fellow comedian Pee Wee Herman who had recently been arrested for indecent exposure.  Pee Wee Herman starred in his own funny children’s show even adults enjoyed.  However, he fell out of grace when he was caught playing around in a movie theater – with his privates.

     Carrot Top held up a jumbo popcorn container with a big hole in the bottom and shouted out, “Pee Wee Herman’s Popcorn Box!”  The crowd went wild.  It was a true eruption.  The audience was totally in sync with their comedy hero and it was in stark contrast to the ambivalent way they had welcomed me.

     I wanted to level the playing field.  I decided to play a joke on Carrot Top during the second show scheduled for that night.

     Following Carrot Top’s awesome performance, he chatted with fans and then made a beeline for the second floor green room where he could rest, relax and gather his thoughts for the second show.  Carrot Top did not watch my show and I decided to take advantage of that fact.  He would not know what I was planning while on stage.

     The second show started and I was met with the same ambivalence as the first.  They wanted Carrot Top.  I decided to get in on Carrot Top Fever.

     Because he left his trunk full of props on stage I had access to Carrot Top’s entire act.  I opened the trunk and saw the giant popcorn container with the hole in the bottom.  I held it up to the audience I said, “This is one of Carrot Top’s favorite jokes.  Let’s play a trick on him.  When he holds up this container and says, ‘Pee Wee Herman’s popcorn box ‘(big laugh), don’t make a sound – not a sound!”  I could see the delight in the faces of Carrot Top’s fans.  Everyone loves a good joke.

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     Carrot Top was at his best.  The crowd was with him and he was getting ready for the kill.  He reached into his trunk of wonders and pulled out the popcorn container.  “Ladies and gentlemen,” he said in a booming voice, “Pee Wee Herman’s popcorn box!”  ….  Silence…. Not a sound!  “Ladies and gentlemen – Pee Wee Herman’s popcorn box!” he shouted again.  Nothing!  The Carrot Top fans were pulling through for me!  I was stunned, delighted and even a little bit scared (of who might be kind of upset!) 

     “Ladies and gentlemen,” Carrot Top said as he stooped forward toward the crowd, “What don’t you guys get?  This is funny.  Really.  This is funny!  How can you not laugh at that?” Carrot Top held it up one last time, waved it around and dejectedly gave it a long toss into his long black trunk.

     Facing a sea of Carrot Top fans, his loyal audience let me into their circle to have some fun that night. Carrot Top demonstrated great sportsmanship when he found out the audience was in on the joke.  He took it all in good spirits and that night he was generous enough to let everyone share in the spotlight.