A couple of nights ago I performed at the Mostly Magicians Virtual Open Mic. It was a lot of fun and Ryan Kane is a great host for it. It’s an open mic, so a great place to work things out.
I was second to last in the show, and I brought two tricks, one that was pretty solid and one that I was working on. Unfortunately I only got to do one trick which wasn’t the one I was working on as I ran out of time.
It wasn’t a total loss as far as working on material goes. I did something I haven’t done in while…wrote some jokes about the other acts. When I MC in person shows I would write jokes about the acts and use them in the transition between acts. I didn’t plan on doing this, it’s something I just did.
One of the interesting things about doing jokes about things happening NOW instead of prepared material is that the audience is aware of that. Your joke doesn’t need to be the best joke, they will give you a lot of leeway. They can instantly relate to your joke, you don’t need to set up a backstory. I think any of the jokes I told, if you took out of context of the show would fall flat…even if you described the act before the joke.
The first half of my show was a stand up set about the show. It was fun, and good to flex that creative muscle.
The virtual magic show must have been an amazing experience for you. Unfortunately, people are not able to attend live performances due to this pandemic situation. But this is a great new start. It is good to know that you also had a chance to a trick under your sleeve.
People can indeed connect to a joke related to an ongoing event rather than something in the past. The situation makes the joke funnier than usual. Thank you for sharing your experience.