Creating a Comic

There’s one piece of equipment that you’ll almost always find up on stage at a comedy club: a microphone resting in a mic stand.

A lot of comics like to walk up on stage, adjust the height of the mic stand, and do their acts right there, with the mic still in the stand. If this is what you’re comfortable doing, fantastic; good luck and have a great set.

Other comics like to perambulate around the stage to varying degrees, and doing so means taking the microphone out of the stand. If you do take the mic out of the stand, remember to move the empty stand out of the way afterward. A friend of mine who shall remain nameless is constantly forgetting to do this, and it’s an unnecessary distraction from his otherwise great act.

If you absolutely can’t be bothered to move the empty mic stand, at least don’t stand behind it. Some comics are in the habit of leaning on it or standing next to it, which is totally acceptable:

Bill Burr demonstrates acceptable mic stand posture

But just leaving the empty stand between you and the audience gets in the way of your act—and besides that, it just screams “rookie.” Move the empty mic stand.

 — Posted by CJ under Creating a Comic. Please comment or trackback!