I’m not qualified to give any real comedy advice, but I have learned that walking around the park and going over your set in your head can be a lot more productive than doing an open mic that costs $5 in front of 8 assholes.
It definitely can be! But I’ll say that this is advice that some comics need, and others don’t.
I do know lots of comics who obsessively try to hit as many mics as possible in a night, whether or not those mics are helping them; but I have seen just as many use this reasoning as an excuse to not to go to open mics at all. If you’re doing one show a week because “open mics aren’t worth it, and I’d rather spend the time writing,” you’re not going to get better.
But none of that is to detract from Adam’s point, which is a great one — taking the time to think about what you’re doing onstage is just as important as getting up. The trick is making time to do both.
