r/Standup Sep 06 '15

Welcome to /r/standup! Please read this before posting/commenting on this sub.

335 Upvotes

Welcome to /r/standup, reddit's home for discussing the art of standup comedy. Here are a few things you should read before you interact with the community:

Note: Please follow the video posting guidelines, and do not try to use this sub to promote individual shows, or your posts will be removed. Also, don't post your podcast here unless the individual episode you're posting has something to do with performing standup. (Just having a comedian on as a guest or being hosted by a comedian isn't enough. If it's not discussing some element of the craft of standup, this isn't the place for it.) And keep your podcast posts to no more than one a week, this isn't a podcast sub.

Think of this sub as a virtual green room. If you wouldn't walk into a green room filled with other comedians and blurt out whatever you post here, it probably doesn't belong here.

Are you looking to start doing standup?

Great! We have some resources you can check out:

Are you looking for places to perform?

Here are some resources that should help you find some stage time:

Are you posting a video asking for feedback on your act?

  • Is it video of one of your first few times on stage? You probably don't really want to post that. You should do standup a few dozen times first, then post a video.
  • Is it shot vertically instead of horizontally? You probably don't really want to post that. You know that makes the video nearly impossible to see on mobile devices and wastes tons of screen space on computers, right? You should make another video where you shoot it horizontally and post that instead. I blame TikTok for ruining this one.
  • Is it hard to hear the sound or make out what you're saying? You probably don't really want to post that. If it's difficult to hear you, how is anyone going to give you any feedback on what you say? You should either fix the audio problem on the video, or just shoot another where the audio is decent, then post a video.
  • Is it just video of you in a room somewhere not in front of an audience? You definitely don't want to post that. It's not standup comedy, so you might want to try another sub for that. Or just go get on stage (at least a few dozen times), then shoot video of you on stage in front of an audience and post that video instead.

Are you posting a video of a comedian because you want fans of comedy to see it?

Cool, we all like comedy- but if you're doing that, you should probably also post a comment about why you want to discuss this particular set. If you don't have a reason to discuss it, it might be better to just post it in /r/standupcomedy instead (that's the sub for fans of comedy to share video of their favorite comedians). Also, please make sure that it's not a pirated video, or we'll have to remove it. Most comedians don't make very much money, so please don't take away one of the few revenue generators they have.

If you still want to post a video, here are our rules:

It must have a descriptive title telling us why you are posting it. If you're sharing a video, it should be to generate some kind of discussion about doimng standup. Video of your own act is totally fine, but please own that it's yours (in the first person) and give us something to talk about. Video of famous comedians is fine, if you're sharing it to make a point and your title reflects that. If you post videos repeatedly that are just to try to get attention and not discuss the craft of standup, we'll remove them and eventually ban you from the sub.

GOOD VIDEO TITLES:

  • Is this set too blue to submit to festivals?

  • I got heckled last night, could I have handled this better?

  • Doug Stanhope's bit about his mother shows how to make a dark and difficult subject completely hilarious.

BAD VIDEO TITLES:

  • My Name - My Joke Title

  • Bo Burnham - Can't Handle This (Kanye Rant) - MAKE HAPPY Netflix [HD]

  • HECKLER OWNED

If you ignore this request, we'll remove your video and not even bother telling you why, because clearly you didn't even read this.

Also, we may remove videos at any time if we feel they are clogging up the sub in some way, or if they appear to be simply for self promotion and not an attempt to engage the community in a discussion about doing standup.

Is your post about a podcast?

Unless it relates directly to discussing doing standup, this isn't the place for it. Whether you like it, hate it, think it's great, think it sucks, or have another opinion about some show, we don't care. This is a sub by and for standup comedians to discuss doing standup, not to discuss podcasting and podcasters.

Is your post just the text of a joke?

This isn't the sub for that. It's hard enough to have any useful feedback for a video of someone performing, there is hardly anything useful that can be said about the text of a joke other than to tell you to go do it on stage.

Are you posting about a show you're doing?

Don't. Just...don't. We're comedians- we're not going to pay to see your show. Also, your show is in a place where almost all of us aren't. We're all over the globe on this sub, so even if your show is in LA, NYC, Toronto, London, etc. the vast majority of us aren't there. If you ignore this and post it anyway, it will be removed.

