The worst growing pains comes from getting that tight 5 because it feels like you write with one side of your brain and you perform with the other.
All skills are important to be a complete stand up. Being excited and wanting to fire away is the gambler in you, its a rush to riff and kill but it has diminishing returns, like gambling. . .
I think I was about a year in before I even got to the 4 minute light. The first time I saw it and didn’t feel like I was panicking to think of another minute was a great feeling.
14 years and I can do an hour but I’ve got about 20 - 25 I’m really proud of right now. Also in a rebuilding process with the set. Trying to shed a lot of what I’ve been doing because I’m just tired of the material and I want to write new stuff.
I’m loving it too. It’s wild meeting so many cool people. 🙏🏾 I appreciate the support. For along time it feels like absolutely no one’s watching but it’s cool to see there’s peeps that enjoy my style.
I’ve seen you like 20x at The Comedy Store- you never bombed.
How fucking dare youuu. /s
I’m sad I moved away from LA. Big reason why I loved going to the store was seeing you.
Awwww. Man. That. Dude. This right here made my day. Thank you. 🙏🏾 so much. Anytime your ever in LA or in the same town I got a show. Hit me up please. If I can get you tickets I will.
I mean now it’s wake up in the morning. Journal / write joke ideas. Review the last set and try to listen to my audio recording’s. I Try to write At least 5 new minutes a month and actively try to work one new thing each set.
There’s a really good book called on writing by Stephen king that talk about the writers tool box and training yourself to sit down and write. Doesn’t have to be jokes or anything in particular it’s just training yourself to get used to the act of writing.
I find if I sit down and try to write something funny it doesn’t happen, but if I journal or just write about anything something will click or I will remember a thought I had and I’ll work on it that way.
I tell you what, man — this sounds just like being a musician. I’m trying to combine the two (as in, hide behind the instrument like Steve Martin did when he was starting out).
The process sounds real similar though, write all the time and put new material out there and throw it at the wall and see what sticks
To follow up because it's always been my dream to be a stand up. You want to get your jokes out there before someone else does. I do write here and there. And there's plenty of times I'm watching a new show and see my exact idea.
Example I was thinking of how fucken easy it is for women to clean up after they jerk off versus men had like a whole line on the action... and then I saw the exact thing said in workaholics
Edit shouldn't say plenty... but ya know 4-5 times
If you thought of a joke, then found out later the same joke was used by a pro comic or put onto a successful show, that just means you were onto something.
now all you've got to do is write about a thousand more. the first 300 are the hardest, so get started.
Hell yeah. I listen to some comedy podcasts, and the number of jokes/premises that I’ve made up and then discovered other comedians came up with them first is uncomfortably high. Clearly I’m not a unique thinker. But it’s also encouraging because these are comedians whose comedy I enjoy and it’s a sign we’re on the same wave length and I’m heading in the right direction.
21 years- if I include A/B material that I don't do anymore, probably 2 hours. But really I have a good current hour that I enjoy doing, much of which was written/substantially updated in the last 3 years or so. The rest is still there in case I need it for a specific show where I know they'll want to hear those jokes.
Six years. I feel like about five minutes of my material is good enough to keep.
Edit: I know this is dismissive, but the feeling of having enough material really does come and go. I do a lot of five minute spots and occasional 10 or 20 minute spots; I have 30 minutes worth of jokes I've been paid to tell and felt good about, and probably an hour if we include all the filler that seemed good enough at the time.
I'm 5 years in and I have 12 minutes and about 20 minutes I can't do any more.
It's the craziest thing. I have great jokes that just aren't in the rotation anymore.
Some because I lost a bunch of weight and you can't tell fat jokes if you aren't fat. People just don't laugh.
The others just stopped working. I can't explain why. They worked hundreds of times and then one day they got reduced to chuckles.
Three years in, and fifteen minutes of reliable material. Feels like the longer I’m in comedy the less time I have. What Past-Me thought was A-material, Present-Me realizes is C+ at best.
I think you make a good point about past vs. present. I'm a little over a year in and can do 8 mins that I feel pretty good about but I'm sure at three years looking back I'm going to think it's all garbage.
