Recently I have been listening to a lot of stand up comedy — and trying to understand how stand up comics refine their material… and nail the delivery every time – night after night. The best thing about comedians hosting podcasts is that they regularly let a few of their tricks of the trade, unhealthy or processes out of the bag in their conversations. Recently a number of comics have talked about their habit of recording every single gig they perform. They record their performances proactively with the intent of replaying what happened if a particular joke got an extra laugh, sovaldi or a section of their show was a bit of a lull.
So what do comics use to record their stand up comedy shows? Most are simply using the voice memo or sound recorder function on their phone, purchase with the phone simply sitting in their pocket. Whilst convenient, most however suggest that whilst the audio quality is ok, managing the sound files can become tedious with the phone. A number – particularly those that are crossing over into producing podcasts as well – have graduated from phone recordings to using a portable digital recorder like the Zoom H4n, or Zoom H6. Better sound quality, you can hook it into the PA system at the club you are playing, and you can use it for other publishing or broadcasting activity as well. The perfect way to raise your profile as a comic, and reflect on your practice after every show!