The act outs are the funny parts. Get more act outs going and you'll get more laughs.
Booking big name comics at your little alternative show is a good way to get people in the house. But it sucks if they decide to blow you off at the last minute. To pro comics: A text message 20 minutes after the show starts saying you're sick/busy is pretty disrespectful. (But two bigtime comics did exactly that at a Rififi show last night.)
Some good advice I got a while back about "making it" in comedy: Figure out what you really want to do. Do you want to do standup? Do you want to write? Do you want to act? Do you want to produce videos? Knowing where you want to go is the first step to getting there.
You need to get as much stage time as possible. But open mics can be soul sucking. And lame ones can even make you think good jokes aren't funny. What to do? Find decent ones and plow on through. There's no substitute for getting up in front of people so ya gotta do it. Just be ready to break away from the script if no one's buying it.
Going autobiographical is tough. You have to actually open up about yourself. (I'm good at pointing out the foibles of others but find it tough to point that laser beam at myself.) I'm trying though. 'Cuz if you do it right, it really connects you with the audience.
Write, write, write.
