Character Monologues: Not Just for Character Comedians You can be inspired by every type of comic out there. You don’t have to be a “character comic” to use this tool. You are borrowing, it’s not a new identity. (Unless we helped you fund your comedy superpower, in which case, you’re …
EMOTIONAL FILTERS
The Power of Emotional Choice in Improv and Standup Comedy As performers, we often obsess over what we say. But here’s a secret that separates good performers from great ones: it’s not the words—it’s the emotion behind them. Let’s take the most mundane sentence imaginable: “This pineapple is very expensive.” …
ACTING EXERCISES FOR STANDUP COMEDIANS
Here are some solo exercises you can use to improve your acting skills. Good actors can make things believable. Being credible onstage for an actout joke or a sincere punchline is crucial. You also need performance skills and good vocal variety. Try these tools from the world of acting when …
THE PATTERN GAME. Finding Comedic premises
Using word association to make unexpected connections for jokes. The Pattern Game is an improvisation exercise that trains you to find unexpected connections and loop back to your premise—essential skills for both improvisers finding the game of a scene and standup comedians mining a bit for multiple punchlines. How it …
185 BLANKS WALK INTO A BAR
A joke writing format from improvisation comedy. This is a fun exercise you can play alone or with fellow comedians to work on your punchlines. You have a fixed setup and you can make multiple punchlines. First you need to think of a random object or ask an online tool …
WRITING YOUR FIRST FIVE MINUTES OF COMEDY
So you want to start standup comedy. Where to start? A good way to find topics for your first five minutes of standup comedy is to have a think about yourself… what’s unique about you? What are your most pronounced personality traits? You cannot control whether an audience will laugh at your …
PREMISE DECONSTRUCTION. Using Improvisation to find Joke Premises
As a standup, you know the importance of strong, focused premises. But coming up with great ideas can be difficult. Taking a tip from improv can help spark new premises in a low-pressure, creative way. The format “Armando” asks an improviser to give a truthful, autobiographical monologue about a word …
JOKE RACK SIMILES. Comparing unlike things.
Write original punchlines using comparisons to random objects. Fill In The Blanks with an object, and then write your own punchline. Sex with me is like a (blank). We will choose ‘meeting’ for this example.. Now write your own punchline. It lasts too long and 80% of the people don’t …
THE SIMILE GAME. Comparing two verbs using like.
Choose two random activities that end in -ing. Say why the two unlike things are alike. Speaking Russian is a lot like turning on a fan, because when you’re near either things are spinning. Tossing horseshoes is a lot like buying groceries because nobody wants to play that game.
101 TOM SWIFTIES. A Pun exercise
A Tom Swiftie is a short joke that uses a slightly different double meaning for an adverb, which is great for practicing wordplay jokes. Pun a phrase with an adverb, using the format: “[phrase]” he said “[adverb]-ly. I have a split personality,” said Tom, being frank. “I hope you freeze to death”, …
WRITING PUNS. The Pun Store exercise
Write as many puns for each ‘store’ as you possibly can. Then pick a new store and repeat till you feel your Dad vibes flowing. THE PUN STORE I run a BLANK store. (Let the internet help you find a random object.) How’s business? Pretty ________ (insert adjective) Example: I …
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