My friend and fellow comic Andrew J. Rivers made an interesting comment on his Twitter last night:
I don’t think I’ve ever had a video that was as good as the real experience. Just a fact of life I have to accept.
I’ve felt that way sometimes, too. I’ve also had the opposite reaction, where I’ll listen to (or watch) the recording and realize that certain jokes did a lot better with the audience than I recalled at the time.
This is why it’s crucial to always record your set: the human memory is inherently unreliable. When you’re up on stage during even the most low-key open mic, you’ve still got bright lights in your face, your adrenaline’s pumping, and —especially when you’re relatively new— you’re focused on a lot of things other than the audience: the material, your delivery, whether you’re about to trip over the microphone cord, and so on. A recording gives us an objective tool to go back and see how it really went, what went well, and what needs to be improved.
Making an actual recording is pretty easy, provided you have the equipment. Video recordings are preferable, because they let you evaluate your total stage presence, but video recording can sometimes be a logistical challenge. Audio recorders, which are now built into most mp3 players and smartphones, are a baseline minimum.
I have literally never encountered or even heard of a situation where the club/bar owner cared about comics making recordings of themselves, so I’ve taken the presumptive approach and never bothered to ask for permission. It’s better to apologize afterward than beg beforehand, right?
So do I always record my sets? Well, I certainly intend to. There have been several times where I:
- forgot to bring the recorder;
- brought the recorder, but forgot to turn it on;
- brought the recorder, turned it on, but didn’t save the recording properly.
Each step along this trail of stupidity burned a different lesson into my brain, so that my coverage has improved from about 80% in the early going to nearly 100% nowadays.
Then there’s the recording review, which is a whole ‘nother can of worms…
Related entries in Creating a Comic:
- Crowd Work: Playing with the Audience
- Writing For the Stage
- Open Mic: First Timer Primer
- Stand-up Comedy Glossary
- Twitter for Comedians
It makes sense the more I analyze it. A lot of people told me I had the best set of my (short) career last night. Which in hindsight. It was up there. It was pretty damn good. but on video. It just doesn’t reach the epic proportion that people seem to describe it or I remember it as in the moment.
If the laughs are a drug. There’s no substitute for a drug. The nicotine patch probably isn’t the same as smoking. The cigarette between your lips, the feel, the releif of the actual smoke.
I’ve never even smoked but I imagine that’s what its like. I’ve also had several bombs where I look at the tape and I’m like oh, that’s not all that bad.
andrew rivers
July 8th, 2009