Are You Attempting Stand-up Comedy Material The Hardest Way?

The Misconceptions of “Writing” Stand-Up Comedy

One of the very first things that I notice about new and prospective comedians is that…

They are driven to try to “write jokes” (in the literal sense) in order to try to command the big laughs on stage.

I am more than familiar with this frustrating process. It’s what I tried to do when I first started out as a comedian.

And it should come as no shock as to the reason why that happens. It is quite simple, actually…

All through our years of primary education, we are taught to write in a particular way that is specifically designed for others to consume by reading.

In other words, we are more than familiar with what writing is and how to do it. We’ve all been trained on how to do that since youth.

But when that already acquired writing skill is applied to the process of “writing” stand-up comedy material, it seems to fall short and not produce the laughter results a comedian wants when they take that material to the stage.

Very funny and talented individuals can get caught in an ironic purgatory of sorts, where they can make others laugh almost at will in everyday life conversations but…

As soon as they start attempting to “write” jokes the way all the stand-up comedy books, courses, and workshops say that you have to, they simply bomb on stage. That should be a hint all by itself.

A Common Misconception

What would you say if I told you that the chances are great that what you believe to be the “way” to develop stand-up comedy material that will work well for you on stage is almost all wrong (more accurately, missing a ton of very important information)?

More accurately put, I will be so bold as to say that what you believe “writing” stand-up comedy material to be is actually taken out of context if you can embrace this simple and easily observable fact that gets largely overlooked:

Writing and speaking are two distinctly different forms of communication.

Therefore, it is not enough to just write down an idea that you think is funny and assume that it will work on stage. The process of developing stand-up comedy material involves more than just writing down jokes and performing them.

In fact, the process of developing stand-up comedy material is a complex one that requires a deep understanding of how to structure and deliver material in a way that is both funny and relatable to the audience.

By understanding the differences between writing and speaking, and by learning how to structure and deliver material in a way that is optimized for the stage, comedians can improve their performances significantly.

The Writing Process

Consider this as you contemplate getting into the game of stand-up comedy—information that just doesn’t quite line up with the conventional “joke writing” process:

1. “Joke writing” as it is taught today is difficult at best to master. It doesn’t account for the majority of the real impact when it comes to laughter generation – body language, facial expressions, and voice tone variations.
2. We’re formally taught to “write” in a structure designed to be read, which is significantly different than the way we speak and express ourselves verbally in person.

   Audiences don’t read a comedian’s stand-up comedy material. They experience the stand-up comedy material the way the comedian expresses it.

3. It is the visual and auditory supplemental communication you use when talking that reduces the number of words needed when speaking verbally versus “writing”.

   Many more words are needed when “writing” to communicate than we use when we speak to someone. That’s because all you have to work with are the literal words themselves.

   Comedians simply don’t have this luxury if they want to generate headliner-level comedy material that generates 4-6+ laughs per performing minute on stage.

   Related Article: Are You Using A One Dimensional Approach In A Three Dimensional Performing Art?

4. Individuals do not need to know how to write a single “joke” in order to develop comedy material for the stage that works. But they do need to know how to structure and capitalize on the well-developed sense of humor and comedy talent they already have.

   In other words, writing down what you want to say the way you say it, then structuring that material for maximum tightness and punchline frequency is a really simple process once you know how to do it.

   You will see this over and over again on this blog: Nobody gets “talker’s block.”

5. The longer you can stay on a topic, the less set-up you have for any individual chunk of comedy material and the easier it is to add punchlines and tag lines to your material. This is difficult to do with individual jokes produced on paper from thin air.

I could literally go on and on and on.

No one can “write” their way to having more comedy talent or a better personality for stand-up comedy.

However, you CAN learn how to quickly and easily capitalize on the comedy talent you have to get big laughs on stage.

The Path to Improvement

Before I continue let me be perfectly clear:

Creating and delivering stand-up comedy material that works in a big way is a challenging adventure. There are many aspects that should be taken into account in order to develop a personalized process and the resulting stand-up comedy material that produces the laughter results a comedian wants.

But I will also tell you that none of what I teach comedians to do in my online course is difficult at all—certainly not anywhere near as difficult as “writing” tends to be.

Plus, it can be a whole lot of fun when big laughter happens frequently.

Related Video:

But for those who are stuck — convinced beyond a shadow of a doubt that one can simply “write” their way to being funny on stage…

You would probably be best served to get your hands on any one of these popular books on writing stand-up comedy:

Popular books on writing stand-up comedy material. (#ad)

Put what they say to do to the test for a full 6 months. See if you can get significant and measurable results like these folks enjoy.

However, if you are truly a talented individual and don’t want to waste your time trying to somehow magically make conventional old school joke writing work for you…

Check out the free lessons available now in the Killer Stand-up Online Course.