Wow, this brought back a memory I hadn't thought of in years...When I was in college, I commuted 70 miles back and forth between St. Louis and a tiny Illinois town where I lived. One night on my way home, I stopped off at a truck stop for a snack and some people were talking about a place nearby where you can do standup. For some odd reason I decided that because it sounded totally terrifying, I should try it. So I did. Once.
Anyway, you've already gone against what would have been my first piece of advice - do it totally anonymously if at all possible. Give them a fake name, wear wig, go somewhere 100 miles from home...it's just easier when you don't have to think about bombing in front of your friends and family
Beyond that, I'd say...
-Get to know your audience. Every club is different, even within a single city. The kind of jokes that would work at a Goldman Sachs luncheon will get you booed off the stage (if not beaten to a bloody pulp) at a working class bar. If you can check the place out on the same night of the week you'll be performing, that's ideal. You'll see what kind of topics and attitudes get laughs and what totally bombs.
-Don't blindly go out and watch a bunch of standup. Watch the comedians whose style is closest to what you think you could pull off. Don't spend all your time watching physical comedians if you're the kind of person who intends to rely more on clever wordplay and turns of phrase.
-Pick a theme or two for your material. For whatever reason, most
people perform better on creative tasks when there are a few constraints in place.
-Write way more material than you need. Make up at least 5x more material than you think you'll need. Eliminate the less-funny stuff and get rid of anything where you tend to trip up on the delivery. Most "real" comics would eliminate a lot of the un-funny stuff over the course of several performances at low-stakes venues, but if you're only doing it once, you'll have to do the best you can to self-edit.
-Practicing in the mirror is good, and recording yourself a few times is better. When you get nervous, you tend to do weird things with your body or hands...if you can be aware of what you want your posture, gestures, etc. to be like in advance, it will help you to avoid being the guy who distracts everyone by doing the same repetitive hand thing over and over.
-Have a plan for when you say unfunny things or people heckle you. Like anything else, anyone who has lots of successes will almost definitely have tons of failures, too. When you practice, you'll fall into a routine where you kind of pause where you think people will laugh - but it's a good idea to practice the "what if they don't laugh" scenario for each punchline, too. You'll be able to move to the next bit a lot more smoothly.
-I would definitely recommend picking up a book or two, if for no other reason than the fact that it will make you more familiar with the "process" and help your mind get used to the idea.
That's really all I can think of. It was way too much stress and effort for me to want to do it on a regular basis, but doing it once was actually very cool (once it was over). You'll be glad you did it. And before anyone asks...No, I didn't do any material on periods, weight loss or bad boyfriends.
