Kind of a strange question to ask – Does your act have “flow”? There is a reason for the question and it is important for you to know the question. When you started as a beginner, it was ok to get up and pop off a series of ad lib sounding wisecracks. You were new. Your audience knew that you were a beginner. However as time moves on, your audience expects more from you as an entertainer. They want “flow”.
Now I will explain what I mean by “flow”. A good performance has a beginning, a middle and end. That is flow. To the audience, even though you should be pulling off something to make them laugh every 10-15 seconds, it will be much easier for them to become involved with the act if it has continuity. You should work on the performance being a continuous story punctuated by funny things that are said and done every few seconds.
Those are the jokes. Within a larger framework, the jokes should all tie together in order to tell a larger story. If you will recall the late Jerry Clower, he always kept his audience rolling with one joke after another, but at the same time he was telling a bigger picture story about something. He could tell you a longer story about Marcell Ledbetter that wove your attention into the fabric of the story, while at the same time he would have you grabbing your sides with laughter with each little funny (joke) that happened along the way.
This concept is almost a difficult to write about as it is to do, but if you understand the importance of tying each joke together “on a continuous string, you will become much more effective at building an audience following of your act.
Of huge importance is that the last two minutes of the act be the “crowning jewel” of the act. That is where you will tie the complete story together into a grand finale and that two minutes is what will have your audience still talking about you two or three days later.
Take some time and analyze your act. Does it have good flow? Are you telling a bigger story with lots of little jokes sprinkled throughout the story as you lead the audience through the journey?
We will continue to discuss this throughout the weeks ahead. If we go further for now, we could cause you to become lost in details that are important, but not as important as grasping the concept is.
That’s all for now, we will talk again real soon.
Steve and JET