Last week I bombed on stage at a standup comedy gig. Not catastrophically -- more in the way where you know before you walk onstage that you're not ready, and then it shows.

I want to talk about it, not for the catharsis, but because the cascade that led to that bad night is exactly the same cascade that leads to underprepared keynotes, flat training sessions, and presentations that don't land the way you knew they could.

What actually went wrong

I had months of notice. No excuse on preparation. But life did what life does, other work took priority, and I found myself on the day of the gig trying to write new material from scratch. When that didn't work, I retreated to older material I hadn't rehearsed. I took a set list onstage -- something I've never done -- and in that moment I knew it wasn't a practical tool. It was me confirming to myself what I already knew: I wasn't prepared.

My opening line died in complete silence. My body started sweating. My face went red. If you've ever watched a performer visibly unravel in real time, you know it's uncomfortable for everyone in the room.

The real lesson for professional speakers

The host blamed the crowd. I didn't take that excuse. The crowd was what it was, and I've handled tougher rooms. This was on me.

What stings most is that I already knew this about myself. When I'm learning music, nobody hears it until it sounds good. Not a rough version, nothing. I don't share works in progress. I should have applied that same standard here.

Performing under pressure doesn't reveal your talent. It reveals your preparation.

Two things I'm taking away

The first is obvious but worth saying: never go onstage unprepared. Sometimes you need a bad night to remember why the obvious rules exist.

The second is more interesting. I need to build my improv skills -- not to replace preparation, but to have a recovery mechanism when preparation wasn't enough. A flat opener shouldn't be able to take down an entire set. The ability to read a room, pivot, and bring an audience back with you is a separate skill from preparation, and one worth developing deliberately.

Preparation protects you. Improv saves you when preparation wasn't enough.

If you speak professionally, this episode is worth your time whether you're a keynote speaker, trainer, or coach. The principles of preparation, self-knowledge, and recovery apply equally whether you're on a comedy stage or a conference platform.

Related episodes: Better Speaking Won't Get You Booked, But This Will -- Clinton Young

CHAPTERS

00:00 Bombing the Gig

00:29 Last Minute Prep Spiral

01:35 Set List and Silence

03:22 The Real Lesson

04:44 Why It Matters to Speakers

05:56 Two Takeaways

06:19 Improv and Recovery

08:56 Winging It Is Earned

09:37 Do the Work and Go Again

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so I bombed the gig last week.

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Not in a burn the

building down kind of way.

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More in a, I knew before I walked on

the stage and it showed kind of way.

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And I want, I want to talk a bit

about it, not because I enjoy public

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self-flagellation so much, but because

I think there's something genuinely

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useful in here for anyone who speaks,

performs, presents, or puts themself

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in front of an audience for a living.

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So if you'll give me eight minutes of your

time, I promise I'll make it worth you.

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Well.

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So here's the situation.

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I've been doing standup comedy

alongside my speaking work for a

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while now, for just over a year.

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last week I had a gig.

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My, it was supposed to be my first

of the year, but it ended up being my

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second and it was an open mic night.

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Now general audience, and I

was, opening the show, which

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is not my favorite position.

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However, I'd had months of notice

for this months, so I had no excuse

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whatsoever on the preparation front.

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But you know, life did what life

does and weekends disappeared

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and other work took over.

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And prior comedy gig

took priority as well.

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And I found myself on the day of the gig

trying to write new material from scratch.

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Don't even ask me why

I made that decision.

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I had a set ready to go from the week

prior and had made the decision that

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that was kind of specially written

for that event but it still could have

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worked at this particular event too.

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So some decent stuff was coming up in

the writing, but nothing that was ready

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to be done from a stage, certainly not

to a level that I would be happy with.

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So I ended up retreating to

safe ground and so I made the

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call to do some older material.

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Now, the only problem with that

really was that I hadn't touched

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that material in a while and there

was no real time to rehearse it.

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Barely review it, and I made a

decision that I've never made before

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in my life on the comedy stage.

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I took a set list out

on the stage with me.

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Now I've sometimes had a set list in

my pocket, but I've never actually

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taken it out on stage or never

actually, even if I have had it

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out, never actually looked at it.

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Now a set list isn't something unusual

on an open mic comedy stage, but for

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me in that particular moment, pulling

that out wasn't a practical tool.

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It really was me confirming to

myself what I already knew, that I

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wasn't prepared and I wasn't ready.

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And then my opening line died

complete, complete silence.

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In fact, bemused faces . It was that very

specific, very airless silence that every

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performer knows and dreads one flat beat

and I was gone , an opening line that I've

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been so proud of and it died on his feet.

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With that, my body decided

to start sweating profusely.

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My face decided to go beet root red.

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And if you've ever watched a performer

visibly unravel in real time, you'll know

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it is uncomfortable for everyone involved.

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Not only the person on the stage.

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Now, the host, bless him, he

blamed the crowd afterwards,

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and I, I appreciate that.

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I appreciate the solidarity,

but I didn't take the excuse.

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I mean, okay, maybe a contributing

factor, but the crowd was what it was.

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And I've handled tougher rooms.

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So for me it was, it was on me.

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So here's what stings

most about this for me.

