Your Comedy Is Exotic

 
The masses love to watch movies. We watch movies to be taken to exotic places; places we’ve never seen or been to so that we may have that experience, if even for the 90 minutes that we are in the theater. It’s no different with a comedy act. Your comedy act is your story. And if the story is compelling and interesting and takes us to an exotic place than YOU will stand out from most comics out there who just try to be funny. Anyone can be funny, but it’s when you can take the audience on a journey with vivid images and show them something they haven’t seen before either from your unique point of view or your unique life experience. 
I recently taught a seminar at the World Series Of Comedy in Las Vegas and I had the pleasure of meeting many talented comedians all trying to do the same thing; improve their act, sharpen their skills, make themselves better and more noticeable so they will work more. At  breakfast I was talking to a comedian who was raised in the mean streets of Minnesota, in the hood. He began to tell me that he didn’t think the audience was interested in his life because it wasn’t exciting or flashy. He said he did “external” comedy rather than talk about himself because he didn’t think anyone would give a damn. 
I asked him about his upbringing and the neighborhood that he was raised in and he began to tell me in vivid colors about what a shit hole it was. How he and his brother managed to get to school by playing make-believe. “Make believe we’re in the army and we have to avoid getting shot by the enemy.”  Problem was the enemy drove in cars that had doors painted with the words, “To Protect and Serve.” He went on to tell me more about his single mom. “She was married, but the reason we called  her ‘single mom’ is because that all the cash she ever had in her purse. A single.” He continued for about a half-hour. I was so compelled in the story that I didn’t eat my breakfast. While he was talking about his upbringing, I took notes and recited back to much of what he told me. He just realized that he had a 3 to 4 minute bit about his life and when he heard me say it he realized how exotic his life actually was.