Comedy competitions are big deals. They are big for the competitions, and they can be big for comedians. But are they worth your time? There are several ways to tell if a comedy competition is worth your time AND money.
- Video Submission
- Entry And Travel Fees
- Your Expectations For The Competition: Winning Vs Networking
- Your Time In Comedy
- Your Set And Amount Of Material
Often the best indicator of whether or not a comedy competition is worth your time AND money is not just as simple as if you think you can win or place. Some of the biggest factors can lead to growth in comedy even if you never step on stage.
Think long and hard. Make sure you aren’t going for an ego boost because more often then not it will end up being an ego crushing experience. Comedy is not a competitive endeavor. It is usually done for fun, therapy, and sometimes money. A competition goes against every single one of those reasons.
Video Submission
So you want to compete on stage with other comedians for money, fame, and laughter. Well that’s great but first do you have a video? No not the one your friend recorded on their cell phone that dances around all over the place and only has them talking over your jokes. A professional club made video with good audio, lighting, and editing.
A good video is needed to submit to any real comedy competition. Usually five to ten minutes will be enough. Just know that five to ten minutes may not be enough to compete. You may need more time, but for now get a strong video of you doing five to ten minutes. Oh and don’t edit videos together, the only editing you should do is adding your name and contact information to the video. Add your name at the beginning in a corner and your contact information at the end so the club, booker, or competition team can follow up with you.
Entry And Travel Fees
The cost for a comedy competition is a VERY if not most important factor. I’ve seen competition fees as low as $15 and as high as $500. So if you think it is worth your time and money great, but remember if it is out of state or you have to take off work to go it will affect your budget.
Too often people overlook the extra cost of competing. Airfare, lodging, meals, and transportation (Uber, Lyft, etc.) all add up. Can you afford to take time off from your day job if you have one? These are the questions you need to ask BEFORE you pay an often non-refundable entrance fee.
Your Expectations For The Competition: Winning Vs Networking
So lets say you can afford to go. Why are you going? There is a lot of reasons to go to a Comedy Competition, most to compete. But are you attending for the right reasons. Are you going to compete and win or going to meet and network?
Comedy Competitions pit comedians of different styles, genres, races, colors, creeds, and sexes against each other to find out who is the funniest. SPOILER: It’s never who you think it is. If you enter a competition purely to win, save your money. There is a lot that goes into a competition and more often than not the “best” or “funniest” person does not win.
Most competitions use both audience and judges to decide winners. So what happens when one person packs the competition room with friends and family who cheer them on even when they were terrible? It happens all the time.
Well what about the judges? They will be impartial. Maybe but even that’s not a guarantee. What if your style is not what the judges like? What if they think you are a hack or just hate your punchlines. If they are other comedians this can happen easily.
Now if you go to network with other comedians from all over, to make business contacts and friends then by all means. I met some of the greatest comedy friends because of a comedy competition but i went in knowing I would not win and that i probably would not make the finals. Both were true.
I went so I could learn from more mature comedians who had been in the business for much longer than me and pick up some new writing techniques, stage skills, and make friends. Guess what, all of that actual happened and I became a better comedian because I went in know I was going to network, not win.
Your Time In Comedy
This is where honesty to yourself is needed the most. There are three levels for gauging if you should go based solely on your time doing comedy. One year or less, one to three years and over three years.
One Year Or Less. If you have been doing comedy for a year or less, and by doing comedy for a year or less I mean going up regularly for a year or less. If you are a new comedian a competition can deflate you quickly. Most likely you haven’t found your comedic voice, your timing might still be off, and you may still talk over laughs. In essence you are still performing like an amateur and competing will show every flaw you have not only to yourself but to the judges. If you are new to stand up and have not dialed in your voice, timing, and routine you should go to network or learn but I would probably avoid competing.
One To Three Years. A comedian who has been hitting mics, doing shows and performing in front of paying crowds should be thinking about attending a competition. Even if you don’t win, and odds are you won’t, you will get valuable experience and feedback performing in front of bigger crowds than you may be used to and at a venue you otherwise might not have been performing at before. Again you should network at any comedy competition so you can build relationships and connections when the time comes to hit the road for gigs outside you home city and state. I did this and a year later performed in two clubs in NYC i otherwise would have never been able to perform at.
Over Three Years. If you have been in the comedy game for more than three years you should have been onstage dozens of times and hopefully performed outside your home club a few times. If that’s you then this is a perfect chance to network and meet other touring comedians as well as some bookers. Even if you don’t win your goal should be to be a stand out. This means being professional, being courteous and of course being funny. A comedian who does all of thee above has a better chance of walking away with better contacts and options for shows than the person who wins but is a total jerk. No one wants to work with a jerk no matter how many wins or credits they have.
Your Set And Amount Of Material
Materiel should be a big deciding factor when doing a competition. Often the competition has rounds and each round is a set amount of time. For example round one may be a five minute set. Round two may be a seven minute set. And the finals may be a ten minute set.
You are probably thinking, I have ten minutes that is no problem. Well, yes and no. Often the rules will stipulate that each set must be different. So that means instead of having ten minutes of material you should have 22-30 minutes which changes how you approach the competition. Do you have 25 or 30 minutes of gut busting material? If not you may want to rethink entering.
In the end you have to weigh what you will get out of a comedy competition versus all the input it takes to go and compete in one. I can tell you it is a lot of stress and if you go into it unprepared it can be a lot of undue stress for little to no pay off. Take your time thinking and planning before you shell out hard earned money and spend time stressing over a comedy competition.
