How to Do Stand-Up for the First Time

Stand-up comedy can be nerve-wracking, especially if it’s your first performance.

My first stand-up performance was in college. After that, I joined an improv team. That was honestly unrelated to stand up—I auditioned for the improv team before the stand-up show. But I couldn’t stop thinking about stand-up until I tried it at another open mic opportunity during my junior year. It went pretty well, and I realized I was hooked.  

Now I try to do at least one stand-up show every month, which is a pattern I’ve been following for about 18 months. Beforehand, I was doing stand-up on a less regular basis starting in 2014.

Over the years, I’ve found that as nerve-wracking as stand-up can be, it’s ultimately so fun and rewarding. I recommend everyone try it.

5 tips for doing stand-up comedy for the first time

To help you calm your nerves or shake any pre-performance stage fright you might be feeling, here are some tips I’ve learned over the past several years doing stand-up comedy.

1. Write with friends

Stand-up is even more fun when you’re performing for friends. It can also be fun to prepare for your stand-up set with a few trusted individuals. Share your joke ideas. Run through your pacing and delivery. Listen to your friends’ feedback.

Both comedians and audience members can provide great feedback on jokes. And especially if it’s your first time doing stand-up, getting immediate feedback can help you feel more comfortable with the set you end up writing. I’ve made many “game time” changes and decisions based on last-minute feedback I’ve received from trusted confidants and friends.  

2. Speak your truth

Stand-up is not a time to make up fantastic adventures or life events. It’s a time to be real and truthful with the audience. Be authentic on stage. Share a piece of yourself with the audience. Talk about your real life. There’s truth in comedy.  

When I perform stand-up, I like to weave my past with my present. For example, the other day I was listening to music on YouTube, and an ad popped up about coasters. The coasters were described as wood and metal and state of the art. I wasn’t looking at my device at the time, so I listened to the ad for about five minutes, all the while thinking: “I could use some new coasters.” The ad ended with an exclamation to go to Six Flags to experience these coasters. What a surprise! I thought it was an ad for drink coasters.

Sharing that personal anecdote with the audience has been a recent joke I’ve added. It’s a pretty mundane occurence—confusing one word for another—but it’s worked out really well in several comedy shows I’ve done.

So, what I am saying is: thank you Six Flags. And what I’m actually saying is: the little truthful things that you find funny can be funnier than the craziest story you’ll ever make up when you’re trying to be funny for other people.

3. Don’t look at the audience

Even now I scarcely look at the audience except when I’m doing a bit or sitting with them. The audience can be scary. Don’t make eye contact.

I once read that the eyes are the gateway to the soul. For all I know, that could be true. But, especially if you have friends in the audience, the eyes are the gateway to trying to guess what the audience is thinking. Staring at the audience is only one step away from thinking about the audience, and that is only one step away from wondering things like, Are they having a good time? Do they like me? Why hasn’t that man in the back laughed? I thought I was funny, but maybe I’m not, and I just need to fall back on my charisma and hope.

To avoid this train of thought, I like looking at a space on the back wall, semi-close to someone’s head but not quite there, and focusing on that. It helps to ease some nerves and keeps me present in my routine.

4. Don’t throw away your jokes

If one or two jokes during your routine don’t “hit” or resonate with the audience, don’t scrap them! Save them and try to salvage them. Rewrite them a bit.

I like to give jokes three opportunities to work before I remove them from my list. If the jokes are still not resonating with anyone after three attempts, it might be time to let them go. Believe me, this can be difficult. (I swore I wrote the best joke about outer space back in 2016 that took me months to stop telling.)

Ultimately, it’s best to give jokes a try, but I also go by the adage, “Three strikes you’re out.”

5. Keep doing stand-up

The first time you do stand-up can be a strange experience. But stand-up is very rewarding! Immediately after you finish your first stand up show, sign up for another one. Don’t lose the momentum. Get stage time whenever possible. Keep writing. Keep going.  

You’re ready, trust me

(If you don’t trust me, I hope you have a trusted friend or relative who also tells you that you’re ready for stand-up comedy. But I am a very trustworthy person.)

It’s hard to explain how stand-up—and comedy in general—has impacted my life. There’s this Judy Garland song, “Get Happy,” in which she sings “Forget your troubles/ c’mon / get happy.”  Stand-up is kind of like that…except you’re openly talking about your troubles, and people are laughing with you about them, and you begin to feel a little happier.

I’ve also met really funny people doing comedy. DC is home to a lot of funny and talented people, and it also offers a lot of opportunities to perform. If you’re still feeling nervous, try to catch a stand-up performance before your own show. Watching comedy helps make you a better comedian. It helps you know and understand what you like and how you want to perform. Plus, you might meet some funny friends you can write jokes with!

I recommend everyone try stand-up at least once. If you like it, you should continue doing it. If you continue to like it, you should do even more. Eventually, you may get to a point where you begin writing jokes in the margins of notebooks until 2 a.m. I encourage that.  

I’ve never been good with endings, even on academic papers, but the bottom line is: comedy can really enrich your life, and I recommend that anyone interested in stand-up give it a try.