Comedy Club at Fanime 2009
WHO: Sign ups are open for participants for the Comedy Club at Fanime 2009 Panel! If you like doing standup and are a fanboy or fangirl, participating in this panel MAY BE FOR YOU! :3 We are looking for fans with a sense of humor to put out a short stand-up routine to entertain your fellow fan-people. There are no auditions. Slots are provided on a first-come first-served basis per the sign up information below!
WHAT: Comedy Club at Fanime 2009 is a second-year panel featuring your fellow otaku rocking the house with jokes about anime, manga, and fandom.
WHERE: Fanime Con 2009!
WHEN: Confirmed SATURDAY evening of the convention. CONFIRMED TIME 9PM-11PM Confirmed location Marriott Salon IV, V, VI (Panel room 3)
SIGN UP INFORMATION: Due to interest for resigning up and the current number of people already signed up, I am planning on a two hour evening panel on SATURDAY. If you MUST go to something else during Saturday night... this is probably not for you.
We currently have FIVE people signed up, so sign ups are open for about FOUR more slots! PM me for questions or sign up! If you're not sure yet if you're going to the convention itself, please do not sign up. I will be requesting badge numbers for people who are signing up, unless you were a participant last year.
Routines should be 5-7 minutes unless we talk about a different time-line. I will try to accommodate requests of up to 13 minutes if time permits. Please let me know if you would like to try for a longer timeslot. If we have extra time at the end we'll simply do an improv routine with all the participants if we are short on the individual sets. To ensure we don't all do a 5 minute performance and have 20 minutes of dead time, please let me know well ahead of time (end of March) how long your routine will be.
Please script or outline your performance to check for time. It really isn't as easy as it looks, the only thing worse than being not funny is awkward silence when you run out of stuff to say. Please let me know as soon as possible how long your routine will be so I can accommodate longer/shorter ones. The later you ask for a time period the less likely I'll be able to accomodate you since I will just assume you have a 5-7 minute set when I do sign ups. Thanks!
The panel should be appropriate for a 16+ audience. If you're not sure if something is too racy... leave it out. Swear words are okay as long as you don't base your entire routine on them.
Towards the con, I will be asking for phone numbers so I can contact you if there's a change in plans. I will also provide my number in case you cannot make it and don't find out until the con.
Props are okay as long as you are allowed to have said prop on convention hall grounds according to all state/federal laws and convention rules, and will be allowed only if they only require less than 5 minutes to set up before the panel (not after someone else's act, please), will not get in the way of the other participants and audience members and only 2 minutes to clean up *by yourself* Anything that you damage at the convention center will be all you. I'll be more than happy to turn you and your contact information over to the convention organizers if you do something stupid on an epic scale :3.
Any questions, send them to my e-mail at ayabrea at gmail dot com or send me a PM. I'll be updating this post with news and info as they come up!
Update 1/27/09:I have submitted the panel form for a two hour panel. We now have seven people signed up (woo hoo!)
Update 3/2/09:Subtracted two people from the roster since they either changed their mind or could not confirm. But hey, more time for everyone else :3
Update 3/11/09: Panel accepted. Timeslot pending. Also, we now have a Facebook Group. W00t. http://www.facebook.com/photo_search.php?oid=68162244788&view=user#/group.php?gid=68162244788 (http://www.facebook.com/photo_search.php?oid=68162244788&view=user#/group.php?gid=68162244788)
Update 3/22/09 Panel confirmed for SATURDAY NIGHT.
Update 5/5/09 Panel time verified set for 8pm - 10pm, though last minute changes may happen, so keep your eyes peeled. I also need INTRODUCTIONS from the participants (what you want me to say about you before introducing you and what you want me to call you.)
Update 5/17/09 Panel time CHANGED (my bad, I read the table wrong!) 9PM-11PM. Please come on by at 9PM! :3 :3 :3 Marriott Salon IV, V, and IV (Panel room 3). See you guys there!! :3 :3
I am nervous from excitement already. ^^
Oh its so on like Donkey Kong! I'm really looking forward to getting up there again.
I can't believe I'm already writing material for this. Regardless, looking very forward to this, last year's was really fun (I can't get over telling people the first time I did stand-up was at Fanime).
Is there a way to possibly look into recording this year's go-around? Maybe video, or audio? I know that's what they did when Patton Oswalt performed at BlizzCon, and yes granted none of us are Patton Oswalt, and we're not at BlizzCon, might be something to think about, especially since we have all this lead time until Fanime.
