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Recently an old friend who has not seen me do comedy said that to me. Don't say that to a comedian! Or "When are you in town next?" I have been doing shows for almost fourteen years now and this person and I have been friends for years. We are connected on social media so this person knows I am constantly promoting my shows and my schedule is all over the place. As comedians, we spend hours and hours writing and perfecting our stand up. But we also spend just as many hours and hours promoting our shows and, at my level of headlining, checking our ticket sale numbers to see how shows are doing. Sometimes shows get cancelled because we don't have enough tickets sold, or other times, we have event like NBA finals affect our show dates. Most of the time, we have nice crowds and sometimes, we even have a sell out! It's hard to always email and text friends and family to remind them of shows when we are in their cities. It's even harder when you do and they don't show up. I have tried new ways to get fans. Through new marketing technology I have subsribed to, I have "found" people who are like me and may enjoy my brand of comedy. Thankfully, I am at the point where most of the people who follow me on social media or attend my shows were strangers to me not too long ago. That feels good. Recently I told this story to a friend of mine who routinely sells out theater sized shows now and, thankfully, does not need to worry about tickets sales anymore. He laughed and told me that the same people who would say they "need to come to a show" (and never did) are now hitting him up to see if he can get them into a sold out show, or if they can come back stage after his shows. He usually tries to help them out or gets them back stage. I wonder if I would be able to do the same. Either way, I hope to be in that situation soon. hashtag#standup hashtag#comedy hashtag#formerlawyer hashtag#careerchange hashtag#wednesdaywisdom Photo by @sarahlarson 
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So my whole podcast, Why Are You Awake is about being a night owl. I have always been a night owl and comedy has just made my night ritual even worse. After shows, most comedians are wired and are often awake for hours on end and shows sometimes go late into the night and early morning on weekends. Lately, on the road and at home, I have been watching bad old 80s TV shows like Highway to Heaven, Perfect Strangers and Knight Rider. The goal was originally to help me sleep because there would be no way I would get invested in the shows. Sadly, the shows are often so bad that I am invested! Two of these shows were weekly requirements for me as a child and one I would watch just because there was nothing else on (Highway to Heaven). Watching these shows now help me sleep, most nights. I need the TV on to fall asleep, yes! I should probably read instead. Not all comedians are alike though. In the immortal words of Balky Bartokomous, "Don't Be Ridiculous!" And its been fun listening to other comedians and creatives tell me what they do to come down after the rush of a show. Check out my podcast (anywhere you listen to podcasts) to hear more about other comedians after show rituals and creative processes or watch it on my youtube channel. What's your bedtime routine? #standup #nightowl #podcast #uplate  I used to think every joke needed to land and crush and if it didn't I would get so upset. Then someone told me how in baseball if a batter gets a hit 1 every 4 times, he is a Major Leaguer and if he gets a hit 2 out of every 5 times, he is an All Star. I say that to comedians now all the time. Why do we need to crush every 30 seconds with a laugh? Unless I am recording something big, I now force myself to do something new every show. Whether its a new joke, a new tag or a different way to deliver a joke or start a set. Its the only way we can grow as comedians. As for a joke that doesn't land, I usually go to a "classic" joke that will crush immediately after and get me back in good graces with the audience. When I know I am trying a new joke, I sandwich it in between two jokes that I know should work. Its whats called a sh*t sandwich. If I know I am trying a new joke, thats what I will do. I will try it after something I know will do well and follow it with another joke that I think will do well. If a joke doesn't land and it's a crowd that came for me, I usually will acknowledge it and make a self depracating joke about it not landing. Last night, I had a joke that I sometimes close my set with and it didn't land, so I just said "well, that was supposed to land the plane, guys!" and that got a laugh to get me off the stage. #standup #formerlawyer #jokes #careerchange  Playoffs are poison for comedy. I recently did a show in a city where their team was in game 5 of a NBA Playoff series at the same time and within blocks of my show. So many people who had tickets to my show, didn't even show up. Stand Up Comedy can't compete with sports. When I schedule shows in Chicago, I am mindful of sports schedules. This goes back to when I used to book music shows with my company Shoeshine Boy Productions. We booked shows at multiple venues in Wrigleyville, where the Cubs play, so we always wanted to avoid certain nights for live music. When booking my Parkinsons charity every year, I always make sure to check the Bears' schedule so I know I am not competing with the Bears. Chicago takes it football seriously, even when the Bears are not great. Numbers for shows are down overall for all comedy clubs, especially in the Midwest where people want to enjoy the weather. Add to it NHL and NBA playoffs and the uncertainty of the economy, its hard to sell tickets for most comedians and comedy clubs. I am hopeful that will change soon. #comedy #standup #formerlawyer #formermusician  Yes! I wish I wrote Gary Gulman's state abbreviation joke or John Mulaney's "Whats New Pussycat joke" (Go watch them now if you have not seen either). Before I started comedy, I loved Jim Gaffigan's food and religion jokes too and wish I could write like that. I love storytelling comedians and when I started, that was 75% of my set. Given people's attention spans both online and in person, I have tried to write shorter jokes with quicker punchlines so my set is about 50% story telling now, depending on how much time I am doing. Lot of peers have amazing jokes I wish I wrote as well. You should check out comedians like Jim Flannigan, Geoffrey Asmus, Kristen Toomey, Dan Docimo and Dwayne Kennedy, to name a few. Also thank you to all the new friends and connections I have made. Hope you can make it to my shows in Champaign, Indianapolis, Nashville, Naples and Boca Raton Florida in the coming weeks! If you have friends in these cities and like my comedy, please send them to my shows. My website has all the details. (link in comments) #standup #comedy #formerlawyer #bestcomedians #joke #writing  |
AuthorPaul Farahvar is a comedian hailing from Chicago, Ill. Archives
May 2025
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