When you are competing in a contest, like the Funniest Person In Louisville contest, you want to get the audience on your side. Here are some things you can do to win the audience over:
Be confident and energetic on stage
Audience members feed off your energy. If you appear comfortable, confident and happy, they will go on the ride with you. Keep your head up, look at the crowd and do your thing.
Avoid body language that makes you look nervous or bored on stage, like looking at the floor with your hands in your pockets or rubbing the back of your neck.
If you look tired of your own material, how do you think the audience feels?
Act like this is the first time you’ve ever told these jokes
Standup is a performance. Your goal is to deliver your set as if you’ve never said these jokes about your mother-in-law before.
I recently saw a comic do crowd work and prepared jokes back and forth. He raced through the prepared jokes at twice the speed like he couldn’t wait to get through them.
If that’s how you feel about your material, how do you think the audience feels?
Skip the controversial stuff
A good comic can do jokes about anything, but certain topics are particularly dangerous.
If you do jokes about politics, you may lose half the room. If you do jokes that are homophobic, transphobic or racist, you will turn off audience members and some judges.
Over the years, we’ve had plenty of audience members rip comics they felt crossed the line on their ballots.
Also, you don’t have to be clean, but if your material is too dirty, you are going to lose votes.
Keep it tight
You can win the audience to your side with a laugh in the first 30 seconds. So go up planning to get that quick laugh. Don’t waste that time asking everyone how they are doing or rambling before you start telling a joke.
Take your time and sell your jokes
You should know what your punchlines are and where you expect/hope the audience to laugh. Emphasize them.
Often, comics will go through their set at the same speed and tone. Help clue the audience in when you expect them to laugh. Pause or speak up. If the audience doesn’t clearly hear the punchline, they aren’t going to laugh.
Also, you should have some feeling about your material and show it. You aren’t an AI joke generator yet. Let people know that you are angry about this thing or confused by that thing or frustrated or happy. Show some emotion.
Look for opportunities
One way to help win over an audience is to include them. For example, you could do a callback to something the host or another comic said or something that happened in the room.
Remember to move the mic stand and don’t run the light.
Good luck!
