If I were asked to pinpoint the most coveted secret that I know about comedy writing for the stand-up stage, it would be…

Don’t “write” any comedy. Structure what YOU want to say in a way that gets you maximum laughter response when you are in front of an audience.

Many people who are trying to learn stand-up comedy or add laughter to their speech or presentation are under the impression that “funny” on stage begins with words and sentences written on paper.

This so tough for many to overcome because comedians often talk about the comedy bits or the jokes that they “wrote”.

I’m going to propose a different approach to comedy that is more natural and far more powerful. I will be covering various aspects of this approach in this post and in future posts.

But for now, I want you to consider just one thing. It’s called delivery.

Anyone who has been in the business of making people laugh will tell you that it is the “delivery” that sells the “goods” (comedy material that gets the laughs).

“It’s all in the delivery”.

So, my question is this:

How can you capture your delivery from a blank piece of paper? While I will be the first to agree that you can include stage notes with your written comedy material, it is virtually impossible to capture the actual delivery you will have when you present your material.

If you will go to YouTube and transcribe just a minute of two of a funny comedian video, you will see that the bulk of what is being said by that comedian — including punchlines — does not “read” funny.

That’s because the power of a stand-up comedy act or funny speaking presentation is largely a result of how ideas, concepts, experiences, etc. are said and presented, not how something “reads” from a piece of paper.

So, your first order of business when developing comedy material is to determine those topics, concepts, ideas, experiences, etc. that have some personal meaning to you and that you can easily react to using your own sense of humor.

Forget about trying to use a specific technique to “force” funny from your audience. If you are a naturally funny person in everyday life, you already use a number of stand-up comedy “techniques” in order to get laughs from people that you meet on a daily basis.

You don’t need to know what these “techniques” are in order to react to material using your own sense of humor.

Outside academic evaluation, there should be no need to try to mechanically add some “technique” to a bit or line in order to make it funny. If you start with concepts, issues, and experiences that have some meaning to you, then it becomes very easy to simply “react” to what you are talking about using your natural sense of humor.

Cheers,
Steve Roye
The Professor of Funny For Money

The information provided in this article is based on the concepts, techniques and startegies provided in the Killer Stand-up Comedy System.

About the Author/Founder of the SCP Blog


Steve Roye is the author of the Killer Stand-up Comedy System and is a globally recognized expert in the field of stand-up comedy material development and presentation strategies -- for entertainers as well as speaking professionals.

Please check out the Featured Articles page for direct links to articles on this blog for pro comedians, comedy entertainers, and speaking professionals.

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