<p>As someone also in the early stages of their stand-up career, I
understand how hard it is to get constructive criticism on your act
since its mostly your friends who of course tell you how great you
are. So, heres my pointers.</p><p>The beginning was a bit of a
cluster fuck. When you go up to perform, you should be ready to
go. I'll give you a pass with the mic and the chair since the
place wasn't exactly Caroline's but get the shit out of your pocket
before you go up. And a HUGE way to settle nerves is by having
your opening couple of lines down absolutely perfect (don't look at
your cheat sheet). This will settle you down and give you
confidence for the rest of your act.</p><p>The opening of the runaway
bride joke sounded too stiff, like you were reading it off a cue card,
but it stopped after that and the rest of the material was delivered
very well. You had confidence and seemed comfortable on stage
throught the performance, that is key.</p><p>The
transitions need a
little work. The runaway bride to schiavo transition was a little
forced. Either find a different seg or just bring it up as a new topic.
Something simple like 'There's been alot of crazy women are in the news
lately'. The transition from Schaivo to Whoopi was also forced. You
dont'
have to say 'speaking of the movie Ghost'. You can just go right
into it. Like 'she sounds like one of the demons from Ghost (pause for
a laugh)...Ghost, always been one of my favorites. Not because its a
good movie or anything but because i am one of the only people who find
Whoppi G. incredibly hot. Anyone who didn't jerk off...' The
intro into masterbating was good. You just said 'im a big
masterbater, i love masterbating' and you were into the next setup.<br />
</p><p>You didnt get thrown off when something didn't work, you just
moved on. That's important and its something alot of comics have a hard
time learning. You acknowledged it didn't work and moved on. Good. </p><p>The
ballad's material needs a rewriting. Good interaction with the
audience, even though it was your fiance, during the shaving your balls
material. </p><p>The most important thing you can do to improve
your act is, as you mentioned, finding your own comedic voice.
Although it was good material, some of it (cumming on your own
face, shitting) seemed to be written for a persona that didn't seem to suit you
(more like norton like you said). Material like that is not
always accepted by audiences and alot of it gets more groans that
laughs. Norton, among others, get away with it because its always
done in a clever manner and is expected from their show. But the
material will transform after you perform it a couple of times and the
bluer stuff will be punched up. You also really shouldn't go more
that 2 or 3 lines in your setups. It really should be one line
setup next line punch but I find this very difficult myself so I
wouldn't tell someone else to do it but try to keep the setups
short. Keep the pace moving.</p><p>All together, your performance
was very good for someone first performence. You had a stage
presence and good timing which are huge factors in having a good
act. Your own writing style needs more development and the
transtitions need work but definitely a very good job.</p><p>Sorry i went on but i love talking about the art of stand-up. Nice work and good luck in the future. </p><p> </p>
<img border="0" src="http://www.craigsavage.com/Hammer%28Christina%29.jpg" />
eat me
<font color="black" />
<font color=black>This message was edited by hammersavage on 6-8-05 @ 1:57 AM</font>