Mastering Stand-Up: The Complete Guide to Becoming a Successful Comedian
Last read January 1, 2024
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Highlights
20 highlights.
Put-down humor has five targets: Celebrities People in your life (your significant other, parents, siblings, the guy who dry-cleans your shirts, etc.) Hecklers in your audience Innocent people in your audience And, of course, yourself
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Step one is to ask a simple question that can be answered easily in a word or two.
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The second step in crowd work is to observe and listen to the person answering your question. You want your response to key off what they just said, or how they said it, or how they look, or whom they’re sitting with.
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The third step is the hardest. It’s to repeat or paraphrase the audience member’s response to your question. You need to do this because you’re the only one with the microphone.
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The fourth step in crowd work is to respond to the audience member’s answer or to something specific you’ve observed about him or her.
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I believe, to provide you with the complete list of stand-up comedy subjects, so you can see the full range of things you can talk about in your stand-up. Here’s the list: Subject 1: How you feel about your life. (Your life in the past, your life now, and what you think your life will be in the future) Subject 2: How you feel about everything else that matters to you. (Politics, celebrities, pop culture, food, fashions, technology, etc.)
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Don’t worry if you’re going too long before getting to a laugh.
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Don’t worry about making transitions from one funny idea to another in your first draft.
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Don’t worry about wandering off your subject.
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Don’t worry whether it’s funny or not. What we’re looking for in a first draft are strong comic ideas—funny ideas.
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Don’t worry about whether your idea is original.
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Don’t worry about anything.
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Write about people, places, and things that annoy the hell out of you.
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Part of the art and craft of comedy writing is the ability to identify and eliminate words that aren’t needed to get the laugh.
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For example, doing jokes about rap music doesn’t tell the audience much of anything about you. However, doing jokes about how you hate rap music—or adore it or are totally confused by it—makes your personality come alive to the audience.
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There are several factors to consider in selecting your opening jokes. It’s important to get one or two solid laughs within the first 30 seconds of your set.
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If you want to be edgy or shocking up front, keep in mind that you have to take the audience with you. They have to like you to go along with your edgy material. You don’t want material up front that pushes the audience away from you.
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Let’s review the attributes you’re looking for in your opening jokes: They get one or two big laughs within the first 30 seconds or so They give the audience a picture of your comic personality They acknowledge your salient feature, if you have one They can be edgy and shocking but shouldn’t make your audience feel uncomfortable with you They should leave the audience looking forward to what you next have to say
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Some new stand-ups don’t realize that performing stand-up is acting. So they don’t think through and define the emotional life that underpins their jokes. They think that professional stand-ups just go onstage and talk, and that whatever emotions they express are coming out of them spontaneously.
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Making this adjustment, you will reap benefits both on- and offstage. Speaking slowly sends the message What I have to say is worth hearing.
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