Creating a Comic

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I'm your host, CJ Alexander.
This is my blog about breaking into stand-up comedy.


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Archive for the 'Overheard Backstage' Category

Psychological defenses

Friday, November 26th, 2010

Overheard Backstage peers behind the curtain (or brick wall) into the offstage area where comics gossip, bicker, and make each other laugh. How does a comic keep soldiering on during those gigs, in places like dive bars, where the audience isn’t paying any attention? Discussing that question with each other after the show, one of [...]

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The worst stage fright I’ve ever seen

Saturday, March 27th, 2010

(I’m filing this under Overheard Backstage but it’s really more of a Witnessed Backstage…) The worst case of stage fright I’ve ever seen was by an open mic rookie at Giggles. He was a scrawny, bespectacled college kid who might charitably be described as socially awkward — at a later open mic he would make [...]

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Daniel Tosh asks: “Is it racist?”

Wednesday, March 10th, 2010

The other night, a few of us were talking backstage about Jeff Dunham; specifically, whether his act could be characterized as little more than racism with puppets. That debate, like most of its kind, is unresolved and ongoing. The conversation segued to the general topic of racial humor, and we spent a little while feeling [...]

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The glamorous life of a stand-up comic

Wednesday, December 23rd, 2009

Overheard Backstage peers behind the curtain (or brick wall) into the offstage area where comics gossip, bicker, and make each other laugh. My friend Andrew was talking on the phone with a comedy club owner, the latter trying to book Andrew to perform at a particularly unappealing show. During the phone call, one of those [...]

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Do not ride the light

Wednesday, December 16th, 2009

Overheard Backstage peers behind the curtain (or brick wall) into the offstage area where comics gossip, bicker, and make each other laugh. Today’s entry is short but contains an important lesson. When a light is flashed at the comedian during their act, their time is nearly up. They are supposed to wrap up and get [...]

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