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A Homeless Man’s Guide to Success

By Jerry Corley

Long ago my Dad shared this with me. I found it profoundly applicable in life and suitably fitting in the comedy realm; it’s called “Sunshine’s Law.”

He heard it from one of his college professors, who, in-turn, heard it from a homeless man who was simply named, “Sunshine.”

He said, “Two percent of the people excel at their specialty… eighteen percent are average or just above—and happy being there…

the rest of the EIGHTY PERCENT are on a declining scale of incompetence.”

Think about this little formula.

It’s profound in it’s simplicity and if you truly think about it, it’s not far from the truth.

We see mediocrity everywhere.

How many times have you said to yourself—or to others, “Man, there’s no customer service anymore!”  It seems that it’s a rare occurrence when we actually get good service or kindness or someone going out of their way to make something happen.

Is it because they are in the “eighty percent” category? Maybe so.

I do find that the 2-percent of people who excel in their specialty, drops to 1-percent in the business of comedy. It’s simply because most people see comedy as frivolity and they treat their careers frivolously.

A lot of us got into stand-up because we just didn’t seem to fit in the “normal” world. We wanted to beat the system and what a better way than to make people laugh for a living. Problem is most comedians don’t make a living or make a mediocre living.

Why? Two Reasons:

  • Laziness or
  • Ignorance

Comedy is a business just like any other business and if you learn to treat it as a business, that’s when most of us see successful gains—not only in our bank accounts—but also in our reputations.

How seriously do you take your comedy?

Do you:

  • Set Goals?
  • Write every day?
  • Map out your writing time (at least 1.5 hours 3-4 hours if you’re serious), and adhere to it?
  • Spend a portion of everyday making at least 10 phone calls per day for comedy? (Not just emails…phone calls).
  • Diagram the various ways you can earn money and game plan how to break into that market?
  • Do you have a PROCESS for your writing and your business?
  • Do you have a press kit ready to go NOW? Right NOW?
  • Do you go to mics at least 3 times a week and exchange numbers with other comedians and audience members?
  • Do you never take “NO” for an answer and are you politely persistent?

If you don’t do these things daily or weekly, then you’re not in the 2-percent… and why not? What’s stopping you?

Nothing now, because above is a list of things that I did when I was on the road 38-43 weeks out of each year.

Every day you should have a “To-Do” list of things you’re going to do for your career.  In it’s simplest form it should look like this:

  1. Write 3-10 new jokes (minimum)
  2. Call at least 10 people that could get me work (and ALWAYS, ALWAYS leave a message).
  3. Do a mic or find another open mic
  4. Add another club or booker to your contact or call list.

The list could be longer, but since most comics don’t wake up until at least noon, (if you’re on the West Coast, it’s already 3pm on the East Coast), and your opportunity is shrinking.

But if you did at least 3 of these things daily, then you’ll see your opportunities start to increase week-to-week.

So stop bitching that there’s “no work” and get to work!

Start by setting your goals… Goal number one: “Get myself into the 2-percent!”

What do you do to keep yourself going?

12 comments   Stand Up Comedy Class

Jerry Seinfeld Comedy Writing Kit – Sort of!

By Jerry Corley

If you’ve been reading my blog the past couple of posts, you probably noticed that I am obsessing this week over Jerry Seinfeld. I studied him when I was first getting into comedy and then emulated him in my earliest years as a comic.

One of the many things I admire about Jerry Seinfeld is his work ethic. He writes every day. I’ve made it my life’s non-negotiable rule to write every day as a result. I was also encouraged to do that by the late, great George Carlin.

You may have seen the Jerry Seinfeld calendar in a previous post where Jerry has a year-long calendar on his wall (or used to) where he puts a red “x” in the day that he writes being sure never to “break the chain” of red x’s.

I use that technique and it is always a reminder to get down and get to work.

Well, here’s something even cooler:

The Jerry Seinfeld Writing Kit!

It’s simple and it will give you the same magical tools that Jerry himself uses.

Here it is (are you ready):

Yellow legal pad (Cost: $1)
12-Pack Clear Plastic Blue Bic Pens ($3.49/dozen)

I know, some high-tech shit, huh?

Jerry doesn’t use a desktop, a laptop or an iPad. He writes everything long-hand.

He and Larry David wrote the entire series of Seinfeld on legal pads!

But don’t take my word for it, check it out at the New York Times article where I lifted this tid-bit of cool info!

Now that you have the magic tools, get to work and write. What to write? How to start? Read my post on joke-writing from scratch.

Last-Second Gift Suggestion From the Magazine and Jerry Seinfeld, Sort Of – NYTimes.com.

And, as always. Drop me a comment. Let’s keep the discussion going!

3 comments   Stand Up Comedy Class

What Is Funny?

By Jerry Corley

comedy_tragedyYou really want to know what’s funny? How ‘bout some obscure blogger, (Me!), trying to write an article entitled “What is Funny?!”

Funny is such a subjective term.

How is anyone going to write about how to be funny? It’s almost like trying to definitively answer, “Who is God?” Or “What is Love?”

