Performing Great Old School Style Stand-up
I have the greatest respect for those who attack stand-up using the old school, rapid fire “set-up, punch” approach. What do I mean by “old school” stand-up comedy?
I’m talking about Rodney Dangerfield type stand-up comedy—one and two line jokes told one right after the other without any connection.
To me, this sort of approach is extremely difficult to master, simply because of the rote memorization required. I once read that a Steven Wright one hour stand-up comedy show consisted of 360 jokes.
That’s a lot of jokes to memorize, not to mention the fact that it’s 360 funny jokes. How many jokes do you have to burn through to finally get 360 great ones?
Now you know why I have such respect for the old school stand-up joke tellers.
And for those who do choose the old school path…
The “old school” style still works today. And if you want to see a more recent “master” of the old school style of comedy material delivery, you need only look to Mitch Hedberg who passed away in 2005.
Here is a YouTube video of Mitch Hedberg on the Letterman show (2003):
As you can see, Mitch uses the same sort of material delivery style as Rodney Dangerfield except the material is much more current.
And make no mistake, Mitch’s material is funny.
It’s not my job to discourage anyone from taking the old school joke writing approach with their stand-up comedy. You are the master of your act and should take the approach that suits you and your delivery style best.
I want you to get the big laughs, whether you use my system or not. If the old school style works best for you, then I would strongly recommend that you study Mitch Hedberg.
Cheers,
Steve Roye
The Professor of Funny for Money
For more information about Steve Roye, author of this blog and the Killer Stand-up Online Course, click here.
Tags: Comedy Material Development, delivery style, mitch hedberg, stand up comedy
how does the traditional oneliner setup/punchline comedian differ from the “killer standup comedian”?
Hi Anton,
Great question, but too much to write here.
Your best bet is to get your hands on the Killer Stand-up free demos. That will give you the best info on how the Killer Stand-up Comedy System is different from traditional stand-up comedy approaches.
The Prof
I am a one liner comic, anything else usually doesn’t work for me. I can tell you what being good at one-liners makes difficult, staying on one topic for any length of time. But just writing a great one-liner doesn’t mean, I’d ever bring it to the stage.
The best example was when touring Montana I wote the line, “I was painting a naked model, I guess they meant for me to paint on the canvas.” Get decent laughs, but there was no truth behind it. I had no interest in talking about my frustration with relationships and I hadn’t been in college in ten years.
Generally speaking, the best one-liners that are true to your persona and compelling enough to bring up, usually force a comic to be very picky. Here’s what I’d recommend to anyone, hone what you’re good at. If you are really good at writing one liners try to focus in on subjects that you would want to talk about, be anxious to talk about, even if they weren’t going to become part of a comedy act. They usualyy turn into the best material anyway.
I would also suggest one-liner comics recognize that one liners stop sounding like one liners when a personal persona starts to come through those one liners. Dangerfields was I get no respect. But that means he proably came up with thousands of jokes that really didn’t fit that personality. Avoid the temptation to say something on stage because it’s just a clever line. If it doesn’t, at the very least, somehow fit into the overall image of who you are, you’re wasting time. And you’ll probably sound like someone citing jokes from a joke encylopedia.
A good friend, also a one-liner comic, always sees the positive in everything. She has that Gacie Allen naivite. My style has always been dark, as I usually open with a line about child abuse and warn it will be getting darker from here. Neither one of us can do the other’s one-liners because they’re not believable coming from the other comic’s mouth. When she start to get dark and dismal, you start to wonder if she’s on drugs. Then you curse the drug dealer who turned the funny version on Marylin Monroe into the depressed version of Marlin Manson.
When my comedy comes from a her happy place, well I usually just give her the concerpt because I know it won’t work for me. She can make those Gracie Allen lines work, I can’t. My overiding point here is to do one-liners well, you’ll personality comes out through them. And unless the audience is really paying attention like their a graduate student breaking down your stuff, it’s still so personal it doesn’t seem like you’re doing one liners, at least if you do them well.
If it sounds like you’re telling jokes on stage, the audience will tune you out most of the the time within five minutes, at least in my experience.
.-= Shayne Michael´s last blog ..Available Chanels =-.
Shayne, I am NOT a one liner comedian, nor do I teach that style. But I have to say with great confidence that…
What you have provided in your comment is one of the BEST lessons I have ever seen for those who are one liner comedians.
Truth, or at the very least, the appearance of truth matters to an audience — no matter what stand-up comedy “style” you use. Your stand-up comedy MUST be real to you FIRST and reflect YOU and who you really are, before you can command the big laughs.
I have said before — audiences are not stupid. They are at least as smart as you, if not smarter. They know when they are being “joked”, no matter what “style” is being used and will react accordingly.
Whether you are a Killer Stand-up Comedy System comedian or not, there is some very profound wisdom in what Shayne has offered in his detailed comment. Pay attention — he nailed it right on the head.
Thanks Shayne!
The Prof