READING THE ROOM

People often ask me if I change my material depending on where I am performing. I know some comedians do this while others refuse to change anything. My answer is I change it a little, depending on the room, but I never change my voice.
If I am working a "clean" show or a corporate gig, I of course will change my material to work with the guidelines given to me when hired. If i am asked not to use the "F" work, I can easily abide. The same hold true for working with headliners who ask me to avoid crowd work or topics too close to theirs.

Most importantly for me, however, is reading the room to see what is working, especially noting what is working with the other comedians before me. Sometimes what I preemptively believe will or won't work in a crowd before hitting the stage is dead wrong! For example, I recently thought the older conservative crowd I was working with would be prudes when it came to certain jokes I have, when in reality, they loved them more than my "safer" stuff I assumed they would prefer. The great part of stand up comedy is that you gave immediate feedback and can use that to craft the remainder of your set. I am fortunate to have well over an hour of material to work with to adjust or tweak, without losing my voice.

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