As a comedian of 25 years, a comedy writer for Jay Leno and The Tonight Show, comedy instructor and founder of The Stand Up Comedy Clinic, (a comedy workshop in Los Angeles), the question is posed to me, literally, every single day.

So I thought I’d get serious about it for a minute and try to come up with a possible answer. Please remember, this is just my theory and by no means a definitive answer. So keep the nasty comments to yourself. I’m still searching too!

In other words, shut your conch!

What is “funny?” You could ask that question in many different ways–“What is funny?” “What is funny?” “What is Funny?” Or even “What’s so funny, bitch?!…” and still come up with a blank stare.

I’m not going to proclaim that I know what’s funny to everyone. Funny is very subjective. What is funny to one person is not necessary going to be funny to another.

In a nutshell, we’re just guessing, the audience is the judge.

Here’s what I can do. I can analyze funny. In fact, let’s do it together:

According to the dictionary, the number one definition of “Funny” is “to cause laughter or amusement.” Most people can agree on that. I was going to say “all people can agree on that, ” but people will find any reason not to agree—just watch the U.S. Congress. So, for the purpose of this article, let’s all agree on the definition of “Funny” as it causes laughter or amusement. In this case, since we are looking for laughs, let’s focus on laughter.

Because amusement is even more subjective. To some, the “Tilt-a-Whirl” at a carnival causes amusement. For me, it causes vomit. And here I think we can all agree that—and I’ve done a little research in this area—that vomiting is only amusing…if it’s not you.

Okay, back to what is funny?. How do we find funny? Well since we know that funny equals laughter we can start by looking at the science of laughter. When we do, we discover that according to experts on human behavior, the number one element that triggers human laughter is surprise.

Now, just by answering that, do you have any idea how far we’ve come now solving our initial question?

It’s almost algebraic. It’s almost an “if-then” statement: What is funny is something that causes laughter.

What causes laughter? Surprise, and if A=B and B=C, then A=C.

Then if Laughter = Funny and

Surprise = Laughter, then

Surprise = Funny!

Got it?

Say it with me: SURPRISE EQUALS FUNNY!

Some people say that you can’t teach stand up comedy or for that matter teach somebody how to be funny. And while I do believe you are born with talent and you develop skill, I also know that if you have a reasonable amount of intelligence and a command of the English language you can learn the structures of how to manipulate words to take something seemingly mundane and turn it into something funny.

I teach a comedy class in the Los Angeles area and I can teach just that to average, but amazing people and I’ve had tremendous results.

Can You Teach Funny?
How do you teach this, you ask?

All it takes is a little surprise.

Sid Caesar said, “Comedy is a story with a curlicue.”

If you tell me a story and you give it a surprise ending, you have just written your first joke. Tell me something about yourself:

Comedian Tim Bidore used to open with this joke: “I come from a large family…four Moms, five Dads…” He just took something mundane, a cliché of everyday life and really just changed the ending. It’s a curlicue. It’s unexpected. Hence, it’s a surprise. Is it Funny? Let’s go back to the formula

If Laughter=Funny, and

Surprise=Laughter, then

Surprise=Funny.

But we also understand the adage, the audience is the judge and in this case the audience still laughs at that line every time…and what is laughter equal to? FUNNY!

Now we’re starting to get it! Let’s look at it in another way…

How about when you go to the grocery store? When you check out, what does the clerk always say? “Did you find everything you were looking for?” Right? How do you usually respond? By saying, “Yes.” Because even if you didn’t find everything you were looking for, you just don’t want to deal with it.

But if you applied a common comedy formulas called The Double Entendre, you can start to look at a sentence or a question the way a comedian looks at it; by taking the implied meaning of a word and giving it a comedic perspective.

First, look at the question: “Did you find everything you were looking for?” We know what he/she means when they ask that question. What they’re asking is: Did you find everything you were looking for while you were shopping today.

What if we too the implied meaning of “everything” and blew it up a little? What if we took the meaning to the next level? “Did you find everything you’re looking for?” But this time we analyze it with a comedian’s sense; what do most people look for, not at the store, but in life; the meaning of life, or a soul mate, or love?

So what if we took one of those interpretations and responded to the question differently? Does it change? Let’s look:

Clerk: Did you find everything you were looking for?

Me: (Looking at the items on the conveyor) Well, I found some wine and some candlelight, but I couldn’t find my soulmate. You had Mahi-Mahi, but I’m just not into twins.

Now you have something that’s clever and unique. It will get a laugh every time at the grocery store because your interpretation of the intended meaning of “everything” is surprising and since we’ve already established that

Surprise triggers laughter and…

Laughter equals funny, then…

You’re on your way to understanding what is funny!

12 comments   How to be funny, How To Write Comedy, Joke Writing, Stand Up Comedy Class   , , , , , , ,  

The Key To Comedy

By Jerry Corley

Key to comedyOne of the most common questions I get as a stand up comedian, writer and now coach is: What is the key to comedy?

And although there are too many variables for me to even suggest that I have all the answers when it comes to comedy, I can give you the key. That’s right I can give you the key to comedy.

