Personal Development for Smart People Forums - View Single Post - Doing Stand-Up Comedy

Amit · 10-22-2009, 03:27 PM

Hey Dan,

My Experience....

I started doing-stand up comedy in 2007 and although I'm not a circuit comedian, I've improved heaps and I tend to do big pre-organised events now.

When I first started I didn't have a clue. I was actually Life Coaching someone who wanted to do it so I got them to get the ball rolling and organise their own night. He then asked me if I wanted to do it too and I was like..."HECK YES!!" (my mouth answered before my brain thought it through)

I actually went into it because I'd been to toastmaster sessions and I felt they were a bit too basic and I wanted a quicker way of getting into public speaking. Stand-up Comedy was the answer for me.

So before we had our first charity event in December 2007 we had a little practise session in front of about 15 friends. The guy I was coaching was a natural born comedian. It was his first ever taste of it and he'd written a 45 minute set and did it like a pro! I wrote about 5 minutes of material and got 1 laugh. Sufficed to say I was gutted but I didn't give up.

By the time it came to the gig I'd written a 30 minute set and we had a sellout night and we were a smash hit and I've never looked back!

If you want to hear more about my experiences of comedy there's loads on my blog but ever since I began doing it I can say honestly that it is one of the best life skills you can ever adopt.

Tips...

1. There is one basic paradox of Comedy in that when you write your material and continue to practise it you will get bored of your own jokes and might start to think it's not funny anymore. Don't let that get to you. If you thought it was funny in the beginning it will still be funny if performed well.

2. Make sure you write, re-write, re-re-write, re-re-re-write. There is no end to that process. The more you do it the better your jokes get.

3. Constantly practise your routine out loud. While you do it the natural process of performing will help you to identify better what will be funny and what won't be and you also bring in subtle improvements to your routine as you're performing.

I also brought one book called 'A step by step guide to Stand-up Comedy' by Greg Dean which was a fantastic book for understanding joke construction the basics.

Hope that helps!

10-22-2009, 03:27 PM	#3 (permalink)
Amit Senior Member Join Date: Nov 2006 Location: London, UK Posts: 171	My stand-up comedy experience Hey Dan, My Experience.... I started doing-stand up comedy in 2007 and although I'm not a circuit comedian, I've improved heaps and I tend to do big pre-organised events now. When I first started I didn't have a clue. I was actually Life Coaching someone who wanted to do it so I got them to get the ball rolling and organise their own night. He then asked me if I wanted to do it too and I was like..."HECK YES!!" (my mouth answered before my brain thought it through) I actually went into it because I'd been to toastmaster sessions and I felt they were a bit too basic and I wanted a quicker way of getting into public speaking. Stand-up Comedy was the answer for me. So before we had our first charity event in December 2007 we had a little practise session in front of about 15 friends. The guy I was coaching was a natural born comedian. It was his first ever taste of it and he'd written a 45 minute set and did it like a pro! I wrote about 5 minutes of material and got 1 laugh. Sufficed to say I was gutted but I didn't give up. By the time it came to the gig I'd written a 30 minute set and we had a sellout night and we were a smash hit and I've never looked back! If you want to hear more about my experiences of comedy there's loads on my blog but ever since I began doing it I can say honestly that it is one of the best life skills you can ever adopt. Tips... 1. There is one basic paradox of Comedy in that when you write your material and continue to practise it you will get bored of your own jokes and might start to think it's not funny anymore. Don't let that get to you. If you thought it was funny in the beginning it will still be funny if performed well. 2. Make sure you write, re-write, re-re-write, re-re-re-write. There is no end to that process. The more you do it the better your jokes get. 3. Constantly practise your routine out loud. While you do it the natural process of performing will help you to identify better what will be funny and what won't be and you also bring in subtle improvements to your routine as you're performing. I also brought one book called 'A step by step guide to Stand-up Comedy' by Greg Dean which was a fantastic book for understanding joke construction the basics. Hope that helps!