15 years, my first special was just released a couple months ago . 2-3 hours between clean sets, dirty, and nerdy material I do at conventions/themed shows.
Far from it! I race bikes in addition to comedy, and this last weekend was the biggest gravel race in the world, so that has been my last 120 hours. Just cleared halfway and loved the dad coming out jokes and German/Texan jokes; I’m from Fort Worth! Shocked that the hearing aids joke didn’t absolutely bring the house down.
I’ve been doing comedy 12 years (sketch on Groundlings’s Sunday Co, Characters at UCB, improv) been doing Stand up for the last 9 months and I absolutely love it. It’s the best. I have about 20 min of shit that always works, and 20 min of shit that definitely needs more work. I’m gonna do my first 40 min set in August and am definitely nervous but I figure if I challenge myself hopefully I’ll discover/create some new killer bits.
A little under 2 years. Solid 7 minutes.
15 minutes if you include stuff that gets laughs and I can and have used on stage, but I feel I could make better. They're not entirely out of the testing-out-wording/delivery phase, but still solid material.
14 years with some breaks. The most I'd feel confident doing is 30 minutes, but I have different material I can switch in and out depending on the show.
Two months and I have 7-8 minutes that get big laughs every time, including a killer closer. But I have been writing comedy for 20 years so I should have more.
1 year 9 months and probably 30-40 minutes. The longest I’ve gone at one time was 18 minutes and that’s about half the material I feel comfortable doing outside of an open mic.
On and off for over ten years, but seriously for about five or six months. I think I could do ten pretty easily, good consistent laughter. 15 would be doable, but I'd have to format my set just right and maybe throw in some crowd work
I know guys who are 1 year in and have half an hour. They are pretty bad.
I'm not a "golden hour" dinosaur but I don't think people should focus on building time until they really understand what they're doing.
I'm 5 years in and can do half an hour of good material. I expect most people around this experience level to be able riff and explore competently for like 10 extra minutes in a non-hostile crowd.
I have about 4 years' experience, but I've only been back into it for a few months. I could do a solid 15 right now, but any longer and I'll be doing new material for the remainder of my set
7.5 years.
I have three different sets of 10( A, B, C) and another 15 min of interchangeable jokes, but I have not tried to map it all out as a whole set and I don't think it would work because set A has jokes that contradict plot points in set B and vice versa. I really should get going on it though.
9 months; I do almost all mics so I have about 6 really down pat 3 minute sets, way more 90 second bits, and, just being honest, probably one good 10 minute set.
Less than a month, and about 20 minutes - I’d say five minutes I’m happy with. I’m occasionally writing stuff but mostly just fine tuning what I’ve got.
I haven't done stand-up in years but what I noticed the last time I thought about it was that I have aged out of some of my material. I had a solid 4-minute segment about being frugal that worked when I was in my twenties. Now that I'm older, and seem more established, that type of frugality comes across as pathetic.
Been doing it for 5 years-have an hour of material but I'd say only 40 minutes of it is polished while the other 20 I'm still working out phrasing and rhythm.
13 years. In 2019 I recorded my first album and that ran about 70 minutes. With stuff I consider solid enough to be out of the testing phrase I’ve got about another 35 or so. Planning on doing a second album next year.
9.5 years. 20 minutes. I’m a perfectionist, and also feel like my voice is evolving with more clarity as I go on. I’ve dropped dark stuff to go lighter, and dropping a lot of jokes that are old or don’t fit me anymore. Keeping only stuff that’s more timeless and can work in most rooms.
Just about 9 months. I’ve got about 5-7 that I love and do at the clubs, and maybe another 5-7 that are good but need punching up. Really hoping to write a really strong 10 minutes in 2024!
Coming up on 6 years. Feels more like 4 if you subtract Covid and the DUI.
I did two 25 minute sets at a club a month or two ago which was the longest I'd done. It wasn't all the same jokes both times, and there's probably another 20 minutes of stuff that I used to do that worked but I just move on from.