The key is SURPRISE.

If we break comedy down; I mean, really break comedy down into parts, then we can start to design solutions. So let’s do that briefly in this blog post.

I guess we can all agree that for comedy to be comedy, we need to get the audience to laugh, right? So that’s our problem. We need to make people laugh.

So let’s find a solution…

Somebody has to be laughing in order for someone to say that something is comedic or humorous. Now that we know that, we need to know what causes people to laugh.

According to several psychologists, the number one element that triggers human laughter is surprise.

Create surprise and do it well and the audience almost has no choice but to laugh.

Imagine that power as a comedian; to put the audience in the position where they have no choice but to laugh!

Now that we have that psychological element in place we are part of the way through solving our problem. The next question is how to we pull that trigger?

We create surprise in our writing or our dialogue, conversation, speech or script.

There are several ways to create surprise in comedy. I’m going to share with you the simplest and one of the most commonly used strategies to create surprise:

  • Double Entendre
Double Entendre means “two meanings.” Those of us in comedy are blessed that the English language provides us with multiple meanings of words. We can use a word in a sentence to imply one meaning then use the comedic interpretation to create comedy. To look at it in its simplest form: if you have a friend that turns everything into a sexual connotation, then you’ve probably seen the double-entendre formula used in comedy. It could be used in scene writing too.
A basketball coach is at a press conference after his team lost in a blow out;
PRESS: Coach how do you feel about the execution of the offense?
COACH: I’m all for it.
In this example, the coach used the comedic interpretation of the word “execution.” While the journalist meant how do you think the offense played?  The coach went for the surprise meaning of “kill.”
Because the expected of the word execution was so strong in the context in which it was being used, when the coach played the comedic meaning, he created a level of surprise that would lead just about any crowd to a laugh. Couple that with the fact that the losing coach is normally NOT in a good mood. He is not expected to be funny.

Surprise also occurs when something happens that is unexpected, right? So do or say something unexpected and you have an increased possibility of creating a laugh.

Here’s another example of using surprise:

When I was in the grocery store, the check out girl said to me, “Did you find everything you were looking for?” The word “everything” really stood out for me. What did she mean when she said “everything?” Her intended meaning was probably did I find everything I was shopping for.

What is my comedic meaning of everything? The meaning of life, a soul-mate, eternal love, etc.

I went with that interpretation. So, when she asked “Did you find everything you were looking for?” I said, “Well I found the wine and the candles, but I couldn’t find a soul-mate. You had Mahi-Mahi, but I’m not into twins.”

That got big laugh with her.

Word play makes up the majority of all comedy out there. But the comedian has to be careful not to overuse it. It’s easy to get “punny” if you use it incorrectly. And you’ll wind up getting groans.

Then that key to comedy will just wind up breaking off in the lock.

16 comments   Comedian Lessons, How To Write Comedy, Joke Writing, Stand Up Comedy Class   , , , , ,  

Comedy Writing – Quick and Simple

By Jerry Corley

Want a great quick way to get to writing some solid comedy material?

Think in opposites! That’s right opposites.

Think of putting yourself in any situation or scenario. Write down what your normally anticipated behavior or reaction might be in that scenario, then write down the opposite of that.

If opposites are unexpected and surprise creates laughter. This theory has a high likelihood of leading you to some quick comedy.

Remember, of course that comedy is always subjective and it might not. But that’s why there are second, third and fourth drafts of material; you tweak it until you get it right.

So let’s look at 3 scenarios, the expected reactions then the opposite of that and see if we can create some comedy.

Scenario #1:

A cop pulls you over and says, “Do you know how fast you were going?”
Expected Reaction: “No sir.”
Opposite of that: “Dude, really? You think at that speed I’m gonna risk taking my eyes off the road to check the speedometer?”

Scenario #2:

Minister says, “Do you take this woman to be your lawfully wedded wife ’til death do you part?”
Expected Reaction: “I do.”
Opposite: “Wait a second. Did you say, ’til death’?”

Scenario #3:

Your girlfriend says, “Does this dress make me look fat?”
Expected Reaction: “No!”
Opposite: “Babe, I think it’s time to stop blaming the clothes.”

Was the opposite of what was supposed to be said funny? That’s always up for interpretation, but I bet using this easy technique, you will wind up with funny more often than not.

Now you try it.

  1. Write down at least 5 scenarios. Make sure you’re not thinking of “funny” scenarios. Just think of everyday situations.
  2. The quickest way to do it is to create a scenario where there is conversation.
  3. Find the expected response.
  4. Write down the opposite of that. Keep it simple.
  5. Once you have the opposite. Think of a way to say it that is not “on the nose,” but paints an interesting picture.

Oh yeah, and I almost forgot to say that it is important that you write these things down. It’s never really enough to just think about them. So really give this a shot. Start with the three scenarios I gave you, using your own opposites.

Remember to put your jokes in the comment box below. It’ll be like a comedy brainstorm session in cyberspace!

21 comments   Stand Up Comedy Class
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