He has a 45 min routine and he keeps mentally rehersing it before he sleeps. The problem is he gets to the end of his first chunk (about 5 mins in) and he starts to loose his motivation and he starts for the top again.
I know the feeling all to well. It's normal to stress like that.
Any advice I can give him?
You've given him good advice so far. Tell him to concentrate on developing a 5-7 min solid set. By solid I mean a strong 5-7 min set that always gets strong laugh per min (LPM's).
Once he's comfortable with that set, and has performed it in front of a variety of audiences, then he can begin to develop a 10-12 min set.
For TV and festivals, they only look for 5-7 min, with a possible 10-12 min if needed. Most of the shows he'll do for the first 3-5 years will only ask him to perform about 5-10 min, so stressing the longer sets now doesn't help.
However, with that being said, tell him to constantly write new material and once he's comfortable with the material that works, add in a new joke or two to the set and work it in that way.
Also, any new joke should be performed about 5-7 times in front of different audiences before one can know if the joke works or not. Even if it fails 2 or 3 times, try it at least 3 more times before choosing whether to keep it or not.
Hope this helped Larni. Also, I'd be more than happy to e-mail him if he wants.
- Oni
A great video for him to watch is
Comedian - by Jerry Seinfeld. It's a great example of how even someone as seasoned as Seinfeld had to work his way back into comedy after his show was over.
quote:
Jerry Seinfeld is a working stand-up comic again. COMEDIAN is a candidly revealing, intimately observed, and often very funny look at what it takes to be a comedian. On-stage, Jerry delivers his hilarious brand of observational humor. Off-stage, he struggles with difficult material, confronts self-doubt, revels in small successes, and accepts help and support from friends and colleagues, including Colin Quinn, Ray Romano, Chris Rock, Garry Shandling, Jay Leno, and Bill Cosby. COMEDIAN also discovers the sharp wit of rising young comic Orny Adams -- outspoken, insecure, and fanatical about becoming the "next big thing." What emerge are two fascinating journeys by two contrasting personalities who have some surprising parallels.
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