MY COMEDY SPECIAL WAS RELEASED ON VIDANGEL LAST WEEK! (Yes, I am shouting.)
VidAngel is a streaming entertainment service with a twist: it lets customers with Amazon Prime, HBO and Netflix choose to skip or mute content that might be disturbing to some viewers. Their slogan? “Watch however the bleep you want.”
In addition, VidAngel has been producing original programming, like its Dry Bar Comedy series. And that’s the very bar I bellied up to last year. I worked very hard on the set that I performed to a full house in Provo, Utah last year. A set where the harmonic convergence (I’m showing my age, look it up) of comedy components occurred. Everything worked together: Big crowd, good cameras, good audience reactions, good sound, some of my best material performed well, and, finally, top-notch post-production editing. Talk about teamwork!
I’ve been doing clean comedy for my entire career, but I had to dial up the “squeaky” factor for this gig. I worked very hard to rewrite or restructure jokes that were already working, and to reorganize my bits to create the perfect flow for this specific show—and the future audience who can now watch it online.
To prepare, I booked a few gigs that were some of the hardest I’ve had in a long time just to practice my retooled jokes and the new set structure. Those shows were not just about getting laughs or getting paid, they were to help me get comfortable with my “new” material. I haven’t had something this potentially important come along in a few years. Shouldering this boulder up the Vidangel comedy hill was very much worth the view from the top.
I may have joined the comedy community because I had a lot of interest and at least a little natural talent, but the apparent lack of hard physical labor appealed as well. Yet success requires a tremendous amount of hard work. Nothing’s guaranteed, but I truly believe the harder you work, the luckier you are. Practice makes perfect! Luck is what happens when preparation meets opportunity! ALL THESE SAYINGS ARE TRUE! (Okay, enough shouting.)
I think my Dry Bar comedy special is my best 40 minutes captured on camera. I’m proud of my work and grateful for the efforts of so many people at VidAngel.
If you’d like to see for yourself, Here’s my top-secret 8-step method to view my comedy special for a buck without signing up for a subscription:
• Go to VidAngel.com
• Click the “Sign in” link in the upper right (This sounds wrong, but it’s not!)
• Click the “Don’t have a VidAngel account?” link at the bottom of the page. (Fun fact: An account is not a subscription.)
• Enter your email address and a password. (You have eight characters so come up with something fun.)
• Sign in—and ignore the pink “Free 30-day trial” button and the blue “Connect accounts” button. (Buttons? Skip ‘em!)
• Click “Search” at the top of the page.
• Enter (you guessed it) Steve Bruner in the search box.
• Click on “”Rent for $1.”
Final step? Sit back and relax. I hope you’ll watch (and laugh) and let me know what you think.