How To Avoid Bombing On Stage
It is just a fact of life that no matter how much skill, expertise or fame you may develop as a stand-up comedian, you will never be exempt from the possibility of bombing on stage.
Bombing on stage happens on occasion to the best entertainers. It happens with increased frequency to those entertainers who don’t fall into the “best” category.
The reality is this — while sometimes there are environmental or audience conditions that can contribute to a less-than-stellar performance (i.e. microphone failure), most bombing on stage is self-inflicted and can be completely avoided most of the time.
Here are six major reasons why comedians (especially new comedians) bomb on stage:
1. Lack of preparation. It’s a fact that most comedians don’t rehearse their act extensively out loud BEFORE delivering it to an audience.
As a matter of fact, relatively few comedians even make the investment to learn about the craft of stand-up comedy they hope to quickly master.
Just because someone has two thumbs, a pie hole and their friends say they are funny is NOT enough to succeed on the stand-up comedy stage. There is MUCH to know about the art, science and business of comedy if your intent is to become a real comedy pro.
2. Not looking directly at the audience when you are on stage. You should be looking squarely at your audience when you are delivering your comedy material on stage.
This is what gives you control of an audience and lets them know you are a professional. Subsequently, audience eye contact enhances your laughter generation capabilities when performing.
3. Looking at notes on stage. The second you take your eyes off the audience to read notes, you effectively disengage from the audience and lose any chance of momentum you could ever develop with that audience. See #2 above.
4. “Joking” the audience. If you are focused on “joking” your audience with fabricated “jokes” that you “wrote” for which you have absolutely no personal connection whatsoever…
You body language will tell the audience they are being “joked” and they will respond (or not respond) accordingly.
5. Absence of performance improvement reviews. Once again, many comedians simply refuse to record and evaluate their performances for improvement after a failed show — or any show for that matter.
Bottom line: No matter how big or small the audiences you perform for may be, if your PAR Score consistently hovers between 0-10, you aren’t going to go very far as a comedian. Hold onto that day job!
6. Your comedy material is just not funny. Maybe you are trying hard to do your “impression” of a comedian instead of being yourself on stage. Maybe you are trying to “sell” fabricated jokes instead of talking about things that have some personal meaning or influence on you.
Maybe you have fallen into that trap of performing “cutting edge” material like all the “experienced” comedians do, only to find out that your bit about combating a smelly genital area with barbeque sauce really isn’t a hit with audiences.
Here’s a perfect example of what I am talking about from a so-called comedian who decided to offer some of his crude “pearls of non-wisdom” about bombing on his blog (FYI: If you feel compelled to follow nonsense like that guy offers, make sure that you UNSUBSCRIBE from my subscriber list now).
But no matter what the reason may be, you must be self aware enough to know when your stand-up comedy material content doesn’t have the general audience appeal you need to get the big laughs and make changes accordingly.
If you will notice…
All of the items I have mentioned are within the control of the performer.
Of all the advice I could give about bombing, I will tell you this:
If you are prepared and confident, don’t worry about bombing — it simply doesn’t happen that often to those who are funny, prepared and confident.
Be aware of repetitive mistakes that you are making that contribute to your less than optimal performances. Learn everything that you can from each bombing or hell gig experience.
Most of what I know about being a performer came from the relatively few hell gigs I had over the course of a comedy career — not from the gigs where the audiences were perfect, the venue was perfect and I killed the room.
Cheers,
Steve Roye
The Professor of Funny for Money
About the Author/Founder of the SCP Blog
Steve Roye is the author of the Killer Stand-up Comedy System and is a globally recognized expert in the field of stand-up comedy material development and presentation strategies -- for entertainers as well as speaking professionals.Please check out the Featured Articles page for direct links to articles on this blog for pro comedians, comedy entertainers, and speaking professionals.
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Yes, I find that being angry at your audience and punishing the audience for showing up is really the way to get it going. Because god knows you can’t please the audience and stay true to your vision.
Someone has bad communication skills.
Reading your list Steve, it makes total sense why these 6 things would help with not bombing. I’m also a singer and I wouldn’t go onstage without knowing at least 90% of the words to my songs, the timing, the delivery of each…why wouldn’t I do that with comedy.
Confession: I have been in the habit in the last few months of not being as prepared as I once was. I started bombing (ish,not getting the response I used to), and I have since went back to practicing, timing my material, and recording and evaluating my shows.
Thanks for the insight.
Belinda