A two hour event with twice the comics is a bad idea.
We had a hard enough time fitting as many comics as we had into one hour - DOUBLING the event should only make it worse.
Say the first hour of comics goes beyond the one-hour mark. Doesn't that suck even more for the remaining ones, having to scrunch their time even more?
I'd suggest that if you want to have twice the amount of comics, bill it as two separate events. You could even try to have something small, like an hour break, between them. That means that people get relatively equal time, and those who went to the first hour will probably come back for the second, seeing as it's soon after.
All this, or you TOTALLY enforce time limits for the performers.
havok rt: Did you e-mail me or PM me to sign up again yet? Please confirm if you're coming and I'll put you down.
As for last years timing issue. I did not anticipate the 10 minute setup time (my bad, I only planned 5 minutes), plus I personally ran over my own time (sorry!) I also don't think any of the performers were expecting so much "audience participation". We still made it and I only had to tell one guy to stop. With a two hour event versus two seperate one hour events, there is no second 10 minute set up time, and I will be planning 1 minute of extra time per performer at the end to accomodate overflow time. We will simply do improv if people do not use up this time. It's a tough balancing at, but I think we can do it. As I do the lineup I will be planning enough for everyone to finish the bulk of their sets. I'll also be counting on everyone to let me know ASAP how long they think their set to be so I an accomodate all the performers.
Even though I'm doubling the time, I'm not planning on doubling the number of comics. If people want to do longer sets and tell me, then I would end signups early so everyone who is already signed up will get to perform their time. (Hint hint, please tell me how long you are planning on going... preferably before you write your set so I can know early.)
As for taping, again, I do not own any sparkely video recording equipment. The con did not provide video recording equipment as an option last year, and will probably not offer it this year. I literally had my friend videotape my set on my camera. Since it's my friend and not me (and I'm not even sure if she's going to go this year) I cannot offer up her services. (I will also be too busy timing everyone instead of taping, sorry!) If, however, you find your own buddy to record your set, more power to you. If you have a friend who wants to tape you and would like priority seating for the person filming, that IS something I can accomodate. Let me know ahead of time and we'll let him/her in early.
I have a digital audio recorder and can probably at least record the audio for all the performers and send you an MP3 of your set after the con. Let me know if you're interested.
Update: Panel form completed and submitted Fanime! We also have seven people signed up so I'm really psyched (I've now added you, Havok! Glad to have you back!) I hope everyone has some great ideas swarming in their heads already on what to talk about :3 :3
This could be fun.Just need to find out form my friend if he's entering the AMV contest.
Drop me a line here if you're interested! Or you can wait for the time announcement to decide (though you might want to pencil in some jokes together since I don't know when the times will get announced.)
Our panel has been accepted by Fanime! No time or date is set yet, but look forward to that coming soon.
It's still early, but we're running at the same number of people as last year, so plan on longer sets and doing the improv thing at the end! We didn't get a chance to do that last year, and I was really curious to see how the comic energy would mix :3 I'll keep updating the number of participants as they change.
Keep working on those sets! And please let me know how many minutes you want to use!
We also now have a facebook group http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=68162244788 (http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=68162244788). Join, enjoy, or just spam your friends who have facebook with it. If you have any photos you want to post, e-mail them to me. Otherwise, anyone is free to join and post links and videos. They don't have to be from last year's event, but related to you (the participant) and stand up comedy would be nice.
maybe you should also post a list of who has signed up and confirmed that way people interested in trying out already know how many people are involved.
While actual participant names are not listed, it says that there are FIVE confirmed, with FOUR slots open. Is that what you were looking for?
Quote from: G-Force on March 27, 2009, 09:56:52 AM
maybe you should also post a list of who has signed up and confirmed that way people interested in trying out already know how many people are involved.
You know you're in, right? :3
Yep, five confirmed, looking for up to 4 more. Even if it's five, I'm sure we could eat up the two hours, no problem. I have around 30 minutes of material I can do myself.
I really have no try outs, if someone confirms they'll come and there's a spot, and that person follows through with giving me contact information and assurance they're still alive via replying to my e-mails, they're in.
