Stand Up at The Comedy Store by Elias Thomas
The best part of living in LA is everything is going on in your backyard. Movie premieres, comedy shows, concerts, and more. There’s never an excuse to stay in unless you’re exhausted from something else you just did.
The most fun I had was actually putting on a show at The Comedy Store. The Comedy Store is a club mentioned in every story of a comedian on the path to make it big, so I was excited when I got booked to do a show there. The show was composed of people that made their living making people laugh and nuclear physicists and homemakers trying their hand at comedy. I bothered everyone about the date (as it’s custom to do) from the moment I got the booking until hours before the show. I was really amazed at the turnout from the friends I’ve made here at SU in LA. Half the audience was SU in LA and it made all the difference in the world.
I get nervous every time I do stand up. If it makes you nervous, it’s probably worth doing unless what you’re doing is robbing a bank (which would make for a good bit). I didn’t want to watch anyone that went before me because I had to turn my set over and over in my head. It’s always awesome to see stand up comedy at the lesser-known levels, though. The material these comedians perform will most likely never leave that room. Even more likely nobody will see them perform outside of that room. So it’s a special moment to be in the room laughing with everyone and enjoying something only a few people can. (I record my stand up however, so please go watch it, just leave it on in the background, I need the views).
The great thing about being a comedian is that you really have to mess up in order to not get a laugh. I forgot what I was going to say at one point and everyone thought it was an off-key bit that I was doing to break up my set a little bit. But really, the best thing about being a comedian is the laughs. The laughs are what makes it worthwhile and makes you want to come back for more. Right when I was done with my set I wanted my next show.
I’ve been doing standup for a while now but it has never been something I want to do professionally, it is something I want to be good at and I see as being a valuable experience. You talk to new people, speak in public, and control a room all at once – although the microphone helps (and so does screaming). Everyone should try to do stand up because everyone has funny stories (and I steal them). George Carlin once said, “I’m not funny, I just write things down.”
If you have the means to, you should do stand up. Even if you do it one time and your mom boos you off stage, it’s a sense of accomplishment and experience that comes as close to risking your life as you can get without wearing a helmet. But if you do stand up and work on it, you will have skills that can take you to some amazing places.
Eli Thomas performing his stand up routine at Flappers Comedy Club in Burbank, CA.