Of all the stand-up comedy tips I could give to those trying to learn stand-up comedy, this would among those at the top pf the list:

Beware of some of the stand-up comedy tips that you find online. They can lead you right down the path of dissapointment and confusion.

Let me give you a real life example.

I was doing a search for stand-up comedy tips online and I came across an article on eHow entitled How to Perform Stand-Up Comedy. I’m going to share a few of the stand-up comedy tips they provide and provide my input.

Here’s the very first stand-up comedy tip they give:

Study the acts of professional stand-up comedians. Record their shows, and watch them over and over. Get a feel for their techniques and how they deliver their material.

I am a complete advocate of reviewing studying other comedians. As a matter of fact, I believe one of the fastest ways to learn stand-up comedy is from studying other comedians (see my article on learning stand-up comedy using YouTube).

But I will submit to you that if you really don’t know what you are looking for when you study the stand-up comedy acts of other comedians, it can be a HUGE waste of time.

Here’s the next stand-up comedy tip they offer:

Listen to yourself. Use an audio tape or preferably a video tape to play back your routine. Take notes. Develop your comic timing. Pay attention to body movement and language.

This line cracks me up: Develop your comic timing. How in the heck are you supposed to do that??? To me, that’s much like telling a piano player if they want to play better, then they simply need to grow another finger.

Don’t get me wrong–objective self evaluation is one of the most important things you can do to develop and tighten you stand-up comedy act quickly. But again, you need to know exactly what you are evaluating in order to benefit from self evaualtion.

Here’s the stand-up comedy tip they gave that put me over the edge:

Develop your own onstage persona. This may take years to do. Rodney Dangerfield took 20 years to create his famous “No Respect” routine. Keep at it. Perseverance pays off.

If you have studied the Killer Stand-up Comedy System, you know that this information is FALSE. You DON’T have to develop any sort of special onstage persona. If you are a naturally funny person in everyday life, you already have a persona and the chances are very high that the natual persona you have now is more than suited for the comedy stage.

If you will work to capture that persona–being the person you are right now–for the stand-up comedy stage, you can literally shave years off the time it takes to develop that “special” onstage persona that the stand-up comedy tip above describes.

Final Thoughts

Beware of some of the stand-up comedy tips that you can find online. I honestly believe that they can actually cause more harm than good.

Cheers,
Steve Roye
The Professor of Funny For Money

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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