A Beginner’s Guide to Stand-up: Two Beginner Myths
Photos: Ian Aber at Hot Mic; Hollis Gillespie
Hollis Gillespie, award-winning humor columnist, author and NPR/TV commentator, has started doing stand-up comedy. She’s a beginner, and here is her personal guide.
Myth #1 – It’s your job to be funny.
Wrong. It’s not your job to be funny. It’s your job to bomb until you become funny. For example, I would never have known booze can ruin your set, even though Jay Leno once told me, “If it ever comes down to me and another guy, and the other guy drinks, I win.” (Side tip #1: As a beginner, a good rule is to never brag about your stint on the Tonight Show. But I hate rules so this marks the billionth time I mentioned it.) So I get it now. Alcohol makes you think your delivery is amazing, but then when you listen to the tape of your set the next day you sound like an overmedicated mental patient.
Or, worse, you could do what I did last December at an open mic called #MEATS hosted by Justin Thompson and Justin Clements at a BBQ restaurant in West Atlanta. I was at the end of the list, drank three cocktails while waiting to go up, then stumbled around bombing so badly that one of the Justins had to take me by the arm and gently lead me off the stage like a Boy Scout helping a tottering grandfather across the street. So I don’t do that anymore. See? I’m learning. Like a beginner. And now I know why bartenders generally aren’t super joyous about open mic nights, because the only people buying drinks are beginners who don’t know any better.