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Tried telling my "crippling anxiety" joke at an open mic and the silence was brutal
Last Saturday I did a set at this little bar downtown and I had this bit about how my anxiety makes me feel like a squirrel in a parking lot. Got some chuckles at first. Then I tried to pivot into a joke about school shootings and panic attacks and the whole room just went quiet. Not even a groan. Just dead air. I knew it was a sensitive topic but I thought the comparison was clever or something. I don't know. Has anyone else bombed hard trying to joke about mental health? Where do you draw the line?
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river95227d ago
Three years ago I counted 11 awkward silences at a local open mic where people kept trying to do bits about their therapy sessions. It felt like everyone was testing how dark they could go without anyone walking out. The problem is most crowds need a warm up before they're ready to laugh about heavy stuff, and jumping straight from squirrel jokes to school shootings is like going from zero to sixty on a gravel road.
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james_bell26d ago
Totally feel you on that @river952, the whole dark comedy thing needs some build up or it just kills the room.
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drew_hart426d ago
Heard a comedy podcast where the host said dark humor works best after the crowd trusts you. That "zero to sixty on gravel" line nails it people need to know you're not just being edgy for no reason.
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