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Published on February 18th, 2013 | by Ari Mannis

Comic Building – Dive Bar Shows Will Help You Grow

The problem with many of these bar shows is you have an audience who does not really want to be there; the show is free, they have been drinking, and many times they are not supportive as well as judgmental. Many comedians believe you should never blame the audience, if they don’t laugh hard you should get funnier. I personally think sometimes just sometimes! The audience is to blame. That being said there are comedians out there who are better with bad crowds than others weather that be from experience, material geared towards these audiences, or something else.

Last night I needed to get up on stage and my only option was a bar show. As I am up there with bar music distracting me, people talking amongst there tables, heckling me, on there cell phones I thought why am I doing this? Is this really my fault for not being able to capture this audience? As I was driving home embarrassed that other comedians saw me suck, I thought I am going to write an article on why bar shows are no fun.

I realized however that although at a normal comedy show you would not have this kind of audience you will get the occasional person on their cell phone, talking to friends, or heckling. These bar shows prepare you for that, if you can handle all those distractions you then feel spoiled when performing at a real show, you are even more satisfied and probably even funnier because of it.

So will I continue to blame some bar show nights on audiences? Yes I probably will, but I think they are beneficial for your stand up none the less.

What do you think about bar shows?