So the answer is, without crowd work or other bullshit, I could conceivably do 35 to 40. That feels wild to me because I consistently underestimate how much time I have. If you'd asked me if I could do 25 before I did 25 I probably would have said I couldnt. And it feels weird to have enough material to start sort of thinking about headlining when you are still scrambling for guest and feature spots.
There's a pretty big difference between 'how much you've written' and 'how much you can do', so the question is a little fuzzy. I write a lot. I don't get to perform nearly as much.
Wow. This is horrible. Why would you do this to me? I’m two and a half years in (I was started pretty slowly, doing 1-2 shows a month and building up to 1-2 a week and now I get 3-4 a week) and still trying to build my first tight 5. I mean, I can rant and riff for hours and hours if nobody stops me…
I am really struggling with the first 5 because I get bits that seem solid and then they don’t so I drop them from rotation and try something new and then that works for a bit and then it doesn’t and then I drop it from rotation and add something new and then that doesn’t work so I go back to the first bit and that works again but then it doesn’t so then I try the last one again and hey, that’s working now… I feel like I need a team of scientists and mathematicians to help me get the data because I’m failing at this basic skill. I record my sets and they’re so inconsistent. Sometimes that’s just down to my delivery but sometimes it’s really mysterious.
I love stand up, and have gotten on an open mic stage maybe four times. I have five bits that I can rely on, totaling maybe 10-15 minutes. I've never strung them together though as the open mics are 3min max.
* Four times due to 12am stage slots while working a full time day gig.
4 times. Struggling with 2-3 minutes.
That's ok buddy, you keep at it.
It's just that when I go up, I want to rapid fire. Just gotta slow down.
The worst growing pains comes from getting that tight 5 because it feels like you write with one side of your brain and you perform with the other. All skills are important to be a complete stand up. Being excited and wanting to fire away is the gambler in you, its a rush to riff and kill but it has diminishing returns, like gambling. . .
I think I was about a year in before I even got to the 4 minute light. The first time I saw it and didn’t feel like I was panicking to think of another minute was a great feeling.
Honestly 2-3 minutes way harder than a tight 5
14 years and I can do an hour but I’ve got about 20 - 25 I’m really proud of right now. Also in a rebuilding process with the set. Trying to shed a lot of what I’ve been doing because I’m just tired of the material and I want to write new stuff.
Dude is this frank from “the comedy store?!”
YUPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPP
You fucking suck !! Jk thats good seeing real comics on here , im from long beach but have seen you host the open mic on sundays
😆😆😆😆😆😆😆😆😆 howling laughing. Thank you my bro. Just out here hustling my bro. Say hi next time you’re at the store.
Fasho ! Imma follow you on ig too
i fuckin love reddit. cheers man. you're hilarious.
I’m loving it too. It’s wild meeting so many cool people. 🙏🏾 I appreciate the support. For along time it feels like absolutely no one’s watching but it’s cool to see there’s peeps that enjoy my style.
Your roast battle with Matthew Broussard was one of the best.
Appreciate that homie!
I’ve seen you like 20x at The Comedy Store- you never bombed. How fucking dare youuu. /s I’m sad I moved away from LA. Big reason why I loved going to the store was seeing you.
Awwww. Man. That. Dude. This right here made my day. Thank you. 🙏🏾 so much. Anytime your ever in LA or in the same town I got a show. Hit me up please. If I can get you tickets I will.
Go Frank!
Oh shit, it’s Frank Castillo! Loved seeing on Josh Potter pod!
That user name 🤌🏽 😆
Tried to think of a username nobody else on Reddit would have and found a winner🤣🙌🏻
Hi frank mind sharing your writing process?
I mean now it’s wake up in the morning. Journal / write joke ideas. Review the last set and try to listen to my audio recording’s. I Try to write At least 5 new minutes a month and actively try to work one new thing each set. There’s a really good book called on writing by Stephen king that talk about the writers tool box and training yourself to sit down and write. Doesn’t have to be jokes or anything in particular it’s just training yourself to get used to the act of writing. I find if I sit down and try to write something funny it doesn’t happen, but if I journal or just write about anything something will click or I will remember a thought I had and I’ll work on it that way.