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And I, I do actually mean stings

not, here's my humble brag disguised.

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There's a lesson, I already

knew this about myself.

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So what I'm learning music.

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Nobody gets to hear it

until it sounds good.

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Not a note, not a rough version.

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Nothing.

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I talked about this with Clinton

Young on my last episode.

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If you haven't heard it,

go and check that out.

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There's so much gold in that episode.

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I don't let anyone hear a rough version.

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Nothing.

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I don't share my works in progress.

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I never have.

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I'm not comfortable with it.

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I keep things private until

they're ready, so I should have

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known really that standup comedy.

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The creative process would be exactly

the same for me there as well.

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The real failure on that stage

wasn't the flat opener, wasn't

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the sweating or the set list.

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It was overriding my own

self-knowledge under pressure.

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I knew I wasn't ready.

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I went on anyway.

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Now I know there are performers, there

are comedians who can get on there

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and they can pull 'em from the notes

list and they can do stuff on the fly.

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I am not that comedian, not at this stage.

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I'm still a baby comic, and so.

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it's amazing really that I then

had the audacity to be surprised

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when it showed that I wasn't ready.

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The thing about performing under

pressure, it doesn't reveal your talent.

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It reveals your preparation,

or in this case, lack of it.

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I want to make this relevant for you

because if you are listening to this

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show, you're probably a speaker or a

coach or a trainer, someone who presents

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professionally in some capacity.

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And you might be thinking,

John, I can't do standup comedy.

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What's this got to do with me?

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Everything as it turns out because

the cascade that led to that bad gig.

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Months of notice, life getting in the way.

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Last minute decisions, no rehearsal

time is exactly the same cascade that

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leads to underprepared keynotes, flat

training sessions and presentations that

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don't land the way you knew they could.

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And here's something that

I want to say directly.

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The bar has risen.

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Even at grassroots open mic level

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polished content on Netflix, on

YouTube, on TikTok, that they notice

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when you are not bringing your best.

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The bar is raised, the standard is higher.

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It is true for comedy.

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It's equally true, more true

for professional speaking.

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The audience might not be able

to precisely articulate what's

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missing, but they will feel it.

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So what am I actually

taking away from this?

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Well, two things really.

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The first never go on stage unprepared.

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I know it is obvious, but sometimes

you need a bad night to remind

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you why the obvious rules exist.

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Respect the craft.

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Do the work.

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No shortcuts.

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Second, then this one's more interesting.

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I need to build up my improv

skills because here's the truth.

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Preparation is, is a non-negotiable.

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And you need the capacity to rescue

yourself when things go sideways.

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A flat opener shouldn't be able

to take down an entire set.

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I would say maybe it didn't.

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I did recover it a bit toward the end,

but the ability to read a room, to

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pivot, to recover, bring the audience

back with you, that's a separate skill.

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I haven't yet figured out how to

stop my body from the sweating

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once it's that, or how to stop

my face from going beat with red.

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I'll have to work on that one.

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but I am proactively

working on my improv skills.

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this year.

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And again, you would've heard me

talking about that with Clinton.

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And the last episode,

preparation protects you.

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Improv saves you when

preparation wasn't enough.

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You can see those comics that

do like the, audience work,

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the, they talk directly with the

audience and a lot of interaction.

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They're already prepared material.

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They're riffing on stuff that is a level

of improvisation that I would not be

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comfortable with, but with practice,

with experience with them, flexing

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those improv muscles probably could.

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And I would like to, I'd like to at least

try that not looking to become, you know,

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an or, or audience work kind of comedian.

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And I still like to have prepared jokes

and act, but you know, the second half of

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my set was better, I think, by the way.

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I got some laughs and so, you

know, things settled down.

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I found my feet, the redness in the face.

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I could still, it was my face was

burning and my shirt was dripping.

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but I found my feet a bit more and.

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Well, IM modestly, I'm gonna say

I probably ended up still being

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the funniest comic of the night.

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Not so much saying that to rescue

my ego, but because it matters.

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It wasn't a talent problem,

it was a preparation problem.

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So when I got to material that I

remembered more, that I was more

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comfortable and confident with

things started to flow a bit more.

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I was able to bring things back.

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And the audience, yeah, thankfully

went, came with me somewhat.

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my husband, my husband

confirmed that afterwards.

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Honestly, without softening it,

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It is exactly what I needed, even if

part of me wanted my metaphorically

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grazed knee kissed better.

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First, I shook it off faster than

I expected and that's new, so

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I'll take that as its own kind

of progress, as a win as well.

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The letter I keep coming

back to is this wing it.

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For the Masters, improv is for the

people who have practiced the improv.

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The only people who are really good at

improv are the people who practice it.

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winging is for the people who know the

material so deeply that spontaneity is

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just another form of the preparation.

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They have the head space, the mental room

capacity to be able to be more flexible.

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They're not trying to remember

the next joke, the next line,

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the next point in their talk.

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It's not for the rest of us.

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Not yet.

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So do the work.

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Get on the stage, get your reps in,

and if you bomb, extract the lesson

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and go again wherever you are going.

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Whatever you're doing, have

an amazing rest of your week.

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I'll see you next time.

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Bye now.