Old School Stand-up Comedy Myths Persist Into 21st Century
I just read an article concerning the boom in stand-up comedy, parts of which really rubbed me the wrong way.
The title of the article is called: It’s no joke: Recession turns folks into comedians. Click here to review this article for yourself.
What I am going to do in this blog post is to identify that information which I believe to be accurate and also identify that information which I believe to be absolutely false or misleading. Portions of the article in question are provided in italics below.
Article Statement #1
Which is one reason Laugh Factory owner Jamie Masada (LA) says he’s blunt with people trying to switch careers in this recession, especially the older aspiring comics in their 40s and 50s that he says he sees more and more often these days.
He tells them he’s seen just about every successful comedian of the last 30 years come through the door, and it took even people like Jim Carrey and Dane Cook years to make it big. The harsh reality is that television shows don’t book old people and even the funniest arthritis and hemorrhoid jokes don’t play with a young crowd.
I would have to say this to be 100% true IF getting your own TV show is your primary goal. But the part that is missing is that there is a HUGE market for older comedians and that they can make bank if they work clean AND work outside the comedy club/Hollywood scene.
Article Statement #2
He [Masada] repeats what Richard Pryor told him: no matter how funny you are, it takes 10 years on stage to develop the timing to become great.
It’s this kind of old school, regurgitated nonsense that keeps truly funny people out of the stand-up comedy arena or keeps them from ever realizing their true laughter potential on stage. This sort of thinking is much like the belief that if a pilot broke the sound barrier, they would automatically perish.
They stopped smelling goat urine centuries ago as cure for the bubonic plague. I’m not making that up.
Let me set the record straight:
It doesn’t have to take 10 years or even 5 years to develop the timing and skill to become a great stand-up comedian if you have true talent, UNLESS…
You are stuck on writing “jokes” the old school way dating back to Bob Hope days, dependent upon being funny on stage from something “written” on paper and/or you are solely dependant upon comedy clubs open mics to develop your stand-up comedy act.
In that case, I would have to concur with Mr. Masada. However…
I will put my one and only stand-up comedy CD, recorded just 2 ½ years after I started stand-up comedy against ANY stand-up comedian performing today. But don’t listen to me…
Try to sell that “it takes 10 years to get good” BS to the likes of Tim Hawkins, J. R. Redwater, Mark Gladman and a host of other Killerstandup.com comedians who developed killer routines in a fraction of the time identified by Mr. Masada.
Statement #3
Still, a recession always seems to draw people toward careers in comedy, says Stephen Rosenfield, who has operated one of the country’s pre-eminent joke-telling schools, the American Comedy Institute, since 1989. His three-week workshops, which start at $425 a pop, sold out this summer, and he’s taking reservations for September.
If you ever thought the Killer Stand-up Comedy System is expensive, here’s proof that it is not. I would also recommend that if you are looking at taking any sort of stand-up comedy school or workshop…
Ask for links to videos of their former students on YouTube. Determine how funny these former students are using Comedy Evaluator Pro. Ask to see a video of the stand-up comedy teacher themselves performing stand-up on stage. Use Comedy Evaluator Pro to see how funny they are or were.
Side note: When I was in the Navy, they took only the BEST as teachers. The opposite appears to be true when it comes to stand-up comedy education. So, do your homework first.
Article Statement #4
Realistically, Rosenfield says, it takes even the most talented person three to four years to get good enough to start earning money telling jokes. Even then it might not be more than $500 or $600 a week until a comic moves up to touring and playing corporate gigs, where the real cash is.
Humm…I’m starting to smell goat urine again.
Must be “Flashback to the Dark Ages” month for stand-up comedy.
Truly talented individuals who are naturally funny DO NOT have to wait three to four years to “get funny” on stage given the right guidance to begin with and have the motivation to succeed UNLESS they:
1. Are trying to “get funny” from trying to “write” one dimensional “jokes” on paper (HINT: Stand-up comedy is a three dimensional art form).
