There is just no means to estimate the precise number of performances it will take for a certain person to successfully do a stand-up comedy routine.
I say so because there are simply too many unknowable variables at play to be able to meaningfully answer that question for any given person hoping to garner a lot of laughs as a comic.
Some people can start killing spectators after just a few stand-up comedy shows. Others may need years to achieve their goals.
But in my opinion, the following is what you should know:
When it comes to garnering the biggest laughs with their stand-up comedy act, a comedian can advance at varying rates depending on a variety of critical elements, including but not limited to:
1. Talent level. While most people who take a stab at stand-up comedy believe they have more than enough comedy talent to become a comedian, the reality is that not everyone does.
The real problem that most new comedians have is that the sense of humor and comedy talent that they use in everyday conversations never makes it to the stage because:
- It’s discounted or ignored.
- It’s deemed not “good enough” for audiences (even though it is what led them to stand-up comedy in the first place.
- It’s replaced with a writing process that doesn’t begin to reflect a person’s sense of humor or comedy talent.
But this is just small sample of the roadblocks for who do have enough comedy talent to kill an audience (again, which is most people).
2. The stand-up comedy material development process. Most new comedians are absolutely clueless when it comes to how to develop and structure a stand-up routine based on their own individual and already well develop comedy traits.
As I mentioned earlier, they opt to try to “write” their way to being funny on stage, which tends to severely hold new comedians back from ever actually “killing” an audience with their stand-up comedy act.
There are all kinds of reasons why “writing” in a literary sense like most so-called stand-up comedy experts say it must be done fails the new comedian.
But the primary reasons “writing” doesn’t work is because:
- Writing is NOT talking and physically expressing oneself while talking, These are two very different forms of communication.
- A person doesn’t develop the sense of humor and comedy talent they have from “writing” — they develop it from talking and interacting with others.
- An economy of words is REQUIRED as a comedian. Writing only involves words designed for a reader and DOES NOT involve the same word economy that is present when talking and physically expressing oneself with others.
3. Pre-show prep. Most new comedians are very poorly prepared to deliver a stand-up comedy act that is going to generate big audience laughs, if they are prepared at all.
As a matter of fact, the only time most new comedians “rehearse” is when they actually get in front of an audience – which is way too late.
Why anyone would want to step on a comedy open mic stage unprepared is beyond me, Stand-up comedy is challenging enough as it already.
4. Performance improvement. Most new comedians have no idea how to evaluate recordings of their act for performance improvement on a show by show basis.
Ironically, with the exception of having the baseline comedy talent needed to be a comedian (which again, most people have all they need), all the other factors I have presented above are within the control of the comedian themselves.
So what I have presented in this article should give you a very good idea why some people can begin killing on stage as a comedian in very few performances and why others may need to have hundreds of performances under their belt before they can attain significant audience laughter.
It should also give you a pretty good indication why talented individuals who use and apply the actionable information provided in the Killer Stand-up Online Course don’t usually have to wait for many months or years to start killing on stage.
And the faster a comedian can start killing audiences (getting big laughs) with their stand-up comedy act, the faster they can gain momentum in their stand-up comedy endeavors.