Deconstructing Jim Gaffigan’s First Tight Five
One of my students asked for a template on how to put together a tight five. I didn't have one so I looked for a comedian who already had one, then I did a video on it...
Category
Stand Up Comedy Class
“Can I Call Myself a Comedian?”
Intro
When I was starting out in stand-up comedy, I knew that comedy was all I wanted to do. But when people asked me, “So what do you do?”I would say
Quickest Joke Writing Tip Known to Mankind
Don't get stuck. Sometimes writing a joke is as simple as adding a condition to a statement and turning the irrelevant condition relevant...
Marc Maron’s Secret to Captivating the Audience Sitting or Standing
Ever wonder what keeps an audience's attention? In this video Marc Maron reveals his secret to keeping an audience captivated whether he's standing or sitting.
Does it Take 10 Years to Find Your Comedic Persona?
Some people on social media have said with absolute certainty that it takes “10 years for you to find your persona,” like that’s some magical number or something.
There is a more streamlined approach to finding your persona and it’s easier than you might think.
When Do You Think it’s Too Late to Break Into This Business of Comedy?
I think most people have a this vision that getting into comedy means that you have to go to open mics, where you may or may not get on stage, but before you do get on stage, you have to wade through a sea of jokes about dicks, or jokes about smoking too much weed, or jokes about dicks who smoke too much weed.
If you're over 40, the thought of having to slog out to do that several nights a week is not pleasant.
But there's another way...
2 Simple Comedy Writing Exercises that Secretly Make You Faster and Funnier
Do you ever have those days when you don’t feel inspired to write comedy? You want to write but you don’t feel funny? Or you're feeling defeated because you don't feel like you are growing or not growing fast enough?
Here are 2 simple comedy writing exercises you can do just to stimulate your comedic instincts. These are great when you just want to keep up your writing but you don't feel like you have anything to write about.
How to Write a Joke like Chris Rock
That's right. In this post, I'm going to show you how to write a joke like Chris Rock...
Well, I'm going to show you one specific way that Chris Rock writes
Don’t Listen to the Schmucks!
There's a condition out there that some people have called the "I-know-everything" condition and it's terminal.
If there's one thing in your journey to success that will stop you cold in your tracks, it's being the guy who thinks they know everything.
That's what today's video is about.
I call it "Don't Listen to the Schmucks!" :-)
How to Crush a Heckler Without Ruining the Show
One night I was doing a set and it wasn't going well. There were these three guys that noticed me failing miserably. I could hear one of them say, "Look, he's bombing! Let's get him."
They approached the stage and stood like four feet from the stage and started heckling me. When one of them ran out of breath, one of the other ones took over. It was like being verbally gang banged by hecklers.
After that miserable set I went to the bar and thought about getting drunk, but then...