Learning to MC
I was thrilled to be asked to Host or MC an Open Mike night…They even paid me to do something I would do for free…It was great. Thanks Hijinks!
The Best 10 Bucks I ever made.
So,I was asked to MC or Host an Open Mike and just so happened I was asked to MC/Host a real Show for a group of comedians I think are way better than I am… So I was very nervous. I did go to a seminar last year about the things to do when you MC… From the Laughing Buda Comedy School (Yes I plugged it, thats what you do when you blog! ) so I had the basic textbook Idea of hosting. Own the stage, Welcome the Audience, Make the audience feel comfortable and Rehabilitate the room after a comedian bombs…
So I arrive early, find out any early announcements, make sure I can pronounce all the comedians names. Now because this was an “open mike” and I would most likely not know most of them I decided to give the show a theme of Pet Peeves…so I just gave a random pet peeve to a comedian as I introduced them… I also realized how I need to get better at remembering names and use the list less.
Example: Our next comedian’s biggest pet peeve is when Hollywood actors name their kids after inanimate object…give a big hand for John Dow.
The first few comedians I introduced I did not say the comedians name LAST and (Lex) the guys putting on the show advised me to always end the intro with the name of the comedian…witch made a lot of sense and were great awesome advice! So the name is what they hears as they see comedian for the first time. Thank Lex!
I opened up with 2 new bits (Not usually a good idea) because it was an open mike and luckily they did well, and I was very lucky I had those, because I ended up doing all of my bits through out the show…I was not planning on making it the Jess Carpenter show… and thankfully it did not come across that way…Its just that open mike night has a lot more valleys than peeks so I was trying to pull my “A” material to bring back the audience.
I learned that I became more relaxed as the night moved on, each time I got on stage it got easier and I was less nervous. I also realized I need to make some short quick bits that I can pull out at any time… My new goal is to be a better MC and Comedian… I want to host more and have fun… I want to make my shows feel like its my party and I am their “host” not just a reading names of the next comedian up.
So my game plan for this real Hosting Gig I have this month will be to do a solid 7 to 10 up front all my “A” material, then have a couple small bits if needed but these comedians will be strong enough to just have me keep the show going.