Stage Presence Dos and Don'ts

Comedy is a performance, and stage presence matters. It’s one of the many factors you need to take into consideration as you continue to hone your craft.

It’s said that the crowd’s impressions of you happen in this order:

1. When they hear your name.
2. When they see how you look and walk on stage
3. When they hear your voice and first joke.
   

These first impressions matter for how you set the tone for your set. In psychology, there’s the Halo Effect and the flipside of it, the Fundamental Attribution Error.

The Halo Effect is a cognitive bias in which people see one good trait in another person and then make additional positive judgments about the person as a result. 

In comedy, that means if you come out strong, they’re more likely to lean into your set and assume you’re a good comedian right off the bat. That means making a good first impression can help build positive momentum with your set.

The Fundamental Attribution Error describes the phenomenon in which people attribute intent to the actions of another and use that attribution to make generalizations about the person.

In comedy, that means if you come out looking anxious, uncertain, intimidated by the audience, unprofessional, disheveled, even if you fix that with your set and delivery, they may hold tightly to that first impression. If it doesn’t fit the persona you’re trying to create for the audience, it could cause them to look negatively on your set. So make sure that’s the impression you WANT to give off.

Learn the “Rules” Before You Break Them
AND Know Your Why

This is something I have taught a lot of people in creative roles and hold as a rule for my creative teams. Creativity means breaking rules a lot of times, but it’s important to know the fundamentals and the “whys” behind those rules first. Then know WHY you’re breaking them.

For example:
An old rule in comedy was don’t wear shorts on stage.
The general idea was to appear professional and not let your appearance (or your knees) distract from your performance.

Sam Tallent is a great example of someone who regularly breaks that rule. 
But why?
It’s part of his persona. He even addresses it in his set sometimes.
So it’s cohesive with his performance and doesn’t distract, but adds to it. 

If you’re deciding to do something on stage that strays from the general rules of comedy, ask yourself:

Does this distract from my performance?
Does it add to my performance?

Weigh the answers. If it doesn’t distract, good. But if it doesn’t ADD to your performance, then is it worth doing? Make sure you have intentionality to it.

Comedy is an Art of Economy

It’s a minimal performance. It is only you, no supporting band, no supporting stage set, oftentimes no props, only a very set amount of time, and every second counts in getting a laugh, every word matters, every movement adds or detracts. So everything you add to your presence is part of the performance. Everything you subtract from your presence is part of your performance. Make sure it has a reason to be there or not.

Mitch Hedburg is the perfect example of this. Everything about the man’s character was carefully crafted to make you believe he was sloppy, a spectacle, a deadbeat. But his jokes were well-crafted, finely tuned, and pared down to exactly what was needed and nothing more.

All of the below “suggestions” can be easily and readily broken if you have a reason to do so. Does it fit your persona? Does it add to your comedy?

Christian Scala makes the room laugh at Blarney Stone Pub.

Some Stage Presence Don’ts in Comedy

• Don't leave the stand between you and the crowd. It leaves a distraction and it breaks your connection with the crowd. Everything is about building connection with the crowd.
  
  
• Don't mess with the mic cord. It looks nervous, and can ruin the mic.
  
  
• Don't hang out at the back wall, unless you have a reason to be there. It can look like the crowd intimidates you, you’re nervous, you’re being disrespectful to the audience. Sometimes this is part of your persona, but if it's not a practiced part of your persona, the crowd will read it as nerves or otherwise negatively.
  
  
• Don't leave the light. Pay attention to the spotlight. It’s distracting to the crowd when you look dark/unlit. The way to know you’re still lit is if it feels blinding and you can’t see the crowd. Young comics feel uncomfortable with this, so they move out of the light. Don’t do that. Learn to not HAVE to see the audience; learn to feel the room, and have confidence in your set, no matter what the audience is doing.
  
  
• Don’t look at your phone or bring your notes on stage at a show, especially a show where audience paid, unless it adds to your presence or performance in some way. Is it worth it? And if you need it to remember a new joke, find a way to make it part of your performance. Otherwise, it’s disrespectful to the crowd that paid to be there or chose to spend their night with you. Be professional. You’re there to put on a show for them.

Tommy Lucero captures the crowd's attention at Free Comedy Fridays.

Some Stage Presence Do’s in Comedy

• Make eye contact with the room. It doesn’t have to be with individuals.
  
  
• Record and watch every set so you can see what you’re doing that feels right and what you’re doing that feels wrong. 
  
  
• Have a plan for how to address the audience and relate to them or recognize that they’re there before you dive into your memorized set. This does NOT mean asking how they’re doing tonight (a personal pet peeve I share with Steve Martin and others). Asking them to engage at the top of your set sets a precedent and wastes precious time in your set where you can be letting the audience actually get to know you. Zoltan Kaszas is the absolute champ at this. The man’s a machine at intros.
  
  
• Know what to do with the mic and how you’re going to hold it. Hold the mic away from your mouth and pay attention to how the volume is set for the room. If the mic is “hot”, be careful to hold it further away or talk quieter, for example. If you're a soft talker, make sure you're holding the mic closer.
  
  
• Speak with confidence and try to sound casual, not rehearsed. This can mean making sure your inflection goes down at the end of a sentence.
  
  
• Make sure your outfit, how you hold yourself, and your energy on stage matches your jokes. If you tell a lot of dark jokes, maybe running around and being energetic is not the vibe. If you're deadpan, consider trying to be more still or controlled on stage. If you tell a lot of stories about yourself, do you SOUND authentic? Or do you sound like you’re making shit up? 
  
  Make sure your outfit matches the vibe or adds to the comedy. Figure out what that means for you. It differs for everyone.
  
  
• Learn basics of body language and be aware of your body language on stage. Learn what basic “tells” are for when someone is lying, and avoid them on stage. Even if people don’t know it, they can subconsciously recognize it. And does your movement on stage add weight to your joke’s delivery? For instance, I used to rock on my heels before delivering a punchline, and it was my subtle body language that tells the crowd, “And now you laugh”.
  
  
• Study the pros. How does Steph Tolev’s frenzied movements add to her style of comedy? How does the way Todd Barry holds the mic add to his delivery? How does the way his eyes move tell you when to laugh? (Austin Train is a local to look to for the way he uses his eyes in his comedy). How does the way Jordan Jensen hides behind the curtain at backstage add to her weird delivery? How much of Iliza Schlesinger’s weight of her jokes gets lost when you only listen to her Party Goblins bits as opposed to watching them? 

And again, all the dos and don'ts of comedy, all the "rules" are very loose. It's a creative art. But it's important to learn the rules before you break them. 

Get out there, get good. Put on a performance for the crowd. It'll make a more memorable impression in the end.