October, 2010 archive
If you want to become a comedian
If you want to become a comedian, the most important quality beyond sheer talent is perseverance. Many comics who appear to be overnight successes actually spent many years honing their stand up routines in any comedy club that would give them a stage. The best comedians are those who didn’t give up even when they were booed by their early audiences.
Career comedians learn as much from their failures as they do from their successes. They learn how to make the crowd laugh. They learn how to time a joke just right. Most of all, they find the material that works for them and put their own unique views, attitudes, and background into it. If you want to become a comedian crowds appreciate, learn how to give them a sense of who you are by making fun of yourself and your background a little.
Start getting up on stage at amateur open mic nights. Make note of your successes and learn from your failures. It’s a good idea to keep a notebook to jot down ideas and just little things that come to you if you want to become a comedian. You never know when just a small idea will inspire a whole comedy stand up routine. How you look at the world differently than others can make your comedic material interesting, fresh, and funny. Read more »
Learn Stand Up Comedy Jokes
Stand Up Comedy Jokes
So people keep telling you that you’re funny? So I suppose you think that just because you can occasionally make people laugh that you are going to be the next ‘Eddie Murphy’. I know Mr. Murphy is funny and all and is very successful, but can you really do that too?
If your serious about a career in stand up comedy, then pay special attention to the rest of this article. I will give you a few special tips that will absolutely help you with your stand up comedy jokes and further your career.
1. Identify With Your Stand Up Comedy Audience.
You can have the best routine in the world and you’ve got to cater for the audience and are receptive to it.
2. Keep Your Stand Up Comedy Jokes Current With The Times.
For example, if you have an audience who are under 30 and you are telling jokes about a dubious personality from the past, do you think its relevant material to tell stuff from 30/40 years go? (Or, longer) Come up with topics that are current. General material is a safe bet. Read more »
Learn Stand-up Comedy Fast?
Yes, it is possible to learn stand-up comedy very quickly if you are a funny person in everyday life and you can embrace a few concepts that go against antiquated and ineffective “joke writing” techniques being taught today.
Let’s take a look at some of the ancient and mostly useless strategies that most people try to use when they make the decision to learn stand-up comedy, along with a fresh approach that can help you master the comedy stage very quickly.
Useless Strategy: Jokes that read funny on paper will be funny on stage.
Nothing could be father from the truth. We write much differently than we talk. Also, mere words and sentences on paper lack the presence of body language, voice inflection and tone impact that the spoken word must have to generate big laughs on stage.
Better Strategy: Use paper (or your word processor) only as a tool to structure and format what it is that you want to talk about in your stand-up comedy act—the way you speak naturally, not the way you write a memo. Read more »