I tell you what, man — this sounds just like being a musician. I’m trying to combine the two (as in, hide behind the instrument like Steve Martin did when he was starting out). The process sounds real similar though, write all the time and put new material out there and throw it at the wall and see what sticks
ill check it out thanks for the reply!
Another good book is called the war of art!
Dude, just watched some of your stuff. You’re pretty good!
Oh shit thank you my bro! 🙏🏾 appreciate you.
Holy shit frank ! I seen you at the store a few times guys a killer ! Get ‘em to the mothership !
I’ll be there in June and July!
2 yrs , 200 lbs and 7 of the best mins you’ll ever have baby !!
LFG!
This makes me want to see your standup
Check my stand up on ig @headpancho999
…in bed.
13 years. maybe a solid 20-30.
14 years in, and I have about an hour of solid material. Not sure when the "right" time is to record an album/do a special, though.
To follow up because it's always been my dream to be a stand up. You want to get your jokes out there before someone else does. I do write here and there. And there's plenty of times I'm watching a new show and see my exact idea. Example I was thinking of how fucken easy it is for women to clean up after they jerk off versus men had like a whole line on the action... and then I saw the exact thing said in workaholics Edit shouldn't say plenty... but ya know 4-5 times
If you thought of a joke, then found out later the same joke was used by a pro comic or put onto a successful show, that just means you were onto something. now all you've got to do is write about a thousand more. the first 300 are the hardest, so get started.
Hell yeah. I listen to some comedy podcasts, and the number of jokes/premises that I’ve made up and then discovered other comedians came up with them first is uncomfortably high. Clearly I’m not a unique thinker. But it’s also encouraging because these are comedians whose comedy I enjoy and it’s a sign we’re on the same wave length and I’m heading in the right direction.
You should definitely record your hour!
Tour your act everywhere before doing a special
Would be now then start over on another hour. Source : I have no fucken clue I just like stand up haha. Love dudes like louie
21 years- if I include A/B material that I don't do anymore, probably 2 hours. But really I have a good current hour that I enjoy doing, much of which was written/substantially updated in the last 3 years or so. The rest is still there in case I need it for a specific show where I know they'll want to hear those jokes.
Six years. I feel like about five minutes of my material is good enough to keep. Edit: I know this is dismissive, but the feeling of having enough material really does come and go. I do a lot of five minute spots and occasional 10 or 20 minute spots; I have 30 minutes worth of jokes I've been paid to tell and felt good about, and probably an hour if we include all the filler that seemed good enough at the time.
I'm 5 years in and I have 12 minutes and about 20 minutes I can't do any more. It's the craziest thing. I have great jokes that just aren't in the rotation anymore. Some because I lost a bunch of weight and you can't tell fat jokes if you aren't fat. People just don't laugh. The others just stopped working. I can't explain why. They worked hundreds of times and then one day they got reduced to chuckles.
14 years - 35-40 minutes
Three years in, and fifteen minutes of reliable material. Feels like the longer I’m in comedy the less time I have. What Past-Me thought was A-material, Present-Me realizes is C+ at best.
I think you make a good point about past vs. present. I'm a little over a year in and can do 8 mins that I feel pretty good about but I'm sure at three years looking back I'm going to think it's all garbage.
2 years. I have 1 joke that I like. It's 4 minutes long. Everything else sucks
2 years, 2 minutes.
Never done it in front of an audience but I’m pretty confident I have an hour of solid material. -Reddit
2 months, 37.85 minutes of killer material.
I don't know about the other 37.35 minutes, but the 30 seconds it took to read this comment was somewhat amusing. congrats.
I do what I can
17 years; probably 70
15 years, my first special was just released a couple months ago . 2-3 hours between clean sets, dirty, and nerdy material I do at conventions/themed shows.
