As a comic, trying a brand new joke on stage for the first time, and getting even a giggle back from the audience is the best feeling in the world.
(At least, it is for me. Although, to be fair, a giggle is usually the biggest reaction any of my jokes get.)
When you first start doing stand up, you don't really have a choice but to go on stage with new material. That grind to figure out your first couple of bits can be brutal. But eventually, you'll start to find some stuff that works, and then you have a base to build from. Sure, you'll have to re-write it, tweak it, and work on the bit again and again, but at least you have something that you know is worth working on. The trap at that point is becoming complacent with your writing. Once you have jokes that you know work more often than not, it can become way too easy to stop trying brand new material, and just stick to what's safe.
I've seen it a million times in just the 2 and a half years I've been in comedy; a new comic has 5 minutes that don't completely bomb, and they keep showing up to open mics and performing the same set over and over. Not tweaking, not trying anything new, just reading from the script. I got guilty of it myself for a while. Once I hit a point where I could survive 30 minutes (not even necessarily do well, just survive), I took my foot off the gas in regards to writing and trying new material. Sitting down and writing new material is hard enough, going on stage with it and trying it for the first time is like jumping out of a plane and praying the parachute you spent the afternoon building works.
I've shifted out of that mindset, but it took time. Now I write something almost every day; be it a new joke altogether, or I re-write and work on something old. And then I try to take something new on stage every time I go up at an open mic. It doesn't have to be a brand new 5 minutes, but I'll tweak the way I word something, or change up the order of the punchlines. Experiment. And if I bomb, I bomb. It's the only way to get better and grow as a comedian. And I'll tell you, trying a new joke for the first time and getting a laugh fills you with the same sense of relief I can imagine you'd experience if you were falling through the sky, pulled the cord and looked back to see that colourful parachute staring back at you.
If you're a new comic and you don't work on new material, that's fine. Do whatever you want with your stage time. I'm in no spot to give advice. All I'm saying is that when I really started forcing myself to keep my good jokes in my back pocket for important shows and paid gigs, and stepped out of my comfort zone with new material more often, I started to see more success as a comedian. Both on stage, and off stage on the business side of comedy. I started bombing more, too. High risk, high reward, I guess.
As always, thanks for reading!
Adam
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