11 comedians reflect on what theyve learned from months of Zoom and outdoor shows during COVID-19.
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Ive tried jokes out on Zoom.
Its helped me to remember old jokes, remember the order of things.
I wouldnt call it a transition, because its something I refuse to be used to.
Its a placebo, and you know its a placebo.
I feel like this time has absolutely fundamentally changed how I approach material.
At the beginning of this, my whole life was comedy.
Its all I did, all I focused on.
Since COVID happened, Ive gotten engaged.
Ive started thinking about having a kid, which is something I never considered.
Ive got this germ of an idea in that realm that Im trying to build on.
Mary Beth Barone
At the beginning of quarantine, I was like,Im writing jokes.
I need to put them out, so lets do the virtual shows.
I said yes to everything.
You get this taste of what it used to be like without the feedback of an audience.
It was like performing for the first time.
It was very scary.
I think that the Zoom shows taught me that nothing can replace live performing.
I dont want to say I wont perform on virtual shows because thats not the case.
Youre not getting instant feedback.
I think its never going to be a substitute for in person.
It often feels like youre talking to yourself in a dark room.
It helped me become even more measured and clear in my delivery of material.
I think outside comedy just helped to figure out how to reconnect with my energy.
I also always have to fight the want to talk to the crowd.
I was apprehensive about doing crowd work during the taping.
A lot of it felt new for me, but thats how you grow and how you get better.
I like being a little surprised when I come offstage by howOh,thatshow that joke went tonight.
I think its funny because pre-corona, my answers would have been very different.
I was never comfortable with the quiet, and I always wanted the fast turnaround.
So there was no way that couldnt have been an amazing night for me regardless of my set.
When outdoor shows came along, it was such a godsend.
It felt like coming home after a war or something to get to perform for a physical audience.
I would say my reaction to the pandemic is twofold.
I like to write onstage, but that is not the show people signed up for.
If Im going to do a show, they gotta leave with more than they came for.
Ill write the essays and venture to find something that works better in these conditions.
Then there are some that are bound by the elements.
I think as comics, were all doing the best with what we have.
I think the way Ive started to create is much more of an eclectic approach.
Now Im just like,Look, Im blessed to be alive and healthy.
Im blessed to still be able to create.
I know Im not going to hit it out of the park every time.
I consider myself to have a foot in that world, for sure.
Gavin Matts
I havent done a Zoom show.
I just want something to be mad about, I guess, so I decided not to do them.
Before the pandemic, I was doing stand-up every night.
I didnt really know how it was going to go.
When youre in a club, it’s crucial that you get laughs to get booked again.
There was no pressure.
Its made me really not care as much about people being onboard, so to speak.
Monroe Martin
I did more outdoor shows than Zoom.
The Zoom shows just didnt work for me.
So I was like,Okay, I still need to work this material out.
If I can make at least the people closest to me laugh, I know the bit is working.
I was doing that for at least a couple of months.
Then the shows started getting better, which actually helped me prepare for how Comedy Central did their shows.
They started being rooftop shows and shows in the back of restaurants, where its COVID-safe.
Everybodys spread out, but you actually have a microphone and stuff.
By the time I got to those, I was already shaping the set out.
For me, the park shows helped the most.
I feel like there are definitely comics who benefit off the Zoom shows and know how to work it.
Some comics dont care about audience reaction.
For me, Im still figuring out the joke as Im telling it.
Im still gauging,All right, this is how they kind of reacted.
What should I take out?
What should I not say?
With Zoom shows, I didnt really get that.
Thats just the key in of comic I am.
I need that energy.
With Zoom, I lose that power.
Rebecca ONeal
During quarantine, I have started using Twitter as a pre-pre-preopen mic.
I basically started diagramming my jokes on Twitter.
One thing I did notice in Zoom and in real life is how grateful audiences are for comedy.
Theyre just grateful to be outdoors at a thing.
I was able to work out material in a really positive environment.
We realized audiences were more patient than before.
Some at the recording were up for the first time in six months.
So I really learned just to bring my own perspective to it.
Just trust your voice and what you feel, because everyones feeling something.
Eagle Witt
Its funny when I started doing Zoom shows, I was so hyped.
I was in a better mood.
I told my girl, Yo, aint I happier now?
By the third Zoom show, it was depressing.
I was like I hate this so much.
Sometimes now Ill say yes to a Zoom show, but its always by accident.
Somebody will hit me up and be like, You want to do my show on the 15th?
Ill be like, Hell, yeah, thinking its an outdoor show.
Then theyre always like, All right, heres the Zoom link, and Im like, Fuck!
You know what they help with though?
Its almost like open mics again.
The best thing about open mics is that you get to say the joke, and that helps.
It helps your mind figure out how to construct it.
Sometimes it gives you false confidence.
Ive gone to real outdoor shows with jokes that killed on Zoom, and they bomb.
But once you go to these outdoor shows, people are living their lives to some extent now.
They dont really care too much.
I mean, I didnt do a lot of outdoor shows before the taping.
I went upstate for a good chunk of the pandemic.
Taping was shortly after that.
