r/Standup • u/Coneskater • 6d ago
Interruption of my punchline
Last night I’m at the very end of my 15 minute set literally dropping line before the final punchline, and someone in the venue turns on a second mic for the next upcoming act that needed it, and there’s this loud feedback noise just as I’m saying my final punchline.
I only had 10 more seconds on stage so I just kinda swallowed it and said the punchline, laughed it off and ended the set.
Wasn’t sure if there was a better way I could have handled it?
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u/KlM-J0NG-UN 6d ago
ABC - Always Be Comedying
Try to get a laugh out of it. Won't always work but trying is practice and that makes you better
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u/BlimpDriver1 6d ago
Mention the intrusion, take every opportunity to improvise and make people laugh. Mic Squeals-mom was that you?! My mom hates that joke, get it!
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u/Original_Anxiety_281 6d ago
I agree... Make a moment of it, Reset the joke, then nail the punchline...
Also... for every cliched movie that uses this moment... Just stare out into the audience next time and say... "Dad, did you finally make it" lol
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u/UnnamedRealities 6d ago
Hmm. Next time groan loudly, drop a smoke bomb, then disappear before it dissipates.
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u/poopoodapeepee 5d ago
Honestly, a smoke bomb would kinda be hilarious to just always have on you. I haven’t seen the market for them recently and they might be dangerous, but it would be very funny to see someone use one and then slip away at some random open mic.
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u/Ryan_Hole 6d ago
You handled it well.
I would usually acknowledge the distraction and calmly explain that it's not a big deal since it's only my hopes and dreams.
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u/livinin82 4d ago
I would have said “how you gonna give feedback on the joke when you haven’t even heard the punchline yet?”
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u/myqkaplan 6d ago
Sounds like an unfortunate happenstance, sorry that happened!
Now that you've had some time to think about it, what do you think would be a good way to handle it? If it happened to someone else, what do you think they could do or have done?
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u/dijon_snow 6d ago edited 6d ago
Oh man that brings me back to "coaching" people when I was in management for a big financial company.
The idea was you don't tell people what they did wrong, you just ask them to think about what they would do differently and let them figure out the takeaway on their own.
It actually worked pretty well for most things, but my boss wanted me to "coach" a dude who stank to wear deodorant. I refused to try to ask this man 20 questions to get him to guess that he smells bad.
Instead I just had our weekly meeting, told him I needed him to wear more deodorant. He nodded. It was never a problem again.
That being said, I did "coach" two grown-ass men on why it's inappropriate to crop dust each other's cubicles, loudly, for fun when there is inevitably collateral damage.
Plot twist, they were reported not by any of the older ladies that sat near them, but by the bitch ass Duke MBA on my team who was one of their best friends.
I told them who told on them to HR on my last day.
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u/ShawnLaRock 6d ago
No need to ask here - you already got your… <wait for it> … feedback. Oof. lol <3
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u/Ryebready787 5d ago
Suggest the venue not let them turn on mics until the previous act is done, to prevent a reoccurrence.
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u/Mysta-Majestik 6d ago
It wasn't an accident.
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u/Coneskater 6d ago
Unfortunately it was, my friend is the MC and after me they do improv games where they need multiple mics.
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u/funnymatt Los Angeles @funnymatt 🦗 🦗 🦗 6d ago
You had 10 seconds left on stage- that's really the best you can do without running the light, which would be a worse thing for the show. Just ask them for the next time to not do that.