Tougher than it looks (comedy update)

So we went to the open mic after class again. This time, tough, we stayed and observed the Comedy 202 class do their thing. I must admit they seemed unprepared, and I am thankful to be part of such a talented class. One of the better students from class went up and had some mic issues. Basically he was impossible to hear, and he remarked that the lights are something he was not prepared for. There is a lot more that goes into this than it looks, but I am confident that I will one day be very good at this.

One thing our coach said on the first day is that it is the cardinal sin of comedy to copy someone else's material. There was a guy who went up on stage and told a bunch of Steve Carrol jokes. Of course he sounded great, but I was very offended. On top of that he was promoting his show at Second City, which is doubly wrong to profit with someone else's material.

Writing material is hard, but rewarding. Here is my experience: you write 20 jokes and only like 1 or 2. Once you have like 15 you like you have a set. But then the audience will only like 25-75% of the jokes you liked. So basically, only 1% or so is good enough, but you did a lot of work to get that 1%. So don't steal.

UPDATE: Next week the documentary guys are filming the open mic. I will be going up, my coach will go up, and his private student that is featured in the film. Wish me luck