Trying To Find New Comedy Material For A Stand-up Routine?

Rethinking Stand-Up Comedy Tips: Trust Your Natural Talent

Recently, I did a search for “find new comedy material for stand-up comedy” and one of the top results was a website titled 50 Best Stand-Up Comedy Tips.

Before diving into a critique of that website, I must share a primary edict I stand by regarding online information related to crafting and developing a stand-up comedy routine:

Most information provided by online comedy “experts” tends to overcomplicate the process of developing a stand-up comedy routine—making it far more difficult than necessary.

The primary reason for this is that the information is often not actionable in any meaningful way and, at best, it’s merely descriptive.

A Closer Look at Common Advice

Let me give you an example from the website in question. I’ll apply the same type of critical thinking that I use in my special report, The Stand-up Secret That No One Else Will Tell You.

I reviewed the 50 Best Stand-up Tips and the very first tip is:

PICK A POINT OF VIEW (POV)

Comedians who lack a defined point of view aren’t engaging to audience members—they’re just talking about “stuff.” Don’t be afraid to find your authentic point of view and stand behind it. Most likely, the audience will resonate with your unique reaction to a situation, helping you build rapport and garner big laughs. A POV isn’t an area to “air on the side of caution.” If you’re going to double down on anything… make it your POV.

Since this is the first tip, I assume the author considers it the most important.

Here’s the issue: This is a prime example of advice that is either not easily actionable or not actionable at all—it’s just academic fluff.

Real-Life Application of POV

Let’s start with this question:

When you’re conversing with friends, family, or colleagues and you make them laugh, how exactly do you “pick” the point of view that leads to laughter?

Note: If you haven’t read my special report, you might assume that stand-up comedy is vastly different from making friends, family, coworkers, and acquaintances laugh. Let me assure you—it is not.

The reality is, you don’t stop to “pick” a point of view when you make people laugh in everyday conversation. Your point of view emerges naturally based on the topic and your inherent sense of humor.

Your POV is formed organically over years of accumulated experiences, observations, and a myriad of other influences, with virtually no effort on your part. It’s like a supercomputer operating behind the scenes, providing you with the exact thoughts and expressions that lead to laughter.

So, why can’t you do the same with stand-up comedy material—start with topics that naturally activate your sense of humor and let your POV emerge?

I believe you absolutely can.

The comedy talent you’ve developed and use effortlessly offstage is the exact same talent you should harness onstage, albeit in a more structured and premeditated way.

Common Missteps in Developing Comedy Material

New comedians who are just “talking about stuff” and not getting laughs usually make these mistakes:

1. They attempt to pull material out of thin air.
2. They try to “pick” (or fabricate) a POV for something that doesn’t naturally activate their sense of humor.
3. They manufacture some sort of “unexpected twist” in their punchlines.

Then, they step off stage bewildered as to why their set didn’t generate laughs, while the audience sits in silence, seemingly stricken with collective constipation.

Now, consider this: Could a comedian be given a list of potential POVs to apply to their stand-up material?

Would that give them an edge in creating material that actually gets laughs?

Absolutely not. This brings up another critical question:

How exactly would you choose a POV with the confidence that it will yield the desired laughs?

Is there a crystal ball involved? Tarot cards? Some sort of telepathic scanning of the audience because you were able to travel back in time to know them individually and what they find funny?

I’m asking because…

• You don’t stop to “pick” the POV or joke formula when you say something that makes people laugh.
• Others who make you laugh don’t stop to “pick” their POV or joke formula either.
• There’s no contemplation over whether to “err on the side of caution” before saying something funny.

So, why exactly do you need to “pick” a POV in the first place—even double down on it as the most important aspect of a stand-up routine, as suggested by that website?

The Problem with Standard Comedy Advice

Well, here’s why:

This kind of so-called “valuable intel” is recycled repeatedly by various comedy “experts” and those who suffer from the Dunning-Kruger effect. They present it as the “easier way” to succeed, even though there’s nothing easily actionable about it.

But there’s power in numbers when it comes to sharing information—especially from a position of authority. Even if that information is ineffectual or misleading, if “everyone” is saying basically the same thing, then it must be true, right?

And everyone knows that almost everything online is true (bwahahahahah!).

There’s also an implied, subtle message in the “you need to pick a POV” advice that doesn’t sit right with me:

The POV you use to make people laugh offstage isn’t good enough for the stage.

Otherwise, why would you need to “pick” a new POV to connect with an audience?

Here’s a question to ponder:

Why aren’t your naturally generated points of view—which reliably generate laughs offstage—good enough for your stand-up material?

To see how well the “pick a POV”, “use a joke formula”, “determine the unexpected twist in your punchlines”, etc., approach works in practice, do this:

Attend any stand-up comedy open mic and count the number of people who fail to get laughs.

I would bet my house that those who aren’t improvising are “picking” topics, POVs, joke formulas, and a range of other elements, essentially guessing what might work to get laughs.

What matters most is this:

If the “pick a POV” approach works for you and gets you the laughs you want—by all means, go for it.

But from my professional perspective, this approach is akin to this fact:

A person does not need to know a single detail about how a car is constructed, how it combusts fuel, provides air conditioning, how the electrical system works, or how to change a tire to drive it with confidence.

If that were necessary, driving would be a long and painful process for everyone.

My professional perspective on creating and developing a stand-up routine is based on these foundational principles:

1. Everyone has a measure of comedy talent—some have more than others.
2. Your sense of humor and related comedy talent is the result of a highly complex process developed over years. You don’t need to know the specifics of this process to use it effectively as a comedian.
3. The sense of humor you use offstage is exactly the sense of humor you want to use onstage. This has nothing to do with trying to “pick a POV” (which is just a professional way of saying “guessing”).
4. What you do in everyday life to make others laugh is not only good enough—it’s exactly what you want to do onstage, just in a more structured and premeditated way.
5. You naturally produce hours of proven stand-up comedy material in casual conversations every year. Much of it (though not all) could easily be adapted for the stage if you know how to harvest it.

The Real Impact of Standard Comedy Advice

What the “pick a POV” approach does more than anything else (alongside the rest of the “conventional” approach to developing a stand-up routine) is make people doubt themselves and their comedic abilities. It causes them to abandon their sense of humor and the comedy talent they’ve developed and used for years to make others laugh.

It’s fascinating that the offstage comedy talent a person has—which is often the reason they try stand-up in the first place—is rarely even acknowledged in the “conventional” information provided by the “experts.”

I’m not here to tell anyone what to think.

But I recommend not believing anything until you’ve questioned it for yourself. The types of questions you may want to ask are outlined in this article and in the special report I mentioned.

One Last Thing…

When you use search terms like “find new comedy material for stand-up comedy”, what you often find is information that steers you away from what actually makes you funny and pushes you toward a “joke writing process”—which is as far from organic as you can get.

Instead, I encourage you to trust in your own comedic instincts. Your natural sense of humor has already proven itself in countless real-world interactions—so why not leverage that onstage? The key isn’t in fabricating something new; it’s in refining what you already know works.

By building on your authentic, personal humor, you can craft a routine that’s not only true to who you are but also genuinely engaging to your audience. Remember, comedy isn’t about following a rigid formula—it’s about connecting with people through your unique perspective and experiences.

So next time you’re tempted to “pick a POV” or rely on a pre-fabricated joke formula, consider this: the most memorable comedians are those who bring their real selves to the stage. They don’t hide behind a constructed point of view—they highlight their own, real, and often unpolished outlook on life.

And that’s where the magic of comedy truly happens.