My Take on the Whole “Buying Jokes” Approach
Usually, I won’t even read a comedian’s material on paper without a video of the comedian performing the material because most of the elements that cause laughter to happen with a live audience are missing.
Want a Comedy Coach to Read Your Stand-up Material? Read This First.
Individuals who send me inquiries wanting to pay me to “write” comedy material for them usually (but not always) fall into one or more of these categories:
- They don’t have real comedy talent to start with and are under the impression that they can simply learn to “write” their way to being hilarious on stage (which is a joke all by itself) or pay someone to “write” comedy material for them out of thin air.
- They are clueless about comedy mechanics and how to develop and structure comedy material that focuses on their unique sense of humor, perspectives, points of view, and expressive comedy traits.
- They don’t realize that professional “joke writers” must study a comedian’s demeanor, delivery style, body language, overall attitude, comedy timing, perspectives, and points of view before they can effectively “write” material that will actually work for that comedian on stage.
Even then, it’s the comedian who many times provides the topics, subjects, or premises to the pro “joke writer” when it comes to third-party comedy material development (late-night comedians on TV excluded — they have teams of “writers” that already know the items listed in number 3 above about the late-night comedian they “write” for).
FYI — Pro comedians do use pro “joke writers.” But certain conditions must exist for that comedy material to work effectively on stage.
And for the record — I personally couldn’t “write” a funny joke out of “thin air” for myself (or anyone else for that matter) if my mom was being held hostage. But I know exactly how to identify and structure what I want to say and express on the stage to generate headliner-level laughter from an audience.
That’s what the Killer Stand-up Comedy System is all about, as opposed to trying to “write jokes” the hardest way possible (out of thin air) — which is much like trying to dig a swimming pool with a spoon.
It can be done, it just takes forever — as well as experiencing a lot of bombing in the process.
Will I Develop Comedy Material for a Comedian? It Depends…
If someone has an online video of their stand-up comedy that I can review and study, I charge $100 per page of developed (and/or edited) stand-up comedy material in my system format with the understanding that most, if not all of the material, won’t “read” funny on paper.
Hint: Go to YouTube and find a short video of your favorite comedian killing on stage. Transcribe word for word what they say in the video. Then print out that transcribed routine and show it to some friends or people at work and see if they laugh at anything as it is “written” on paper. The chances are great that they won’t even giggle at all.
Shortcut: I have actually done this for you in the first lesson in Training Module One of the Killer Stand-up Online Course.
Why Rely on AI for Custom Comedy Material?
Why would you buy jokes when you can create the tightest, custom stand-up comedy material for free using AI? Modern AI tools can help you leverage your unique sense of humor, delivery style, and comedic timing to generate personalized comedy material that truly resonates with your audience.
Check out this page for more information on how AI can enhance your stand-up comedy material: AI Comedy Facts
The Future of Comedy Writing is Here
With AI, you can:
- Analyze your performance videos to identify what works and what doesn’t.
- Generate punchlines and set-ups that fit your unique style and delivery.
- Refine your material through iterative feedback loops, ensuring every joke lands perfectly.
- Save time and effort by automating the more tedious aspects of comedy writing.
AI is not here to replace your creativity but to enhance it, making it easier for you to deliver consistent, high-quality performances without the guesswork and frustration of traditional “joke writing.”
Comparison: Buying Jokes vs. Using AI
Buying Jokes
- Pros: Quick solution, readily available.
- Cons: Lack of personalization, ineffective for live performance, costly, risk of repetition.
Using AI
- Pros: Customizable, leverages unique sense of humor, effective for live performance, cost-effective, iterative improvement.
- Cons: Initial learning curve to use AI tools effectively.
The Bottom Line
Even if you have real comedy talent to start with, you will have a very hard and unnecessarily difficult road ahead of you if you expect paper “written” jokes to generate substantial laughs on stage from a live audience.
The same is true if you simply buy “off-the-shelf jokes” from someone who claims to be a pro joke writer or is ready to write and sell you “jokes,” but has never even seen you perform. Genuine pro comedy writers simply do not work that way.
So when it comes to buying “jokes” — buyer beware. Instead, consider leveraging AI to create custom, tight, and highly effective comedy material that fits your unique style and delivery.