I can't believe I'm still in the process of writting the jokes. For me this is waiting for the last minute. XD
But I promise they'll be good. And I look forward to everybody else's set. I'm hoping nothing too major happens else where during our slot. I would like my friends to attend. ^^
We're now tentatively slotted for Saturday night (confirmed date) at 8pm-10pm (time tentative) Don't know if this is suddenly good news for anyone else holding out from signing up, but I am hoping to get at least a couple more people signed up... if not, we'll still make do (but come on, join in the fun!)
To those already signed up, there are five of us. This means I will need slightly longer than originally planned sets if you are up for this. Individual times may vary, and please don't feel like you *have* to do a 10 or 20 minute set (though I'd like it very much if you did *wink wink*). Whatever time you do decide, please let me know... I think last year most people had closer to eight to ten minutes, so come on, just a little longer than last year! XD This will also probably mean I will be a lot less strict about when I will cut you off, so everyone can feel less rushed (I will still make the cute warning signs as I promised, but you can let me know when you want me to raise it, or not at all. I highly doubt we'll run out of time :3)
I will try to at least do an audio recording of the entire show, no guarentees on audio quality, but I bought a pretty good voice recorder that worked out fine for me for the last time I did a stand up show at Yaoi Con, so I'm hoping I can post the audio clips somewhere, and maybe even burn them onto CD and mail them to you guys if not give you a copy at the con (probably Monday at my Artist Alley table. I'll try to burn them at the con on Sunday night.) You are VERY welcome to bring any other video recording equipment/lackey to record your own set or the entire show. We can probably set them up in the back so they can stand up and/or set up tripods (though probably not in front of doors or in the aisle, fire hazard.)
We're also most likely going to do some improv skits at the end. I will take suggestions from the participants only (element of surprise, I guess :3) Please PM or e-mail them to me. We'll throw them in a hat and have audience members draw them out. Ideally this should only be a wrap up part of the show as there is an entire other panel that's skits that existed before we came to be, so I don't want to look like we're ripping them off... so please work on those sets! *thumbs up* Gambatte!
I'll e-mail everyone signed up this weekend, so if you're on the fence about signing up, now is a good time! :D
I will probably want to check this out
I am no good at stand up but I really appreciate it and love comedy
:D
Well I'm finishing writing up my material. So I just gotta to time it and cut out any bad material. Doing more preparation than last year, since I was kinda hit or miss. God I'm so psyched, Less than a month to go! ;D
and I'm totally up for post panel dinner or whatever.
Participants: I sent out an e-mail to you. If you did not get this e-mail, please let me know via PM or e-mail. Thanks!
Hi Everyone. Time is now confirmed for Saturday night 9pm-11pm at Panel 3 (Marriott Salon IV, V, VI!!!) :3
Oh great. Now I have to change the time on my signature advertisement. XD
But awsome that we get a big ass room. ^^
Two days!!! Only two more days! :o well see you guys Saturday. Oh man I just saw how big the room we got this year is huge...guess we got a good review from last year, but now i'm a bit nervous again. :-[
I hope we get some feedback from people who saw it.
Great show this year, I enjoyed the comedians! Too bad the improv fell apart at the end though. I hope you guys do it again next year!
Thank you. Yeah, people kinda just started leaving during the improve. But we'll get them next year.
Everybody was really cool this year. Keep it up for next year everybody. ^^ I'm glad we got the new guy. He just added a new take to our line up. My set for next year probably won't be as offensive as this year's.(I don't know what happened there XD) People actually recognize me around the con, so that was awsome.
Yeah sorry about how raunchy I got. I don't know if anybody will believe it but I really didn't plan to be that wrong. But I like to thank Aya for put this all together (once again I'm sorry :-[) and to everybody that came out really you guys show me show much love you really made my con.
If desired... next year we can always do two versions of the panel. One regular, and one 18+.
I'll be looking for more late night 18+ programming. Just a thought!
what was up with that one guy dissing san jose? if there is to be another comedy club next year, he better be gone. >:(
Quote from: achten on May 27, 2009, 10:56:25 PM
what was up with that one guy dissing san jose?
OMG I KNOW! I was just going to post that!
Living in San Jose is bad enough as it is, don't have to rub it in! >:(
Quote from: Kava on May 27, 2009, 10:44:39 PM
If desired... next year we can always do two versions of the panel. One regular, and one 18+.
I'll be looking for more late night 18+ programming. Just a thought!
Sounds cool, although I think for now it's fine the way it is. I wonder what Joyce thinks of that.