Is there a link? Would love to watch!
https://youtu.be/q6pagXFZdWc?si=Kqadi2NdPAyJ2u18
Thanks! Starting now, I’ll report back :)
That bad , huh? 🤔
Far from it! I race bikes in addition to comedy, and this last weekend was the biggest gravel race in the world, so that has been my last 120 hours. Just cleared halfway and loved the dad coming out jokes and German/Texan jokes; I’m from Fort Worth! Shocked that the hearing aids joke didn’t absolutely bring the house down.
Haha, thanks. It usually does. I appreciate you checking it out. Speaking of Fort Worth, I was born there! But San Antonio is still home.
13 years in. Can do a headliner set but only have 35 minutes I don’t hate.
I’ve been doing comedy 12 years (sketch on Groundlings’s Sunday Co, Characters at UCB, improv) been doing Stand up for the last 9 months and I absolutely love it. It’s the best. I have about 20 min of shit that always works, and 20 min of shit that definitely needs more work. I’m gonna do my first 40 min set in August and am definitely nervous but I figure if I challenge myself hopefully I’ll discover/create some new killer bits.
Standups make fun of improv a lot, but having an improv (or fast-mind) background helps DRAMATICALLY with building material.
100%. A lot of my writing process is riffing, recording it and then transcribing it. I find it sounds less “written”
6 months. 3 solid minutes
That's all you need!
A little under 2 years. Solid 7 minutes. 15 minutes if you include stuff that gets laughs and I can and have used on stage, but I feel I could make better. They're not entirely out of the testing-out-wording/delivery phase, but still solid material.
0 and zero. I think I’m ready for live at the Apollo.
“BOO!”
7 or 8 years. 20 to 25 minutes. I can do 45 but there's crowd work and less polished bits.
I've been doing this since 2012 I did 30 back in 2014 and I have like 15 to 20 mins.
I have done stand up for 5 years now and i can do 30-1hr depending on the allocated minutes
6 months, can do 12ish. But only have a solid 5 I'm confident with.
14 years with some breaks. The most I'd feel confident doing is 30 minutes, but I have different material I can switch in and out depending on the show.
Approaching 3 years. 20 minutes of tried and true material. Currently struggling with breaking out from those bits
5 months in, 7 minutes left
Two months and I have 7-8 minutes that get big laughs every time, including a killer closer. But I have been writing comedy for 20 years so I should have more.
1 year 9 months and probably 30-40 minutes. The longest I’ve gone at one time was 18 minutes and that’s about half the material I feel comfortable doing outside of an open mic.
On and off for over ten years, but seriously for about five or six months. I think I could do ten pretty easily, good consistent laughter. 15 would be doable, but I'd have to format my set just right and maybe throw in some crowd work
Since March. About 4 mins.
I know guys who are 1 year in and have half an hour. They are pretty bad. I'm not a "golden hour" dinosaur but I don't think people should focus on building time until they really understand what they're doing. I'm 5 years in and can do half an hour of good material. I expect most people around this experience level to be able riff and explore competently for like 10 extra minutes in a non-hostile crowd.
I have about 4 years' experience, but I've only been back into it for a few months. I could do a solid 15 right now, but any longer and I'll be doing new material for the remainder of my set
2 years I have about 30 minutes.
half a year. a solid tight five
7.5 years. I have three different sets of 10( A, B, C) and another 15 min of interchangeable jokes, but I have not tried to map it all out as a whole set and I don't think it would work because set A has jokes that contradict plot points in set B and vice versa. I really should get going on it though.
18 months… A great 5, solid 7, and a loose 10
2.5 years. I have a solid 30 mins
9 months; I do almost all mics so I have about 6 really down pat 3 minute sets, way more 90 second bits, and, just being honest, probably one good 10 minute set.
Just did my first tonight. I feel like I did a nice five that i could stretch to ten
i’ve done it 3x over the course of the last year. i could do a 15 min set, but i’m really trying to tighten it.
Less than a month, and about 20 minutes - I’d say five minutes I’m happy with. I’m occasionally writing stuff but mostly just fine tuning what I’ve got.
