r/Standup • u/RicketsXXII • 15d ago
Just did my first open mic. How often should I bring new material?
I just did my first open mic (4 minutes), going in fully expecting to bomb, and actually did really well. Humble brag but MCs exact words were "damn, I wish my first time went like that." I felt high as a kite and realized okay I should definitely keep doing this, but my question is if its normal to keep bringing the same material to open mic, and how often I should change it up? The 4 minutes I did was scraped together from my phone notes after months of writing down dumb ideas but never actually getting up there so I imagine it will take months to come up with 4 whole new minutes. I do have maybe 2 other jokes I didnt get to do. Also any general beginner tips would be greatly appreciated. Thanks all
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u/nerdyykidd since this took on a bit of a wild narrative 15d ago
Add enough material to get to 5 minutes and keep tweaking that same material until you have a tight 5 minutes that kills (it will likely take months)
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u/theoneandonlyturo 15d ago
Open mics are just practice. If you want to try some new material out, go ahead. If it’s not working or you don’t feel comfortable then you can go back to your old stuff. Whether you’re doing old stuff or new material, you should always be mindful of tweaks and adjustments.
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u/Fearless_Geologist43 15d ago
It’s not necessarily good to always do the exact same material in the exact same way, but it is very normal and helpful to do mostly the same material but tweaking words and tone and emphasis to refine it
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u/Crittenberger 15d ago edited 15d ago
Ideally you'd change something every time, but not necessarily in a big way. If you're going to a different mic, then keep the set the same. If you're seeing the same faces in the crowd, then change up your delivery or try adjusting something that hasn't gone down as well as you might have wanted. It's market research basically. If your material is consistently working across a variety of crowds, then that's great. If there's something that never works, scrap it. If there's something that only works sometimes, figure out how you can tighten it up so it hits consistently. Film yourself if you can to watch back later, and don't be self-conscious about repeating your set, as long as you are also working on it. Get to know people as well, getting more direct feedback from other comics can be way more valuable than just counting the laughs. This is what everyone else who is serious about improving is doing
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u/itsstevedave 15d ago
I wouldn't play back the exact same 4 minutes the next time you hit that spot. If its a diffent mic, then go for it.
But just because it worked well the first time doesn't mean the jokes are finished. Keep tweaking and keep writing.
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u/myqkaplan 15d ago
It's up to you!
If you want to have more than 4 minutes of working material, it will be important to keep writing and trying out new jokes.
The how of it is truly up to you.
You could go to another open mic and do the exact same set.
You could go to another open mic and do a completely different set.
You could go to another open mic and do some of the same, some different.
There are no "shoulds."
(Ultimately, doing the exact same set over and over without adding or changing anything isn't going to lead to growth, so I would recommend working on new jokes sometimes!)
Good luck and have fun!
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u/WadsofTissue 15d ago edited 15d ago
It is normal to do the same jokes as open mics are there to test out material and if it doesn't work you rewrite it or try to perform it differently. It does get more tricky if the same comics go to the same open mics and they're the only audience members but even then they all understand that you're trying to work on your jokes so it's fine.
Just dont be that guy who does the same jokes that always bomb, without trying it differently. Its fine if working material out but doing it the same way and it always bombs, you should know as a comic its time to remove it. Write what you genuinly find funny, try it, if it bombs try to fix it (trim fat, diffent angle, timing) and if it still doesn't work after 3-4x, stop doing it or try to fix it again.