How to structure material? I have been writing for over 5 years. On Notes app, google docs. How did you write your first set and what was your experience like? Did you just pick a topic and go?
Also, especially at the beginning, nobody cares about how a set is structured
Select your best material, make it cohesive, time it, practise it and book a gig preferably yesterday.
You haven’t been writing for 5 years, you have been procrastinating for 5 years.
There is NO PRESSURE TO DO WELL AT AN OPEN MIC.
you'll realise this very early on. Go watch a bar open mic. Most the comics WILL suck. A handful will be legit funny.
Take a few jokes preferrably ones with a setup and real punchline and go try them out
Friend have you just been sitting on you material for five years without ever trying to go to a mic?
Contrasts floated into my head and I wrote them in joke form on post it notes while I was at work.
Years later I took a large stack of post it notes to an open mic, and a third of them worked.
If you can create a bridge between the subjects of the jokes, try for that. If not, bookend with your two strongest jokes. End with your stronger half.
It doesn’t matter that much really as long as you open with your strongest material. You basically want to open with something that they have no choice but to laugh at. If you veer off onto other topics you have to weave in some sort of pretense as to why. Laziest is “this happened the other day” but it’s better if you find a theme or something that ties one bit to the next. If you take a wild left turn the audience needs time to catch up.
I honestly don't even remember which set was my first. I bombed frequently early on as most people do. The important thing is just getting up there and experimenting. I recommend avoiding super edgy or potentially offensive material right at the beginning, because you risk turning people off who someday may want to book you, but otherwise do whatever.
I was the same with a long ass doc of what I thought were jokes. Take a few and try to structure them into jokes with setup and punches (lots of good YouTube videos on this). Like everyone said just start going up and trying stuff out and keep writing. Also I marked in my notes the stuff I wrote before getting on stage and after and it's crazy how much better/different the writing gets lol.
I did this same thing. I wrote and wrote for 5+ years always telling myself I would try it out sometime. Since I never would just show up to an open mic I decided to pick a club that does sign-ups weeks in advance. I just signed up for a spot and when that time came it forced me to go do it. I went to that clubs open mic before my first night and watched to see how it works, what the crowd is like etc..
It was okay that I waited. I’m a more confident and self aware person now than I used to be. I’ve also watched a lot more comedy in that time.
I picked some of my favorites and added a couple new that I had just written. I came up with 2.5 minutes, I didn’t do my full 4 minute spot. I rehearsed and put it on notecards in case I got nervous and forgot.
I killed it, got more laughs than anyone. I love it and sign up every month now. I have so much material to work with, I get to edit and revise and I always end up writing something new when I do it. So if I ever have a set that’s short on time I just pull something out of the stash.
The best advice I can give, and I’m sure people here have heard a million times, but “get to the funny”. Almost every comic I’ve seen go up for the first time has a lot of unnecessary information or wording to their jokes that add nothing. I’m sure I did too. Your friends will listen to your long ass stories but strangers will not unless you keep them laughing the whole time and there’s a big payoff at the end.
Time your set and wear a watch. Don’t step on your laughs by nervously moving on if people are still laughing but don’t think you’re going to get 15+ seconds of laughter and applause between jokes. Open with one of your strongest jokes so they will want to listen then close as strong or stronger so they remember you as being funny. Look for the light and ask beforehand if it means 30 sec or a minute left. Do NOT go over your time. On that note, don’t take a long time to start either. I’ve seen people take so long to get started that I thought they were doing a bit before realizing they were just disrespecting the show. Don’t ask the audience how they’re doing as the host already has and at least half of the other comics will continue to. Good luck!
It sounds rude but seriously, just go up. I was gonna say take your best 5 minutes of jokes regardless of structure but honestly take any 5 minutes and go up.
You can prep all you want but you’re not gonna learn anything about doing standup until you start doing it