2. Are trying to learn how to “act” their way into being a funny stand-up comedian. From my professional perspective, acting and stand-up comedy are two separate and distinct art forms and should be treated as such.
3. Fail to realize that there is more than one comedy market and continue to focus entirely on comedy clubs for act development and career development.
4. Completely ignore the fact that developing a clean stand-up comedy act is far more valuable than the typical blue or “cutting edge” comedy club act.
I have been saying for years that I would rather work with a prospective comedian who truly has raw comedy talent and has not been brainwashed by all the so-called stand-up comedy “techniques” that DO NOT WORK…
As opposed to working with someone who has already developed bad habits that are difficult to break. Nothing will ever work for these folks because they are stuck hard and can make the paradigm shift in thinking needed to get out of what I call “joke writing mode”.
One should also keep this in mind:
The Los Angeles/New York comedy club stand-up comedy scene is a beast all into itself. Stand-up comedy there is mostly a vehicle for exposure for TV, movies and commercials.
But these unique environments only reflect a small FRACTION of total stand-up comedy picture, the markets available, or the speed at which you can develop a killer stand-up comedy act—no matter how old or young you may be.
You are welcome to listen to Mr. Masada and Mr. Rosenberg if you so desire and would like to wait 5-10 years to “get funny” on stage.
For everyone else, there’s new information that proves…
You don’t die when you break the sound barrier, run a mile faster than 4 minutes and…
You don’t have to subscribe to the “10 year mandatory waiting period” described above to develop your talent and get paid handsomely as a stand-up comedian unless you make that choice for yourself.
Your comments are welcomed.
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 clubs • myths • old school • Performing • stand up comedy • Writing
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It’s nice to read that someone else sees the value of “Older” comedians.
Yes, if you’re chasing the youth market, or tv/movies, then you might want to worry. I started comedy when I was 43, and there was hardly any work in Honolulu at the time. But it didn’t take me long to get a regular paid comedy club gig. I learned more from watching lots of visiting comics…sometimes by negative example…and talking to the more generous ones like George Wallace.
Seven years ago I remarried and moved to Australia where I jummped into the comedy scene first in my home city of Adelaide, and eventually played in every major city in the country. I’ll be 59 this year. And although most of my colleagues are young, single white males, I often get more work than they do.
Although my act is more club oriented (jeez, I love an occasional F word!) one of my goals was to do more corporate, and I’ve increaed that portion of my folio. I also do more “country” gigs outside the city, and they are always killer gigs…real people in the audience are just as old as me, and appreciate someone finding life experiences funny…and don’t even get me started on the role of women comics, old or not. Shocking treatment in general. I actually had one yahoo tell me “you do too much female material”…gee, I thought that’s what a stand up comic does, talk about their lives and hello, I happen to be a woman, don’t I get to talk about it? (This particular guy is not doing as well as the old broad!!)
Anyway, thanks for reminding people that the main thing is to be funny, and that the audience above all else wants to laugh; they don’t really care if you’ve been on tv, altho that may attract them initially. They care about the FUNNY…and that’s the bottom line!
Folks who consider jumping into stand-up comedy later in life usually don’t realize that they have the BIGGEST market to work for, regardless of what Hollywood or New York are doing. Great comment! The Prof
One of the biggest advantages of being an “older” comic is not having to worry about both making people laugh and using stage power to get some action. Us old guys just have to make people laugh and self deprecation in a great vehicle for laughs but won’t increase your chances to land some trim.
I do think getting to the point of headliner stage time (an hour or so) takes a while. Even the comics I know who got early breaks took more than a few months to develop that long of an act. The comedians who were students of Sam Cox Comedy Gym did make progress faster than those with no workshop, so I recommend that everybody get outside help, but be careful. The current class offered by the biggest club in my area turns out so many bad comics each year that most folks in big D just think locals are not funny (there are about 200 open mic’ers competing for stage time here at this point). The waiting list for an opening spot at here already has a couple of hundred people on it. The club must work students first or their cash cow comedy class won’t produce. It’s a business.
