I have been in and around standup for over a decade now and I have always been fascinated by the people who get really good quickly, as well as the ones who never seem to get any better. I have a gross fascination with the latter. I know that it’s usually an individual experience, but I believe it can be traced back to one thing. Their ability to ask for, hear, and implement feedback. Every time a standup performs they are getting a form of feedback from their audience. It is so critical to success for a standup to hear that feedback and adapt. The ones that are the most successful are the ones who develop that ability to work with feedback and get better. The problem with just audience reaction feedback, is it doesn’t say why they reacted or didn’t. We all have blind spots and quality feedback is about shining light on those blind spots. People are afraid to say things they really think so I strive to create spaces where people can feel safe and never punish anyone for telling me the truth.

I approach feedback like I am a miner panning for gold in the old west. In panning for gold one takes water from a river in the mountains, puts it in a pan and the heavy stuff falls while the lighter stuff floats to the top. It’s a slow arduous process but it works. The murky water is the feedback and the pan is my curiosity. I venture into the river and fill my pan with murky water full of sediment, work it till the nuggets show up. When I feel strong resistance, or excuses bubbling up I just remind myself to stay curious, look for the gold! Find the gold Bjorn!

“Choose curiosity” ~Jeff Wetzler

Quality feedback comes from quality questions. Quality questions lead to better understanding of material and how you come off. Here are my favorite questions that lead to excellent feedback.

Did everything make sense?

Was there anything unclear or confusing? In standup it’s important that the concepts are clear and everyone understands them. That everyone gets the reference. This can be a bonus joke. Any opportunity to explain something deeper is a great spot for an additional joke.

What did you want to hear more about?

This is such an important one. Sometimes we breeze over something that everyone in the audience gets curious about and wants to hear more about while we expand on something that nobody cares about. This is where we find those small blind spots.

What’s a fun small detail in my performance that stood out?

Every time I perform, I add these little things, a gesture, an eye movement, body contortions, wild vocal tone, etc. My good friend Todd Basil is brilliant at this. He will tell me about some small thing that I did in my performance and for some reason it just makes me so happy and excited to hear it. I think it makes me feel like yeah, I am pretty good at this.

What is one UNCOMFORTABLE truth I need to hear?

This one is the hardest one. It's about uncovering hidden truths. I feel it's important to create a space where your friends can feel safe to give honest feedback. I use this to become aware of blind spots and bad habits. I have to remember going into this one to stay curious. A reaction is just a sign I need to get curious.

This is a competitive advantage. The ones who can put ego aside and digest the feedback sooner than later are going to get better faster. If you are looking for a way to get good quickly feedback is the key.

What are some ideas I could implement to fix it?

This helps create a safe space for people to offer ideas of how to fix things brought up. It’s important to listen carefully and look for the Nuggets of Gold. They are there just get hard to see in the cloudy waters of defensiveness.

If I do not agree with something, I say nothing. It is not the time for that. It's time to listen. I think that then I could miss a Nugget of gold.

When asking the questions it’s critical to listen. If I ask them and I don’t listen it doesn’t do anything.

1. Did everything make sense?

2. What did you want to hear more about?

3. What’s a fun small detail in my performance that stood out?

4. What is one UNCOMFORTABLE Truth I need to hear?

5. What are some ideas I could implement to fix it?

I hoped you enjoyed this article, please subscribe to my blog and share it with someone who would appreciate it!

Thank you for reading, you’re doing great.

Bjorn RG.

5 Questions that lead to the Best Feedback for Standup Comedy.