Many people, when they find out you do comedy, their first question is “Have you ever bombed?” The correct answer, for all comedians, is YES! Yes I have. It’s part of doing comedy. Oddly enough, the more you do it, the better you get at recovering from a bomb. I used to be off a whole week if I bombed an open mic set. (Which, btw, should be judged differently then a booked show in my opinion!) Now, after a bomb, I am normally fine somewhere between the car ride home and the next day.
For context though, I need to educate the non-comedians reading this blog post on a simple truth about comedians.
When you get started as a standup comedian, for whatever reason, EVERY comic is under the impression that THEY are the best, and the person that is about to Revolutionize and change the comedy game for ever. EVERY new comic, once they get bit by the “comedy bug”, and some louder then others, *knows* that THEY are the absolute best, and biggest blessing to the comedy world. For all of our first year or two, we are convinced we’re God’s gift to Comedy, and have the ego to match it.
And to any first year or second year comedian reading this, getting a little offended, and completely disagreeing because you personally are SO not like this…Of course I am not talking about you! YOU’RE the exception, and everybody knows it…This is just true about literally every other comedian other then you, because you are a special snowflake that is unique to the comedy world…and don’t let anyone ever tell you differently!
I feel like I can say all this about overly confident first and second year comics, because I know for a fact I was the worst among all of them. I had such a huge ego, and was so convinced that I was God’s gift to comedy, and about to be the game changer for the whole industry. And there is no better story to illustrate this point then the one about the time I had my first big bomb in front of a real audience, and here it is:
If you read my last post then you know I am an ordained minister, and back in the day I would do “Craigslist weddings” for a little extra cash. So in 2012, when I was about a month into comedy, I found myself planning a wedding with a nice couple and word got out that I also did standup comedy.
And by “word got out” what I really mean is, I was a month in and bragging about it to everyone that had ears. My attitude was “I’ve been preaching since I was 16, so I basically am ready to be a full time comedian and film my Netflix special TODAY!”
When telling the nice couple about how I am an standup comedian, they asked If I could do a “Tight 30 minutes for the wedding reception.”
Now for the uninitiated. When someone asks for a “tight” set, whether its 5, 10, 15, 30, 45 mins, or an hour, what they typically mean is “A laugh every 10-15 seconds for that many minutes.” As a point of reference, I eventually filmed my first comedy album in 2019 at South Street Comedy Club, 7 years later, with a tight 30 minutes.
So no, in 2012, a month into comedy I didn’t even have a tight five minutes. And What I SHOULD have said was, “No I cannot do a tight 30 minute set.” But instead, the words that came out of my mouth were.
“I can do a tight 45 minutes!”
And of course they agreed, because I was sharing with them the confidence of a man who has been doing comedy for twenty years. So after we agreed on a tight 45 minute comedy show at the end of their wedding, the most sacred day in their marriage, they went home to prepare for a lifetime of love, and I went home to prepare for the show that I was CONVINCED would be my break out moment. Netflix was going to catch wind of this 45 minutes of pure awesomeness that I was about to share with the world, and my career was going to TAKE OFF!
Or so I thought…
Now it should be noted here that many comedians in the Nashville scene did their best to warn me and talk me out of what was about to happen. Nashville Comedy can feel like a rough scene sometimes, but frequently it’s because they are just being real with you or trying to negate the massive arrogance you might be bringing to the table. I, of course, was bragging to all the comedians I knew that “I have my first 45 minute set coming up” and they were doing their best to tell me, “Please Dear God for yourself and Standup Comedy as a whole, get out of this! You are 100% not ready for a 45 minute set of *funny* standup comedy.”
But I was NOT hearing it. I remember a conversation specifically with a comedian where he told me, “Bro you are just too new to do a 45 minute solid set.” To which I responded, “I don’t know, Eddie Murphy was a breakout start that got big only after a few open mic sets.” and then this comedian point blank asked me, “Do you think you’re as funny as Eddie Murphy?” and with as much cringe that can fit in my fingers as I type this, I tell you, with 100% honesty and certainty that my word for word response was…
“I mean, maybe!”
So yeah…There was no talking me out of this show. I was organizing all my five minute sets I had done at open mics, once. I was putting together what I felt would be my “best 45”. I made arrangements for a friend to come to the wedding with me and record my “special” and I even looked up who to send albums to at Netflix to get discovered, because I knew that’d be the next step. I was ready! I had everything I needed except for jokes that were funny.
And then…the wedding reception comedy show happened. If that’s what you want to call it.
Friends, I am not exaggerating when I tell you that I spoke in front of that group for 45 minutes and only ONE of my jokes got a laugh. Just one.
If a tight set was “1 laugh for 45 minutes” then I nailed it, but unfortunately that’s not how comedy works.
There was a baby crying for the entire time I was performing. I am pretty sure it was because of my jokes.
It was awful. The worst feeling ever. Talk about deflated ego, awkward silences and no eye contact after the show, and me getting out of there ASAP. But to any new comedians that may still be reading this blogpost, here’s what happened afterward.
I was down for a day or two, but then I got back out there and kept performing at open mics and anywhere else that would have me. I moved past the awkwardness, I took notes, I got better, and I kept going…because that’s what you do in standup comedy after a bomb. You dust off the dirt, and you get up and keep going. Was I amazing after that bomb? Absolutely not! I still sucked for a while, but I was delusional and in love with the art enough that I kept going…and so are you!
So don’t let a big bomb stop you from performing. It’s part of life. We’re born, we bomb, sometimes we even do well, and eventually we die. It’s fine. That’s the life of a performer.
One final note, in case you’re wondering. The couple I married to this day still follow me on facebook and tiktok. Every now and again I’ll see them like a post or a video. So I like to think that they’ve seen me improve over the past decade and don’t think of me as that “terrible comedian that almost ruined their wedding” anymore. I could be wrong, but maybe one day if I’m famous and a huge star they’ll 100% be able to be say “Oh Drew Davis is hilarious now, but I remember when…”
And that’s the time that I had my first BIG Bomb on stage!
Comedians do you have a funny bomb story that you’d like to share? Bombing isn’t exclusive to Comedy. Does anyone have a funny and embarrassing story about something that happened to them? Feel free to share below! Thank you for reading and have a wonderful day!
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