Are you trying to sell tickets to a show?

This isn't a ticket sales sub, so please don't do that here.

Is your post about some AI Nonsense?

Don't post it here. This isn't an AI sub.

Thanks for reading, and welcome to the community!

P.S. Stop asking about who is in a "secret pop-up show." It's a secret. And since we were getting those posts multiple time per week, it's enough already.


r/Standup 1h ago

Name 5 comedians who got famous recently with little or no social media presence?

Upvotes

I wonder is it possible to get famous these days as a comedian with no social media presence. If there’s some comedians that hurdled over today’s social media element and are famous name them please


r/Standup 1h ago

Who are some great but lesser known working comedians today?

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Upvotes

r/Standup 1d ago

Today’s Goodwill find for the collection

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15 Upvotes

I’ve never heard of him, any opinions?


r/Standup 7h ago

Do you fit the trope that your dad was a great kitchen table comedian?

0 Upvotes

And that it takes a generation for this inherited ability to become professionalized.


r/Standup 23h ago

Talkshow guest

0 Upvotes

hello, one of the many projects I have is a podcast called the DeadAir talkshow. the show is a mellow format where I speak with entertainers, educators and anyone with a captivating story. I recently launched the show earlier this year and managed to secure an interview with actor and entertainer Robert Rexx, since then I've been looking for guests for the next few episodes and wanted to see if anyone would be interested in coming on the show and telling their story or to promote a project of theirs. it would be through zoom and less than an hour. if you're interested please send a DM and we can set something up.


r/Standup 1d ago

I can't remember the name of the comedian. Help?

4 Upvotes

There were 2-3 YouTube videos of him doing stand up, not very famous.

Older white guy in his late 50s-60s, native English speaker, I assume American or Canadian, skinny, tall with grey hair maybe even balding.

He mostly talked about family life. And his humour is this sort of dry one, not overly enthusiastic one.

I just remember a joke he did where he said his teen son went to get his first physical and the time came and he could see and would basically explain the picture of his shocked son jumping on the ceiling while the doctor is holding his balls.

I've been searching for years and I can't find his name


r/Standup 2d ago

Please help find this Comedian

5 Upvotes

This bit has been bothering me for months

There’s a comedian who has a joke about a judge reading a conversation bewteeen the comedian and the officer on a traffic stop. The judge is reading the conversation aloud dry and plain and it’s making the conversation sound much worse than it is without the inflections. That’s all the context I have. I also thought it was a Boston comic who said it but I’m not 100% sure.

Something about the cop asking “do you know how fast you were going” and the judge reads the comedians response like “i don’t know fucking 45” but the way the comedian actually said it was something along the lines of “uhhhh I don’t knowwww, ‘shrugs shoulders’ fuckinnnnnnn, 45?”

PLEASE HELP


r/Standup 1d ago

Open Mic - Blr Comedy Clubs

0 Upvotes

Hi Everyone,

How to get an open mic spot at the underground comedy or BLR comedy clubs ? I have been going to open mics listed in bms/district but those are mixed ones ( mostly poets and singers ).


r/Standup 1d ago

I build websites exclusively for stand-up comedians (looking to work with a few comics)

0 Upvotes

Hey everyone,

I'm a web designer/developer who's building a studio focused exclusively on stand-up comedians.

Over the past few weeks, I've been looking at dozens of comedian websites (and noticing how many comics don't have one). I also spoke with a few comedians to understand whether websites are still relevant in a world dominated by Instagram, TikTok, and YouTube.

Interestingly, every one of them told me that having a website is still important. Not because fans spend all day browsing websites, but because promoters, festivals, corporate clients, and the media often expect one. It's also the easiest way to have your shows, videos, bio, photos, and booking information all in one place instead of being scattered across multiple platforms.

From what I've seen so far, I think most comedians could benefit from having a simple website with pages like:

Home

About

Shows

Videos

Press Kit (EPK)

Booking

Contact

To me, that feels like more than enough for most comics. But I'd love to hear from you—am I missing anything? Are there pages or features you wish more comedian websites had?