Yes, stand-up comedy education is a business. However, I would still be cautious about what is being taught and by whom. My Sam Cox story — asked him to review the Killer Stand-up Comedy System before I released it. He wanted to charge me $50 an hour to do that. Now that’s funny! Great comment! The Prof
Steve,
You want a profitable niche – you just stumbled on it. Being a veteran of the internet business world you have proven that targeted niches is a way to make money. Have a great product or service? You can make some money by promoting it – such as “Learn How to Make Money Selling Recipes”. (You may make a little with generic topic)
Now you want to make big money with the same product? Create 3, 4, or 10 websites and target each one. One says “Make an extra $2,000 a month Selling the Best Lasagna recipe” (And I have 10 other Italian recipes to boot.) Then the second website says “Irish Recipes can net $24,000 a year – automatically”.
Steve – target a blog and add a few tweaks to your Killer Stand-up system and you can market the system to many 40+ people looking for how to start. Also create a group for 30+ and another for 20+. Heck, get some testimonials and tweak a little more and target the women.
You really want to boost it? Turn Killer Stand-up into a Micro-Continuity course and target those segments individually.
I’m not an Internet Marketer and I have nothing to sell. I do use several techniques and make some money myself via the web. I love comedy and love your system. Seeing a way to get your product to more people (and having you paid for your work) is a cool thing to recommend.
Jarek
I have been thinking about this, along with a course for kids. So tell me, where did you take your minding reading course from?
The Prof
Steve,
No mind reading here – just a kindered spirit. I stumbled upon really targeted niches by accident in a side business. I had a website for the side business that produced a product for the high end market. I took a new full time job 10 years ago and felt I needed to scale the side business back. I modified the website to say we only produced a specific style of the product – thinking it would slow orders since it was for a narrower audience. Instead, my sales exploded. The more specific it was, the more people who wanted that specific style found me. Now it is referred to as ‘Keyword targeting’ – but at the time I just thought I was scaling back my business.
I think a kid’s version is fantastic. Did you know that High School speech teams have a category called “Original Comedy”? (If I had known that in high school, I would have joined the speech team!) In Illinois they have to make up their own Comedy routine and include 6 different characters. They basically do the same routine in all the speech competitions leading up to the Conference meet, Sectional meet and the state finals. They get to tweak as they go along and by the end of the season they should be at their best. Your teaching could help a student dominate the competition. Take a look at a video from the 2008 Illinois competition winner at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VA66K_Xru50
I think this is very good a for a young man in high school. But can you imagine how good he could be if he kept his setups short, tight, and added more taglines to the punchlines?
Killer info my friend!! WooHoo! Keep it up. The Prof
Steve,
One last tidbit. The High School Speech competitions (for Illinois at least) start in November and end in March, but the kids start practices in October. With school about to start, you would need to put some targeted pages/marketing out in the next couple of weeks. A quick search of Google for state speech competition rules can get you the information to see if different states have different rules for original comedy.
You can tailor a “Student Original Comedy” course. Keep it clean and address the different character rules. I think a quick introduction of the S,P,T format and punchline key words will be helpful for a student. If you can get a package priced from $29 up to $67 (test your pricing) you will find a sweet spot for this niche.
Jarek
Jarek, this great. But the issue with me is time. I am working with the Pow Wow Comedy Jam guys to get them recognized before their Showtime special hits in Nov. But your ideas and comments are fantastic!
Steve -
Your insights are quite refreshing. As a veteran of Standup myself, it’s sometimes hard to keep yourself motivated, but producing a show helps.
I run a show once a month down at Eastville called the Power Hour…
Whenever I’m trying to find new talent for my show, first I ask friends of mine who are guaranteed laughter. Then I try to find out
who’s hot, and which young Comics have what it takes to get up there and be just as funny as someone who has been doing it 10 years longer…
You hit the nail on the head man. Thanks, and keep ‘em coming!