You’ve mastered act outs, wordplay, misdirects, lists of three, analogies, and exaggeration, which you can read about in Part 1. Yay! You’re now less likely to die on the hill of dick jokes at an open mic night, because you did your comedy homework. Most people don’t and are happy …
TOPICAL COMEDY How to Turn News Into Jokes Using Satire
We’d all love to be as good as Jon Stewart at the Daily Show. (Wouldn’t we? I would! ) Current events jokes can be a pain because they are related to a moment that will end soon so you can’t use the joke over and over as you would more …
SCENE MAPPING
Scene mapping can be a great tool for improvisers, but it’s hard to get your head around at first. To map a scene is to take each beat of the scene we have first seen, and use it in a new scene and in a new context. It might mean …
MY JOKE IS BROKEN
You wrote a joke. You have a premise and a punchline. You tell it and… nothing. Here’s what nobody tells you upfront: most jokes don’t work the first time you write them. Even the pros throw away more material than they keep. So if your joke bombed, let’s figure out …
THE GAME OF THE SCENE
The game of the scene is an oft-discussed topic in improvisation. In standup comedy, we would call it a premise or a setup. But the game isn’t just the setup itself—it’s the specific unusual pattern or logic within that premise that’s actually funny. Here’s how it breaks down: Setup/Premise: “My …
COMEDY CADENCE. Mastering rhythm
(Especially when performing for non-native speakers) Controlling your cadence is crucial for any stand-up comedian. But it becomes even more important when performing for audiences where English may not be the primary language. In this post, we’ll look at cadence techniques to maximize laughs, as well as specific tips for …
NEW JOKES OR OLD JOKES?
Hopefully some of the jokes you wrote from your first open mic got a response. Keep whatever was working for you, and bring those jokes back. Can you add new jokes to the same premise? (A Tag). A lot of knowing if jokes work comes from practicing the jokes multiple …
POINT-OF-VIEW. The Heart of a Joke
Your joke needs at least 2 parts, a setup and punchline. This is joke structure. But what makes a joke very satisfying is attitude. What is it you are really trying to say? Having a clear point-of-view is what helps you create a relationship to your audience. Ideally every joke, …
APPS AND TOOLS FOR COMEDIANS
FIVE Websites, apps and tools to help you with writing 1 – ORGANISE YOUR JOKES However you prefer to organise your jokes, Evernote will make that process easier. You can set up Notebooks with specific functions, tag jokes, search your database of jokes. With a premium account you can use …
THE SECOND OPEN MIC
So you survived your first standup comedy open mic. Congratulations. Whether you killed it or you bombed or (more likely) something in between, you are no longer a standup comedy virgin. You got up there and showed the audience you have a right to be on that stage. Congrats. Now …
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 …
SETUP & PUNCHLINE. The two parts of jokes
The key to writing a successful joke is to make sure you understand how joke structure works. PREMISE. First you need a setup. This is a topic that is what your joke is about. It could be about relationships or politics or or even an anecdote of something that happened …
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