Getting Gigs Archives - Stand Up Comedy Clinic

Getting Gigs – Student Byron Valino Hits the Road

The dream is to stand on stage, hold that mic and tell your jokes, do your bits, get some laughs. Then you usually want to do it again... and again. But after doing the mics around town, getting in your fair share of 'bringer' shows, something gnaws at you to move beyond that. You want to do it in front of a 'real' audience. Some of you might even have the desire to take your act on the road for a spell. And get paid. So how do you do get to go on the road and get paid? In a word, the answer is 'work.' Hard work.

“You Changed My Life!” Can You Turn a Supermodel into a Comedian?

So I said to this model: "I'm going to send you an email with an introduction. Let's pretend that I am an emcee introducing you on the stage. I want you to answer the email and come up with a response that you think is funny." In the email said: "Ladies and Gentlemen, our next performer comes to us from the world of high fashion. In fact she must be really hungry because I just saw her in the green room devouring an entire Tic-Tac. Please help me welcome, Eugenia Kuzmina!" About twenty minutes later, I received an email from Eugenia. Her response was: "Devouring an entire Tic-Tac. That is funny, but not true. I am a model, I would never eat an entire meal at one sitting..." We booked our first meeting.

Nobody Has the Credentials to Tell You “You Can’t”

Rejection. We've all had our fair share, right? Being in the business of entertainment; being a comedian a writer, an actor, exposes you to more than your fair share, I believe. Some of us are more affected by rejection than others. We take rejection as ostracism and we can do damage to ourselves and our careers if we take it too deeply to heart. I don't know about you but I know some people who have given up after too much rejection. The problem is sometimes too much is only once. But the good news is I think we can learn to smash through rejection and overcome it.