One big problem that many new comedians have is called “running over laughs”. What this means is that the comedian starts into their next bit before the audience has finished laughing at the last bit.

There are a number of reasons for this—nervousness or desperation to taste or sustain laughter momentum comes to mind first.

Another reason is that comedians who have 7 minutes of stand-up comedy material and are given a 5 minute performing spot can’t seem to figure out that they need to leave some of their comedy material out of the 5 minute set.

So they just talk faster and rush through their act, trying to squeeze the entire 7 minutes in and ultimately running over laughs in the process.

Yet another reason is that the comedian’s set-up lines are too long/too many before the punchlines. So, they are forced to not only rush through the set-up lines, but they have to rush past the punchlines too to get some frequency of laughter.

And there’s always the fear of silence, which can prompt the comedian to move to the next bit before the laughter even gets started.

Let start off by saying this—running over laughs is the best way to suppress or eliminate your overall laughter response from an audience. Why?

Because as a comedian, as a general rule if you are talking, the audience stops laughing. People cannot laugh and listen to or comprehend what someone has to say at the same time. Audiences will shut off their laughter in order to keep up with what’s being said next.

Not only that, but if you are in a rush to deliver your material, it tells the audience on a subconscious level that you lack skill and confidence—which can add to a reduction in overall laughter response as well.

And every time I mention to comedian that they are running over laughs, they usually say the exact same thing—“Yeah, I know”.

Let’s drill down a little farther in this issue of running over laughs.

When you deliver a stand-up comedy routine on stage, you deliver it in a rhythm. That rhythm should be based on your normal speech rate and the average number of words and syllables that you use before taking a natural breath pause.

As you are delivering your act, you are actually indoctrinating the audience on your speaking rhythm and punchline delivery.  This happens very quickly over the course of just a couple of minutes.

You can actually indoctrinate the audience very quickly to only laugh for a second or two before you start speaking again if they subconsciously conclude that you aren’t going to give them time to laugh anyway.

So, what can you do about this issue of running over laughs?

Well, let me give you some reasons why you want to do something about running over laughs NOW:

1. First you must recognize that running over laughs automatically REDUCES your appearance of confidence to an audience. Confidence on stage is crucial to getting the biggest laughs.

2. Your timing should be based on when the audience laughter is almost, but not quite gone after any particular punchline.

The bigger the audience, the longer that this pause to allow an audience to laugh may be.

3. None of the popular books on writing stand-up comedy address the fact that your “jokes” or lines need to match your own speaking rhythm like the Killer Stand-up Comedy System does.

Understanding what a line truly is and knowing how often you must react  to what you are saying on stage (deliver a punchline) to get the frequency of laughter you want is critical.

4. I have coached a number of comedians who were getting 15 seconds of laughter each minute running over laughs to achieve over 24+ seconds of laughter each minute simply by giving the audience ample time to laugh. That’s comedy star laughter levels.

Of all the things in stand-up comedy that you don’t have control over, running over laughs is one of those vital aspects that you have complete control over.

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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