Quote from: achten on May 27, 2009, 10:56:25 PM
what was up with that one guy dissing san jose? if there is to be another comedy club next year, he better be gone. >:(
I think he only made fun of The sharks. I don't think he was trying to be a jerk necessarily.
Fine, new guy registered.
Thanks for the support, this one girl was taping, wonder if it'll be on youtube.
see y'all next year
Quote from: passLion on May 31, 2009, 01:33:32 PM
Fine, new guy registered.
Thanks for the support, this one girl was taping, wonder if it'll be on youtube.
see y'all next year
We won't just see em next year, we'll corrupt them. Hehehe....but good to see you online.
Quote from: foxbriar on May 29, 2009, 01:45:21 AM
Quote from: achten on May 27, 2009, 10:56:25 PM
what was up with that one guy dissing san jose?
OMG I KNOW! I was just going to post that!
Living in San Jose is bad enough as it is, don't have to rub it in! >:(
Famous last words: I regret nothing!
Speaking of Youtube and shameless self-promotion, my set from the Comedy Club is up, relive the magic, for the first time:
http://vimeo.com/5098231
Anybody else's clips up anywhere up?
I've found Aya's ands G's sets on youtube but no luck for the second half of the club. D:
I got a guy who's writing about fanime which includes his visit to the comedy club. He's still finishing the article and will post videos when done.
Also I must thank Aya for creating this panel two years ago. I just got back from AX and thanks to my practice at fanime, I was able to walk away from the con being the 2009 Last Comic Standing champion!
Good job G, we all were rooting for u. I think going to the Last Comic Stand was probably one of the more better events I experienced at AX.
Holy cow, I didn't know I had people who went to the fanime comedy club go to Last Comic Standing! You should have came backstage and said something to me and I would have totally welcomed you in. As much as I am thrilled to win this thing, I will never forget my roots at fanime and performing with Aya, Pablo, Glitch and Havok. I'm always ready to perform with you all and you can bet your ass I'll be at next year's fanime with new material.
Yeah man, Marc and his bro was right behind me with Jason. In fact, I was able to hear someone's girly laugh =P
And by the way, keep up with your anime club...*wink*
After seeing G's victory at AX, I've been inspired to do a bit of stand-up myself. Guys have room for one more?
Considering the amount of time we had left over at the end of this years panel I'd we could easily fit another comedian though it Aya's call.
All funny people welcome to the fold. ^^
And yes, G-force promised and delivered. You showed AX exactly what the comedy club boot camp can do. XD
We will be an even bigger force next year!
http://www.axbackstage.org/media/videos/2009-day-3/
Check it out, I made sure to give credit to the club when credit is due.
F**k Yeah! G I gotta give you mad props. Represent Fanime, Damn I know what your intro is going to be for next year.
Now I know its a real long way from 2010 but we could use all this time to plan for the club. Right now our two biggest flaws are...
1. Finding performers
2. Filling up time.
the 2009 Comedy Club saw what happens when a panel suddenly grows. Due to the positive feedback from 08, not only were we granted a real room but way more time as well. While we got more time to host the club, we didn't exactly get that many new people from last year. Granted the obvious choice was for us to run longer sets but the crowd only wants to see one person on stage for so long so you can see people getting really antsy toward the people who ran routines longer than ten minutes.
With that said, if we're going to be running for the same amount of time, we need more people. We already got one guy wanting to perform but we should look for more ways to bolster our numbers. Now at AX they were able to do this easily on account they had a tournament where the comedians were award prizes and the winner got a free badge. I'm talking about some sweet prizes too. Pretty much the contestants got to choose from a big box of swag and I walked away with a copy of Porco Rosso, Boggiepop Phantom and a Justice action figure. This raised interest in the tournament so much that the organizers had to have live auditions.
Obviously, given how our event is based in fanime, we don't really have the resources to be giving away prizes and free badges but then again our club's purpose is not based on competition but its more so an open mic session. Currently, the only thing I can think of to get more performers is to just actively seek people out. Really pimp the event out, maybe have a warm up session on Day Zero where we meet up and perform clips of our routines and do some improv games. During the con we can have Stage Zero advertise us by playing clips of our old performances to actually show people we're funny. Don't worry second half people, I got footage...well moreso I know the guy who filmed all of us. He's writing for bayanime and hopefully he'll get to his article about us and then you'll finally claim your piece of internet fame.