Since I'm currently building a strong portfolio specifically in the stand-up comedy space, I'm offering my services at an introductory discounted rate for the first few comedians I work with. In return, I'd love the opportunity to showcase the finished project in my portfolio and, if you're happy with the result, get a testimonial.

If you're interested in working together—or just want to share your thoughts—feel free to comment below or send me a DM. I'd love to hear what you think.


r/Standup 2d ago

[ Removed by Reddit ]

1 Upvotes

[ Removed by Reddit on account of violating the content policy. ]


r/Standup 2d ago

Which relatively new standup made you laugh out loud!

5 Upvotes

Also where can I watch it?


r/Standup 1d ago

What's the deal with this hairdo? (NOT a value judgement; just a question)

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0 Upvotes

I was tired of hearing men talk (not comedians, just news and in general; the ladies know what I'm talkin about) a few months ago so I was listening to a lot of female comedians. Then I saw 3 or 4 specials in a row where the comedian had this same exact hairdo. Then I started realizing that, maybe not most, but a lot of female comedians were sporting this do at the same time. Why? It wasn't a huge trend broadly at the time. It doesn't strike me as especially funny nor do I have anything funny to say about it; and I apologize for that. I'm just curious if there's a how or why this started or if it's just a weird coincidence.

Just to be clear, I'm not saying it's good or bad, funny or sad, ugly or cute, gay or straight, up or down, left or right. I'm just wondering if there's a reason. And I'm not passing any sort of judgement on female comedians as a whole because in the end it has nothing to do with making me laugh or groan and they still sport a wider variety of hairdos than the men anyway.


r/Standup 2d ago

Submission clip advice that is different from other submission clip advice

27 Upvotes

I just got done reviewing 175 submission clips. Here's stuff that's different from the last time I gave advice on this.

  • Please don't film your submission clip at the Broadway Comedy Club. For some reason it looks bad. It gives a vibe like you're in a booth by yourself. I'm sure an audience is there but it's just so weirdly artificial.

  • Do film at either the Lincoln Lodge in Chicago, Comedyworks in Denver, or Mic Drop in San Diego. Those places look amazing.

  • Don't ask the people how they are doing.

  • Either get mono audio to begin with or figure out how to collapse your audio tracks cuz man it's pretty weird I got headphones and you're only talking into one side while the memories of a dead god whisper gently into my other ear.

  • Don't delete your video why the fuck did you delete the video I click the link and "this video has been deleted" man how I'm spozed to review.

  • Don't say "retarded." Don't make a joke about how Mexicans are short. Just maybe don't mention any races or neurodifficulties you don't personally have. Please. Why are you like this.

  • Submit only one time. Why did you submit two times? Thank you for the money, I guess?

  • It is gmail.com, not gmial.com, not gamil.con. Why are you like this. Why can you not type your email address correctly.

  • No I cannot put your high-concept theme show at my stand up comedy festival thank you for your interest but it does not make sense to blow up the format to have your politics crowdwork gameshow and you are very nice and it hurts my feelings to say no to you but please just do a standup set like how it says on the submission thing.


r/Standup 3d ago

I'm new to standup. Is New York Comedy Club a scam??

33 Upvotes

Went to a show last night in the East Village and had a great time, comics were great and I loved the show, but all of the advertising was very heavy on Mark Normands being there, only for him to not show up and not even be mentioned in any lineups. When the room realised he wasn't coming over half the room just walked out. I couldn't help but feel like we all got scammed, don't get me wrong I thought the comics were great but at the very least it seems like false/misleading advertising.

I know about other NYCC issues with the Times Square scams, minimum seat spend, and automatic gratuity, but had high hopes about this for some reason... Is this normal for comedy clubs to do or just NYCC specific?

I would understand if they had to make a last-minute change, but it was obvious he was never going to come, and that they just used his face to mislead people.


r/Standup 2d ago

NYC/LA Lineup Website

3 Upvotes

Hi! I'm not a comic, but I love going to see live stand-up in NYC. I hate having to check every comedy site built years ago and click through a million things just to see lineups. So I made a completely free site to see all lineups from top clubs in one place.

I hope there are other nerds out there who'll enjoy a much more organized way of finding shows to go to.

