Any of you try to do stand up comedy at open mics? Buddy and I went to Helium tonight to watch the open mic sets. We have been attending toastmasters for awhile now and our goal is to do an open mic sometime this summer. Some of the people were really good at helium, while some were really bad. Have any of you done any sets at an open mic?
So many questions! How long ago? How did you do? How hard was it to get put on the list? Where did you perform?
I've been trying to work up the nerve to try it, but I'm not sure I'll ever be able to conquer the stage fright. PDX Comedy Blog has a list of local open mics: https://www.pdxcomedyblog.com/openmics/
I did it for a year. I fucking sucked. I got put on comcast once - when they did an open mic at Harvey's. I have so much respect for people who even have a little success with Stand up. It is really, really difficult. It's easy to have the stage presence (which everyone said I had), but when it comes to actually being "stand up" funny (which is vastly, VASTLY different than just being funny), that takes a lot of skill and that comes from trial and error, really.
No, I haven't been to a Toastmasters meeting. I've been to a bunch of open mics just to listen, trying to work up the nerve to sign up.
I hate public speaking. I will never be completely comfortable with it because I'm an ambivert who resorts to being an introvert in front of people I don't know. Toastmasters has helped dramatically in that regard. If you're having issues working up the nerve, i would suggest attending to see if that nerve subsides just enough to give it a go at an open mic.
Yes, years ago I have a colleague talk me into going to a few meetings with him and another fellow. Never found it to be exactly my skill. Later, I found it was easy to stand up and tell people what you want to tell or sell. Really damned hard to stand up and bull shit unless you are the character type. Bottom line is, Toastmasters won't hurt, but more that a few won't help many of us and some of us just have to accept being a nerd, and make sure we have the entertainer introduce us to do work, maybe even stand by to rescue.
It really is the best bang for your buck in professional development if you lean towards introvertedness. Its only like $40 every 6 months. And, it looks great on the ol' resume.
There are good classes available that go much deeper into technique. One will even teach you to pause and look about during delivery just like Obama.
