Openers
I went over my sets past to present with a buddy and he pointed out something that I knew I was having a problem with but wasn’t doing anything about. I have a weak opening. Not only are my opening weak, but for the first few moments on stage I am scared and nervous and have that little bit of panic. I am adjusting to being in front of people that are staring at me. My eyes are getting use to the lights. I’m trying to remember what my first joke will be. It’s not good.
You have 3 seconds… the audience decides if they initially like you or not in the first 3 seconds. Think about when your “channel surfing”… how much time do you give it before you change the channel?
So I went to my go to WWJD What Would “Judy Carter” Do, Her DVD's and Book are literaly my Bible.
You have to open with a joke or statement that defines who you are or what you’re talking about. So they (the audience) know what point of view your set will be delivered from. Take Rodney Dangerfield for example… he starts his sets with “I tell you, I get no respect” then goes into his set and that becomes what he is known for.
Stand up sets all have a beginning middle and an end. You need to have your openers and closers figured out. Your opener needs to define what’s funny about you or your point of view. Your closer has to leave them wanting more. We need to understand who you are… the audiences are strangers they need to “Get You”!
You can either talk about your looks, your race, or any other obvious thing about you.
Think about who you are? What your POV is, who you’re trying to be, what’s funny about you.
Don’t do the hack opening. Like “Can you see me behind this mike stand” or “So where you from? I’m sorry, no I heard you… I’m just sorry” It’s called hack because it’s not original and not that funny.
Some of my buddies are good about riffing about the audience or the venue or even the traffic outside the club. That is great for people who can riff… I need to learn that, but until then I need some go to openers.
Don’t open up with something that isn’t really like you. Don’t start off all about drugs or dirty if your set is not going to sustain it. If you start dirty the clean isn’t well accepted. Don’t assume that people are interested in you; you need to get them interested.
Avoid clichés: I know what you’re thinking How you all doing? (They are doing just the same as all the other comics that just asked that question before you went on.)
I once did a show in a rough bar with a crowd that scared the poop out of me. I was more afraid for my life that just getting booed off the stage. I was out in the middle of no where and they did not look like an open minded crowd, and me having nothing but gay jokes (positive not fag jokes) made me feel like a target for a hate crime.
So I sucked it up and thought of a way to open the show that would work to my advantage. I wasn’t sure how it would work but I knew I needed a good opener.
“I opened with: So have you ever been the butt of a really bad practical joke? They told me this was a gay bar, and I can only see 4 of 5 of you are gay, and all I have are gay jokes… At that moment they said tell them… and I did my set and they paid attention and it was a good set… The opener made my set.
I didn’t realize the importance of a good opener until then, but also did not write any openers. All I did was get on stage and start my set. I didn’t learn.
My homework last Friday was to start writing openers. I only wrote on so far and performed it. Because I wrote it right before my show it wasn’t the strongest delivery, but it did the job and I am realizing how important they are here is the set with the opener. It is supposed to help me set up my bits and hopefully be funny.