What To Do When You Freeze On Stage

5 Practical Tips (Comedy Mindhacks #65)

A while back, I was on stage performing and I was mid-joke when I had one of those experiences nearly every comedian has. Someone in the front row yelled something out and it was Loud. I don’t even remember what they said but, in that moment, for a split second that seemed like eternity, my mind went completely blank. BLANK!

That tiny pocket of panic is something most performers likely experience, even outside of comedy. Most people call this “freezing.” Researchers call it “attentive immobility.” What’s crazy is, in that moment, you’re hyper-alert but unable to move or think clearly. It’s kinda like your brain enters survival mode and tries to decide how to respond to what it perceives as a threat.

So, in terms of stand-up comedy (or any other type of performing), what do you do? Well, the short answer is: be prepared. Be ready! Okay, but how do you prepare? Well, here’s what I’ve learned about getting back on track when your brain short-circuits on stage. In The Performance Anxiety Playbook, a helpful tip there is “Pause, Breathe, Smile” (PBS). That’s great advice because it works. But it works better when it’s part of a complete system.

Think of it like a skydiver. They have various safeties so they don’t crash. Well, my system has five layers: 1) a memory technique where I visualize my set as a path with stops for each joke so, if I get off track even for a second, I just go back to the last spot and get back on track; 2-4) the pause-breathe-smile reset; and, 5) a physical set list in my back pocket, and the ability to make even pulling out that set list part of the act.

That night with the loud interruption, I used 4/5 steps. In that instance, I actually jumped into a bit of crowd work and addressed the woman directly, which handled the elephant in the room. While she was talking, I was actually going through step 1 and finding my spot on that mental path. Then I paused, caught my breath, smiled, and jumped back into my set. No need to look at the set list.

What’s weird is pausing somehow feels wrong when you’re panicking, at least at first. Every instinct tells you to keep talking, to fill the silence, to do something, anything. But here’s what happens: when you deliberately pause, you take control of an automatic response. I paused long enough to think: let me just call the moment and talk to this person.

We’ve all heard of fight-flight-freeze. The pause interrupts that cycle. The pause gives me a fourth “f,” if you will: faith. Have faith! Have faith in your memory, your set, your crowd work, and yourself. I paused before addressing the heckler, while she was speaking, and after. In those gaps, I was doing two things: finding where I was on my mental path and catching my breath.

That’s not just a figure of speech (catching my breath). It’s a legit calming technique. Taking even one breath can help calm your system. It’s like hitting the brakes on your stress response. When I addressed that person in the crowd, I also smiled. It was both genuine (I cracked a joke about the moment) and deliberate. That smile did something important: it kept me in a playful comedian mode; it reminded me to have a good time. And I’d much rather be in playful mode on stage instead of survival mode.

Here’s something else: the set list in my back pocket, which I always take on stage with me, is almost as important as the other techniques I actually use. Just knowing it’s there frees me up. If I stay frozen, I can reach for it and even make a joke about it. The backup plan, in other words, becomes part of my safety system.

For me, then, this isn’t about mastering one technique. It’s about building a system where I can’t fail. It’s like multiple escape routes during a fire. The psychological comfort of having escape routes is huge. And it all works together. There’s no single magic bullet. Even comedy legends like Mitch Hedberg dealt with extreme stage fright throughout their careers. So, if you ever freeze on stage, you’re in good company. The difference is having a system that gets you back on track. Because when your mind goes blank, you need more than hope. You need a plan.

JOKE WRITING COURSE: By the way, if you have any interest at all in learning about your persona, how to write some jokes, or doing stand-up comedy, check out my online joke writing course, “The Joke Writer’s Lab,” HERE.