HOW TO ACHIEVE AN EXCELLENT STAGE PERFORMANCE IN STANDUP COMEDY . (BY SKOOBOI )

The early stage of my career as a standup comedian was full of self disappointment,  discouragement, and performance fright becos i never understood that there were basic principles to achieving an excellent standup performance, so I got bulled and bombed many times meaning I chop koboko(9ja). Now here are some tips I have learnt from my personal experience and from top mentors.

1: INTRODUCTION FOR ATTENTION
Standup comedy is a communication between the performer and the audience.  For you to communicate effectively you need ATTENTION which u will only get if u are able to convince your audience or listeners through your few seconds of INTRODUCTION  that you are worth the time, so your INTRODUCTION is important if you want to achieve an excellent performance becos it will either give you ATTENTION or neglection.
Now my point is this don't just go to the stage and start the jokes it very wrong, start by making the audience feel OK with you greet them,  praise them, trow out a quick subject that will let them talk to you or even a call and response gist, u can even dance into the stage and if u chose to start wit a one liner material just make sure it picks and above all make sure you catch the audience attention by the few seconds of INTRODUCTION let them see your end performance from the start with that they would want to give you all their attention from the start to the end.

2: FOCUS ON THE AUDIENCE NOT YOURSELF
The success point of every performance is to see that the audience are satisfied,  always have it in my mind that the performance is for the hungry for fun and laughter audience not you so don't go to the stage trying to impress yourself instead of your audience now this is were many comedians get it wrong becos focusing much on yourself on stage which is being too self conscious could lead to stage fright, lack of flexibility and will also give no room for spontaneity. You will agree with me that when you are self- conscious you will want to stick to your jokes just exactly how it is planned and
At any slight distraction from the audience or technicals you go off ballance. Now my advice for you is this dear always know you are a God when you are with the mic on that stage so speak to your people in the manner you which to, at every point pause to see if they are stil with you,  dnt rush your jokes relax and give your lines properly becos the better your audience understands your storyline the better the punchline of the joke and then master your jokes and use your time well.

3: UNDERSTAND YOUR AUDIENCE
this point have been over emphasized for decades but yet most standups aren't stil getting it too bad dou...
Bros it very simple you can't be in the church and you are talking about club ofcos you and I know it very odd,  observation is key understand the audience and know wat is good for them and wat they want, I have always said this to my friends standup comedy is for intelligent people becos you deal with peoples emotions so always understand were to strick from if you truly want to have an excellent performance. If it a Christian gathering give them Bible jokes,  if it a club be raw if you can, if your audience are aged people do comparism jokes of old school and current life style, and if its a mixed audience be versatile.

4: DON'T MEMORIZE YOUR JOKES.
I will be very brief on this,  Standup comedy is public speaking so it an expression of how you feel about a situation in an hilarious manner and that's why you have to sound convincing to the audience in your perception. Now this is the point if you memorize the jokes you will end up crucifying your performance becos being on stage is like being at the war front my dear anything can happen so be ready beyond preparation and note: "DON'T BE A READER BE A JOKER " be confident and spontaneous.

5: Finally we all must have heard this and my mentors would always say leave the audience wanting more and with that you are booking yourself for the next gig(show). Always keep this in mind,  don't start strong then struggle at the middle and leave with a low ovation,  don't start poor struggle at the middle then leave with an high ovation it stil OK but not impressive.
Now here is my personal formula for an excellent stage performance.
*START STRONG: it will help you gain the audience attention.

*MAINTAIN THE TEMPO (ur strength)
It will help you keep the audience attention

*FINISH STRONGER OR LEAVE THEM WANTING MORE.
This will create an impression to the audience that you are good and also you have succeeded in booking yourself for the next show.

Congrats guys God bless our industry
tanks for reading.
My name is SKOOBOI pls follow me on my social media handle lets keepup.
IG: @Officia_skooboi,  BBM: 58F12376,  Twitter: @comedianskooboi  tnks.