Wk 8: The Road To A Showcase: Write, Perform, Video, View, Cry, Swear, Rewrite, Perform, Video, View, Cry, Swear, Rewrite, Perform, Video, Cry, Swear, Rewrite, & REPEAT until one day you find gold.
- David Archer
- 5 days ago
- 3 min read
Wednesday, October 22nd, 2025 at The Comedy Bar East, 7:00 p.m. on their main stage I get a chance to do my first stand up comedy set since, well, October 2024 at the Flying Monkey Brewery in Barrie, Ontario, Canada. And about 15 years prior to that date.
This comedy showcase is from our graduating Advanced Stand Up Comedy Class. I have flown high, cruised along hearing laughs and I crashed, burned, and smouldered in the wreckage of self humiliation wondering, what the phuck am I doing?
For weeks I've stunk the class out. I see some things that work, hear some good laughs BUT embarrassingly enough, Dave! STOP RAMBLING, STOP Mumbling, get to the joke, the punch line. My mother always said, "I think you love the sound of your own voice".
She was right. I'm an idiot. Get off the stage. But no. This time I'm staying. Why? Cuz as an idiot my go to action was to say; "ahhhhh screw this" and leave the course and make excuses for my departure. Like an idiot does. Instead of admitting Stand Up Comedy is hard work, for someone like me this does not come easy, and if I'm going to continue... let's assess things after you get your promo tape.
Wrongfully in my mind, on stage, I think I'm performing like Richard Pryor, Dick Van Dyke, Jackie Gleason, Bill Burr, Eddie Murphy, Red Foxx, Jerry Seinfeld, et al but no, I'm not that polished. Maybe I have stage fright? No. I'm me. And to have video tape of my performance - all I need now to be better than that last bit - is to have the courage to watch myself on camera.
My performance tonight, Week 8, in class... for a 5 -7 minute set - I went on 16 minutes 32 seconds. I'm an idiot. Our instructor said, "watch your tape, you'll know what to cut. I let you roll Dave... you missed last week, I liked certain things... she gave some other great feedback BUT cut out 9 minutes, maybe 10.
CUT OUT 9 minutes, maybe 10? Oh my God, how embarrassing? I'll edit it on the train ride home.
I wasn't even going to come to class tonight. OMG, I was just planning on getting on stage Wednesday night, and perform what I performed in class. Phuck me, I'm an idiot.
Cut 9 minutes... Ahhhhhhhh - cut cut cut cut cut cut cut cut.... oh the horror! The inhumanity.
The Comedy Bar East, this Advanced Stand Up class taught me to be brave again older man, and keep it tight. CUT the trash. "Kill Your Babies", watch your video tapes... hear where the laughs land... 5-7 minutes. You got this. Instead of telling as many bits as possible, trying as much material as possible, recall the saying; "LESS is MORE"
Before bed, I rewrote the Showcase to be what I now feel to be the very best of these last 8 weeks.
I think I'll name my one man comedy show; the "Excuse me but, I have a dream to catch" tour.
I will be signing up for more programs. These guys, The Comedy Bar crew, they're are a class act. Take it from me, an idiot that knows a good thing when I see it, through corrective lenses.
Check out my MERCH Store... Great T's...
Comments