Headliner Level Performance In Just 9 Shows? Meet Killer Stand-up Comedian Wendy Bax
If you think that you need a hundred or two hundred performances before you can deliver a headliner level performance, then you might want to check out Killer Stand-up comedian Wendy Bax.
Wendy is a 42 year old stay-at-home mom based in Portland, Oregon who had been told for years that she should take a shot at stand-up comedy. In June of 2008 she attended the Christian Comedy Association Conference and it was strongly recommended by top comedians at the conference that she get her hands on the Killer Stand-up Comedy System.
In July 2008, she started working with my system. By April of 2009, Wendy began performing with a local comedy group in Portland called “TIME OUT! The Mother of All Comedy Shows”. Her first performance with that group was only her fifth time on stage.
The YouTube video that I am about to share with you of comedian Wendy Bax was filmed in Jan 2010 and represents Wendy’s 9th stage performance. In this video she averages a whopping 23 seconds of laughter for each performing minute (PAR Score 39) for her 10 minute set in this video:
What’s important to note here is that Wendy’s 9 performances happened over a 19 month period, entertaining audiences as the sparse performing opportunities became available.
And on top of that…
She has been able to reach this performance level without the usual deeply blue and vulgar material that many female comedians use today in their stand-up comedy acts.
I am the first to tell anyone that the speed at which a comedian can excel is directly related to the number of performances they can accumulate (and improve).
But it should also be very apparent from Wendy’s video that the quality of preparation for a gig not only matters greatly, but also allows new comedians to make the absolute most out of the least amount of performing opportunities.
Such is the case with comedian Wendy Bax, who has only just scratched the surface of her comedy potential.
Here’s the way I look at it:
If a 42 year old stay-at-home mom can reach headliner level in just 9 performances, then there are really no excuses for those who are funny and willing to work to get the big laughs.
Keep up the fantastic work Wendy!
Cheers,
Steve Roye
The Professor of Funny for Money
For more information about Steve Roye, author of this blog and the Killer Stand-up Online Course, click here.
Tags: Killer Stand-up Comedy System, stand up comedian, Wendy Bax
I must say, I enjoy reading this blog. By the way I discovered this site through Bing.
Ok several things;
First of all, Wendy’s success is phenonmenal and worthy of commendation.
But second, I take issue with her being considered MORE accomplished by not working blue.
But let’s first understand what I mean. The reason corporate pays more, cruise ships pay more, is because it is tailored to a general audience. What does “general audience” mean? It basically means older children and people with moralistic reservations. When you can cater to this type of audience, the normal conventions of “funny” can be difficult to do. Sex jokes, jokes about drunks may be blue; they make themselves funny by simply doing what the proper mechanism of “funny” does, going outside the norm. Hence, its easy. Being clean however, is not easy. Which is precisely the reason it pays more. Simple economics. Its in low supply because of its difficulty to produce.
But Wendy can play to her audience. That’s good. That’s decent marketing. If I were an agent, I would never stick her in a comedy club on a Wednesday night. The combination of alcohol and the type of draw brings a “party crowd” that I feel Wendy would be in over her head. We are all comedians. Yet, we are all niche markets. Wendy is different that Lisa Lampanelli insofar that she can entertain a general audience and Lisa cannot. However, Wendy cannot entertain a nightclub audience where Lisa is able to fly.
A student newspaper 5 years ago remarked my act as “A lewd comedy routine that had the audience in stitches” but despite its rather complimentary nature (plus I won the $100 talent show competition) I felt that it wasn’t actually “lewd” per se, because I felt I talk like most people talk.
Clean comedy is an artful side-step of what is normally funny. Kudos to those who can do it. But please, Steve, be mindful that she cannot be effective upon all markets.
You are welcomed to take issue with my comment, but I stand firmly behind my remarks.
Let’s make something clear…
I pass no judgement, morally or otherwise, on a comedian’s choice of comedy material. But any comedian who can work clean AND slay an audience IS working at a higher level. End of story.
Most comedians don’t work clean because they CAN’T and still get the audience response they want. That’s not an audience issue — that’s a comedian issue.
Any comedian who can generate 24+ seconds of laughter per minute IS working at comedy star level, whether they are blue or not and puts them into the upper 1-5% of working comedians anywhere. I can OBJECTIVELY prove that, which tends to piss off comedians like you even more.
Blue comedians are a dime a dozen and locked into the low paying, overly competitive comedy club market.
It appears to me that you are justifying your own act based on your skill level. That’s low level thinking where I come from.
Clean comedy only matters to those who want higher paying work in the other 99% of markets available to comedians that actually pay very well. And it takes much more skill to do that than to tell dick jokes in a comedy club for $20 and a chicken sandwich.
The Prof