This is a subject that I’m really just starting to learn. The truth is that every time I try out new material, I feel like I’m taking the stage for the first time again. The jokes have never been tested and I have no idea how the crowd will react.
Sometimes, they go over well and other times they fall flat on their face. In which case, they are either marked off the list or sent back to the drawing board in order to be polished or rewritten.
But that’s the cool thing about open mics and comedy. It’s a learning experience. You have to bomb in order to one day succeed. Great comedians didn’t get that way over night. They have done their jokes over and over and over in order to work on their timing and the overall presentation.
Doing new material is never easy. Especially when you have other jokes that you know go over well. To me, it’s worth it to try new things and take a risk of failure. Who cares, right? It’s only 5 minutes and chances are no one will remember if you bombed or not.
But I also feel like my job at open mics is to make people laugh. So if no one laughs, I have failed. But failure is necessary in order to become better. Learn from your mistakes. Take the stage and embrace the bomb when it comes. Sure, no one is laughing now, but who knows? Maybe in a month or two when you’ve worked out your new set, you’ll have the whole crowd gasping for air. Probably not, but one can dream.
My advice, always be taking chances. Don’t settle for doing the same jokes night after night, especially if you have some new stuff you want to try out.
Sprinkle in the new jokes into your regular set and see how things go. If you bomb, you bomb. But at least if you bomb, you’re learning and growing and that’s what is truly important.
Keep writing and keep trying.
