What You Need To Know About Comedy Competitions
For those wanting to know how to become a comedian on a new level, I want to talk about comedy competitions and comedy talent shows.
Sometime, somewhere you are probably going to compete in a comedy competition or comedy talent show (or at least consider it).
Let me just say beyond the very first comedy competition I was in (which I won), my experience with comedy competitions has not been that favorable.
The main reasons comedy competitions weren’t usually favorable was because of my own lack of knowledge about how many comedy competitions REALLY work and my own unrealistic expectations.
So here are some basic guidelines you may want to follow in the event you have the opportunity to enter into a comedy competition…
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I should also mention that…
If you work clean and SLAY the audiences…
You are going to stand out like a sore thumb because most comedians don’t work clean. Your chances of being approached for future comedy work from your comedy competition exposure will increase 10 fold, even if you don’t win.
I would appreciate your comments and questions using the comment box below.
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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Tagged with: comedy career • comedy competition • stand up comedy • talent show
Filed under: Comedy Competitions • Free Articles & Reports
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Great post. I was reminded of the British comedian Peter Kay. He was nominated for the Edinburgh Fringe Festival live comedy , then known as the Perrier, in 1998. He lost to Irish comedian Tommy Tiernan, but went on to become hugely successful on TV and has become one of the UK’s best loved comedians.
Just goes to show that sometimes you don’t even have to win.
how many hours will you need to be a comedian?
It depends on how you produce your comedy material. If you are a joke writer, it can take years. It’s really like asking “how long is a piece of string?”. The Prof
That’s what i’ve been trying to tell people for years! Your jokes dont always have to be about private parts, play clean!
Thank you steve!
With reference to Jason Pecks post above, I agree with him that Peter Kay is one of UK’s best loved comedians. Personally, I think he’s terrific, but having said that, I truly believe that Peter Kay is not a true comedian, he is an actor playing the part of a comedian. He can’t ablib for the life of him. The real comedian behind him is Dave Spikey who wrote Peter Kays material. It is obvious that Peter Kay is too young to remember the clubs like “Pheonix Nights” and could never have written such material. These clubs really did exist, I am old enough to remember these clubs of the 60’s &70’s. I can honestly say that I can relate it all, and have experienced all the incidents shown in the series, plus more. I would like to write a book about it one day. But getting back to Peter Kay, a brilliant actor playing the part of a comedian, but without good material(esp.from Dave Spikey), nothing!
Well pall…I`m from Brazil and I have received your newsletter for awhile and this topic about Competions it comes to be handly right now because I`m about to get on it… I tell you later how it work out….
by the way….. You have a great coaching material…. I prefer call coaching than teaching, it sounds better to me.
thank you
These are all excellent observations, especially point number one. Sometimes, comics focus so often on the negative aspects of the shows they perform at it drains the things that inspired them to start pursuing comedy in the first place. It blinds them to what they could use that opportunity to accomplish. In a contest, the best way to do that is trying way too hard to win. There’s usually a decent-sized audience that allows you to pursue any number of alternate goals you have complete control over. It’s always nice to win, but it’s best to go into a contest with a different goal, one that you have complete control over. And by the way, despite knowing this for years, I still do this to myself after twenty years in comedy, including last night.
Shayne Michael´s last blog ..The Real Reasons Tila Tequila Needs To Appear On Larry King
All very nice advice..what do you mean by
Play it clean??
Slay the audience??
cheers
Clean means suitable for wider audiences, as opposed to working dirty or “blue” as it is referred to.
The Prof