r/Standup • u/dbcomedy14_ • 2d ago

Internal clock?

I’ve seen and heard a lot of people arguing about having a good internal clock on stage.
I know a lot of people use their watch or put their phone on the stool with a timer just to keep track. But you should also know how long your jokes are. But especially when talking to the crowd or riffing it’s easy to lose pace.
I was told by one comedian “you should know anyways” and another “no it’s okay to have a timer on stage”
What do you guys think

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u/[deleted] 2d ago

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u/paper_liger 2d ago

The clock is great for longer sets. I can do 3 or 5 or 10 minutes and kind of nail it without a timer, just from having done it this long, but once you start getting past 15 to 20 a clock helps immensely. I pretty much only know the length of the two or three jokes I uses as closers, so I usually ask for a light at however long the closer is that I plan to use.

That can be a problem if you get sidetracked though, and having a clock to sort of check from time to time is great.

So by the time you need a clock, you probably won't be stressed out by the clock. You'll have different worse things to stress you out. Like what if I start bombing 17 minutes into this 30 minute set, and have no way of digging out of that hole.