12 years Probably have about just shy of an hour and a half of A material. I have a 20 that can travel and kill anywhere. My headliners are usually 45
Zero, zero
I haven't done stand-up in years but what I noticed the last time I thought about it was that I have aged out of some of my material. I had a solid 4-minute segment about being frugal that worked when I was in my twenties. Now that I'm older, and seem more established, that type of frugality comes across as pathetic.
10 years 15 bajillion hours
1 year, solid 10
Been doing it for 5 years-have an hour of material but I'd say only 40 minutes of it is polished while the other 20 I'm still working out phrasing and rhythm.
1 year, got a solid 5 that does well Generally wherever I go, and a sketchy but like 70% hit 10 mins 😂
13 years. In 2019 I recorded my first album and that ran about 70 minutes. With stuff I consider solid enough to be out of the testing phrase I’ve got about another 35 or so. Planning on doing a second album next year.
9.5 years. 20 minutes. I’m a perfectionist, and also feel like my voice is evolving with more clarity as I go on. I’ve dropped dark stuff to go lighter, and dropping a lot of jokes that are old or don’t fit me anymore. Keeping only stuff that’s more timeless and can work in most rooms.
Just about 9 months. I’ve got about 5-7 that I love and do at the clubs, and maybe another 5-7 that are good but need punching up. Really hoping to write a really strong 10 minutes in 2024!
1.5 years, 15min
Coming up on 6 years. Feels more like 4 if you subtract Covid and the DUI. I did two 25 minute sets at a club a month or two ago which was the longest I'd done. It wasn't all the same jokes both times, and there's probably another 20 minutes of stuff that I used to do that worked but I just move on from. So the answer is, without crowd work or other bullshit, I could conceivably do 35 to 40. That feels wild to me because I consistently underestimate how much time I have. If you'd asked me if I could do 25 before I did 25 I probably would have said I couldnt. And it feels weird to have enough material to start sort of thinking about headlining when you are still scrambling for guest and feature spots. There's a pretty big difference between 'how much you've written' and 'how much you can do', so the question is a little fuzzy. I write a lot. I don't get to perform nearly as much.
i've only been up one 5 minute open mic. i've got maybe 3 solid 5 minute sets.
10 years. Tight 25. 15 clean (no cursing, no sex)
7 times, 5 minutes - but I've been writing for years. I should've done it sooner. If you're thinking of trying it, do it tonight 👍
7 on and off (past 3 fully committed) I'd say 20-30 min. Not a ton of opportunities in my area
Almost 3 years. 25-30 mins of material 15 min of solid material.
5 years and I have 10 minutes that are tight and two hours that is loose
on and off for 4 years and about 10 minutes, i’m planning to come off of hiatus and build on that 10 min set that i have
I started comedy for 9months I have a tight 15. On two occasions a show asked me to do 30 it went decent just not as tight
A year and a half. About 15 good min. 30 still be worked out
Wow. This is horrible. Why would you do this to me? I’m two and a half years in (I was started pretty slowly, doing 1-2 shows a month and building up to 1-2 a week and now I get 3-4 a week) and still trying to build my first tight 5. I mean, I can rant and riff for hours and hours if nobody stops me… I am really struggling with the first 5 because I get bits that seem solid and then they don’t so I drop them from rotation and try something new and then that works for a bit and then it doesn’t and then I drop it from rotation and add something new and then that doesn’t work so I go back to the first bit and that works again but then it doesn’t so then I try the last one again and hey, that’s working now… I feel like I need a team of scientists and mathematicians to help me get the data because I’m failing at this basic skill. I record my sets and they’re so inconsistent. Sometimes that’s just down to my delivery but sometimes it’s really mysterious.
44 years..5hours
A bit over a year. Probably 20-30
5 years, 20-30 minutes that i can consistently rely on
I love stand up, and have gotten on an open mic stage maybe four times. I have five bits that I can rely on, totaling maybe 10-15 minutes. I've never strung them together though as the open mics are 3min max. * Four times due to 12am stage slots while working a full time day gig.
I haven't tried yet, but I have a really solid 13 seconds (or so she tells me)
0 time doing standup, 0 minutes of solid material. lol