Even if you are a ridiculously talented comedian, you will always bomb in front of comedians. Sure, you might get a few chuckles here and there but nowhere near the response you’d get from a regular crowd.

I’m in no way saying that I’m a ridiculously talented comedian. Thus, I bombed pretty hard tonight. I’m not saying I was booed off the stage, but you’ve never heard utter silence like you hear when you say something only mildly humorous in front of about 40 “up-and-coming” comedians. I got a few laughs here and there, and a new running gag I worked in today got some sparse chuckles, which, under the circumstances, is pretty good. I never got a big unified laugh from the audience, though.

This is the callus-building stage of my stand-up career. 4/5 of the open mics I’ve done so far have been in front of other comedians. I’m really curious as to how my stuff would play in front of a regular audience, but the only way for me to get that kind of stage time right now is to either do “bringer” shows (forcing a certain number of my friends to pay to see that comedy show along with paying for two over-priced drinks each, which comes to about $20-$40 total each person) or become a barker and try to sell people tickets on the street to the shows I’m performing in. I’m dreading both of those options. I’ve tried barking before, and I was terrible at it. I’m too nice a guy to push something on people they don’t really want, which is why I stink at sales in general.

Even after all of this, I’m not disheartened at all. If anything, I’m even more driven to make my stuff better. I’m going to continue working on my stuff to try and craft something super solid. This whole process is fascinating to me. It’s like a puzzle that I’m determined to crack.

Next Tuesday, I’ll be trying out the open mic at The PIT. I think I’ll definitely return to this one the following week. My next performance will be at the Friday open mic at The Broadway Comedy Club at 5:30pm.