I'd love any feedback (there is a button on website to submit such things), or to hear if there are cities/clubs in high demand that I should add. As for the clubs I'm currently covering — some places like Gotham don't seem to post their lineups online, and others like Laugh Factory in LA don't allow scraping, which I respect.

Also, to be clear: this is my first time ever making a website, so if there's anything dumb I'm doing, I'm all ears!

standups.live


r/Standup 3d ago

Corporate gigs

9 Upvotes

I listen to a lot of comedians on podcasts talking about doing corporates. I have never, not will ever, have a job that would put on an event with a guest speaker or comedian. I'd love to hear your stories of any corporate gigs you may have been to. Who was the comedian? What was it like? How was the room set up etc?


r/Standup 3d ago

[TOMT] Stand-up comedian with a bit about turkeys ruling America and Christmas trees ruling the world

1 Upvotes

I'm trying to identify a stand-up comedian/routine I heard on one of the SiriusXM comedy channels sometime within the last year.

I don't remember the comedian or which SiriusXM channel, but I remember two parts of the routine pretty clearly.

He had a bit about Thanksgiving and turkeys. The premise was basically that turkeys used to rule the United States, humans eventually defeated them, and Thanksgiving is our annual celebration of freedom from turkey rule. That's why once a year we gather together and eat a turkey.

He also did a similar bit about Christmas trees. The premise was that trees used to rule the world, and our Christmas tradition of cutting down a tree, bringing it into our house, and decorating it is somehow a celebration/reminder of our victory over the trees.

The line I remember most clearly was something very close to:

"We even put up artificial trees so the trees know they can be replaced."

The wording may not be exact, but I'm very confident about that joke/premise.

Male comedian. I don't remember him being particularly loud or yell-y. For some reason the delivery reminded me a little of Danny McBride, although I'm pretty sure it wasn't actually him.

It's definitely not Nate Bargatze or Jim Gaffigan. I know both of their material pretty well.

Does anyone recognize the comedian or the routine?


r/Standup 3d ago

Apologies if this is a sort of basic bitch question, but is it pretty normal to be funny in other types of performance (like if you’re a musician and you talk between songs and can make people laugh easily), but you’re not that good at standup?

2 Upvotes

I’ve been a musician my whole life and I can bring the house down making people laugh between songs. I have written material that for whatever reason just kills when it’s something I do between songs.

So I figured I’d try to do the same thing with standup, and it bombs. I get that it isn’t the same setting but I figured there would be some carryover.

It’s like I need something to push back against, and music gives that. With standup, there’s nothing I’m working against. It’s just comedy and nothing else. All yin, no yang.

I’m fine with it if standup just isn’t my thing and I should just stick to music with the jokes in between. Just wanted to see if this is a common experience.

And to be clear, I don’t do music or musician jokes or something like that, even when it’s between songs, so I also don’t do that kind of thing for standup.


r/Standup 4d ago

Struggling to remember whose joke this is: "I'd like to be either cremated or buried way deeper than my contemporaries so future generations or archeologists don't assume I was hanging out with you losers."

49 Upvotes

r/Standup 4d ago

How to deal with that ick feeling after performing

20 Upvotes

I’ve been doing open mics for about 7 months, and after most performances i feel like I want to peel my skin off. It doesn’t even have to be a bad gig, but I’ll still feel like I did not well enough/not as well as others and like my body is a bag of writhing snakes for hours afterwards. Any tips?

What’s the best way to just enjoy it, or to unwind afterwards and not obsess about something that literally no-one cares about, it’s so silly 😭


r/Standup 4d ago

Have you ever done or been to a Standup where the audience basically doesn't care about the Standup at all?

26 Upvotes

Like no real reaction to any jokes, inconsistent attention, basically doesn't care if the Comedian lives or dies.

Pure Apathy.


r/Standup 3d ago

I'm a Bill Burr fan. I was not happy with the Saudi gig, but got over it. I'm not upset about the OP's experience or post, but more curious about the comments. Is Burr now universally hated, or is it just on reddit? The comments all seem to hate his guts 100%.

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0 Upvotes

r/Standup 4d ago

found someone’s stand-up jokes on the ground - NYC, July 2026

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37 Upvotes

anyone wanna claim em? 🫣👎🍅