3 Great Reasons (+ 1) To Start Your Own Show
4. It's a crash course in being a professional comedian
When I was first starting out in stand up, a comedian friend of mine (Liz Laufer, hey Liz!) started a comedy showcase together. We were driving around in my car one day, and decided, let’s start a show. But what should we call it? We decided to count to 3 and whatever the first word we each said would be combined to make a name. That is how Believe Chicken was born.
We produced the show weekly in a bar on Ave A., the name of which escapes me, but it might have been called Bar on A. Over the course of the months we hosted the show, we had all kinds of great comedians who came in to perform. Some we booked in advance, others stopped by and asked for spots. But it was a scene. I met a lot of great comedians there, some who I still know and keep in touch with to this day.
Over the years, I’ve produced many of my own shows. Some of my favorites have been my solo show, “Dirty Folk Rock,” which I toured for nearly a decade and introduced me to bookers and famous comedians worldwide, “A Night of Dirty Songs,” which I put up at Joe’s Pub and was sold out, helping me to create a nice relationship with the folks at Joe’s Pub, and Skits N’ Tits, which was a sketch comedy show and led me to meet Jim and Jeannie Gaffigan, who I’m still friends with to this day, in addition to countless other really fantastic comedians, performers and friends who I love and talk to on a regular basis.
Here are a few great reasons to start your own comedy show, if you haven’t already.
Guaranteed stage time every x # of days.
It’s nice to know that you’ll get to perform for a dedicated chunk of time every week or month, and to prepare for it.
Meet peers and have something of value to share.
Every comedian needs and wants stage time; now you have something they want, and can give it freely or wield your power like a stark-raving beast.
Learn about marketing.
One really perfect side bonus of having your own show is that you *will* learn about promoting your comedy and yourself. You have to learn to shush the part of you that has been told or thinks it’s not cool to sing your own praises. To build an audience, you have to get at least kind of good at doing some self-promotion, and if you have your own show, you’ll get better at it.
Today’s inspo:
This website is like Facebook for comedians | OpenComedy
This website allows you to book yourself for comedy shows anywhere | Gigsalad
Need some pitch deck guidance? | LinkedIn
See you soon.