G-Force, I am very surprised that you won the event! Congrats dude! Sorry I couldn't watch it cuz my job was to check badges before letting them in. But I'll watch your video! I would love to try out stand up as well but sadly I decided that I want to be part of either Ballroom Department or E-gaming Department. But damn great job dude and hope I'll see you at the Anime club!
This all sounds exciting. I gotta say I'm already writting material for next year. I can't wait for the unyet seen footage. XD
Edit: Since some events get their own pics in the program book, I think we should get our own little pic. something like this;
(https://forums.fanime.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fimg.photobucket.com%2Falbums%2Fv31%2FGlitchwire%2Fcomedy%2520club%2Fcomedyclubchibismall.jpg&hash=2b2263ca4bcbcf59f495195b4126c02d0324067a)
although not exactly like that since this is a crappy pic I did in a rush. XD
I befriended an artist in 09 who went to the comedy club and had the time of her life. She's really interested in drawing up promo material and if things go well I'll get her to do something.
Also, if a certain person shows up I think I'll be able to bring in another comedian who I can personally vouch for as being a really funny dude. How would you like it if the Comedy Club had TWO Last Comic Standing finalist instead of just one?
So many things for the club in 2010. I can't wait for how all this turns out.
Glad you guys are already thinking up ideas for next year. Honestly, I haven't even thought about next year yet at this point (right now, I'm working on a panel in 2 weeks for Yaoi Con). I'm leaning towards cutting the panel back to 1 hour since we really struggled to fill the 2 hour time slot even with the bonus performer we picked up *at* the convention. I don't think it's really anything negative to cut back to 1 hour, considering I did a nearly 25 minute set by myself to try to fill up as much time as possible XD I have no problems doing just a 10 minute set! It'll be a lot less stressful on me and probably the other performers who also feel like they have to fill up as much time as possible.
I'm definitely not interested in going the competition route, I really like the open mic format. I have no prizes to offer, nor am I interested in finding sponsors. I'm really just out to have a good time and some good laughs, and that's been my goal the last two years. If it's prizes you're interested it, come on down to AX and have your try at AX LCS (which I see some of you did. *thumbs up*).
I'm not going to go back to the 2 hour format unless we get at least 10 people committed, as in they have signed a contract in blood, or something equally serious. Right now we have six people (assuming everyone comes back) probably 8-10 minute sets each to fill up the hour. Seven if G's friend joins up, so that's 7-8 minute sets each. I'm really happy with the group we had this year, so I'm not actively recruting for this coming up year unless someone drops out. If any one of your friends are interested, let me know.
I'm actually not sure how one gets art for the program guide. If so, we could make something happen. Though I don't think we have a problem finding an audience XD it would be nice to get some extra space in the program guide for us.
More info on next year's panel to come... probably whenever they announce the hotels and people start seriously considering going to the convention. Thanks!
We are always thinking about the comedy club. It's the only thing at the con I absolutely won't miss.(mainly becuase I'm in it.) XD
I really hope you keep the two hour slot. I'm always scared that we'll run out of time. I always thought it's better to have too much than too little. ^^;
For the extra time left over, might I suggest a q and a session instead of improv. In the improv I think we didn't really have everybody on the same page. For q&a we could have the audience ask us any stupid questions and not aswer seriously. I think people will like that.
I will personally go and see how we can get some space on the fanime program. ^^
I like Glitch's q and a suggestion. I mean was burnt out after my set. So as much as I would have liked to, there was no way I was going to be able to perform. But what did happen was spent the next hours talking to people about doing the comedy club. So that something I'm all for.
Q and A sounds fun.
Improv in that big room is not doable unless we get wireless lavalieres.
I'm writing more material for 2010, since everyone else's set was longer than mine in 09.
But huge note: PLEASE make the show be on any night BUT Saturday night. I'm graduating from San Jose State and the ceremony's on that Saturday.
Any word on Comedy Club for 2010? Is it even going to be happening this year?
It's happening. I've just put off posting something since they only recently posted the panel request form. More details to come, probably after I work on it this weekend. I will start a new thread when I submit the panel. Meanwhile, if you are interested in performing, PM me so I can get a headcount. Pretty much the same format. If I get more than 10 people I will consider a 2 hour panel, otherwise, a 1 hour panel it is.
Those nights of sleepless panic have now been calmed down. ^^
Now time to search for other comics to perform at the panel. *goes on hunt.*
In that case. I think a good start is to see how many performers do we have confirmed currently. I'm talking to a few but I would like to see who's set in stone.