How I Made Money from Stand Up Comedy
Until Corona Virus…that is. What am I doing about it?
Hello! I’m Lyrix a Stand Up Comedian from Trinidad and Tobago. Generally the life of a Trini is sweet! We are a rich little Caribbean country of 1.3million people who come from every corner of the world. Literally everywhere. I’m Afro-Trini and there are Indo-Trinis, Syrian/Lebanese Trinis, Chinese-Trini and Euro-Trinis. Muslims, Hindus, Christians and Buddists, we all live together and it works….mostly.
We haven’t escaped the classism, sexism and racism inherited from the European world heist of the last century. We are a funny, wonderful, crazy, infuriating country and I wouldn’t want to live anywhere else.
In 2018 after a long creative career as a film and theatre actor, producer and administrator I decided I wanted to try Stand up Comedy. My friend Lisa encouraged me and we did some writing and practicing and took the plunge at our first open mike hosted by a lovely comedian called Simmy the Trini.
10 Months later I was earning 50% of my income from comedy work. Here’s how I did it.
- I found someone to do the work with, who took the work seriously.
Just because its comedy doesn’t mean I take a jokey approach. Lisa and I took things seriously. We got books on writing stand up comedy, did online research and booked writing and rehearsal time.
2. I did the Market Research in the field and within my network
I’m not a total newbie to the performance scene. I went out to comedy shows and connected with gate keepers and comedy show producers. I looked up the most prolific and highly rated local comics.
3. I went brave…
I started Performing at Open Mic events and Entering Challenges. Lisa and I went religiously, every opportunity we could find. We even paid to get into open mics to perform.
4. Bombing/Bussin’, not being funny….plenty times
Crawling before you crawl some more is the rule of thumb. It hurts me to fail. So stand up comedy hurts plenty. If you can take standing in front of an audience for 3–10mins trying to make them laugh and they don’t even listen…you can do stand up.
5. I found and listened to my Comedy Mentors
Errol Fabien, Learie Joseph, Wendell Ettienne, Simmy the Trini, Kevin Soyer, Kess Ramsey, Kwame Weeks and so many others gave me advice, opportunities and guidance along the way.
6. Took a risk and Created my own brand
Lisa and I started our own comedy brand @femcomtt. We started facebook and Instagram accounts and turned up consistently online to build a following. We produced 9 shows in 2019. We didn’t make much money on the shows and we lost money on 2 but we had an average audience of 30–60 and they filled our small venues and enjoyed the show.
7. I Invested money and time into my Comedy Career
To have my shows I needed my own sound system and lights as many venues such as the smaller bars and restaurants lacked these needed elements. We paid for our logo and for the artwork for every show and paid for boosted posts. Paid videographers to record the show and saved the images and footage.
8. Bomb and Buss….Plenty More…and then more again
The first time I got a really good laugh out of the audience I was elated. I had made it to the next level.Then the pressure starts because I couldn’t do it again for awhile. I said the joke the same way as when it scored a laugh. Why weren't these people laughing? Every audience is different. There’s more than just a good joke…its about connection, intellect, humanity and a sense of the occasion. This thing is never ending rungs…..
9. Worked my Network
Once I knew I had 20–30mins of truly funny Stand Up ready to roll I started reaching out to the network of producers and colleagues I have worked with for the past 20 years as a Professional Creative. Sure they struggled to see me as a professional comedian but I had videos of me working the audiences who came to my shows and my guest performances. Eventually I started getting more and more well paying gigs and this pushed me to develop my skills and marketing further.
10. Stay focused on my goals
We produced our 1st Show of the year at our biggest venue to date on 8th March for International Women’s Day. The show was amazing! We were in promising discussions with a potential Sponsor. We knew 2020 was going to be our year. Then one week after our wonderful show Trinidad and Tobago went into Coronavirus Lockdown. Its hard to focus on your goals when an unprecedented global pandemic shuts down your entire industry.
I’ve slowly managed to ‘catch myself’ as the worst may not be over and everyone is scared and traumatised. Lisa and I do a twice weekly online comedy and current events show on our Facebook Page and I am writing and preparing for the next performance opportunity and adapting to the reality of performing comedy without a live audience….so weird.
I have attracted a few MC gigs and a comedy performance for online shows. I mainly spend my time meditating and hiding from my husband and children in my apartment. It doesn’t work but I wont stop trying.
I’m confident I will figure out how to make comedy money in these trying times. In the meantime…I’m open to suggestions.
Here’s one of my pre-corona performances. Keep going.
