Understanding Comedic Timing
In this article, I’m going to attempt to explain comedic timing. Timing is more than just an existential experience; it’s based on many factors.
Let’s make something clear: It is totally learnable, especially if you understand the mechanics that underlie it.
There are a lot of nuances related to comedic timing.
To convey this information thoroughly, this may take several different blog posts on this subject, each relating to a different aspect of comedic timing. But for now, let’s start with…
Timing is Listening
Let’s begin with an overview. Timing is listening. Our best comedy timing usually occurs when we are talking to our friends.
We’re in a familiar setting.
We’re comfortable.
We’re telling a story.
But we’re not just talking.
We’re engaged.
We’re listening to the reactions and responding to those reactions (facial expressions, sighs, gasps, giggles, questions) from our friends as we tell our story.
YOU: “I just found out that my girlfriend is cheating on me with her boss.”
FRIENDS: “OMG! Really?”
YOU: Yeah.
FRIENDS: That’s awful!
YOU: I know, right?
FRIENDS: Nod their heads in disbelief…
YOU: The thing is, I GOT HER the job.
Now that’s how that might play out with your friends. Here’s the secret: The same thing is happening with your audience. They just might not be reacting to you audibly.
Example of Great Comedy Timing from Comedian Brian Kiley
Take a look at this segment from master joke writer and joke teller, Brian Kiley. (Brian was Conan O’Brien’s head monologue writer for like 2 decades)
In that segment, notice how the audience responds to the setup. And Kiley responds with a “yeah.” The audience doesn’t always respond with an audible response in every setting, but that doesn’t mean they are not responding. It might just be a non-verbal response. So Kiley, when delivering this joke to a different audience, might just imagine that they responded verbally and put in a “yeah” anyway. It helps build tension and keeps the audience waiting to hear the rest of the story.
That’s timing; Timing is listening.
Like We’re Talking to our Best Friends
Also, Kiley is delivering this bit as though he’s talking to his best friends.
But our timing in a social setting with friends is something that usually comes effortlessly.
The tough part is duplicating that sensation on a stage in front of strangers. In front of our friends, there’s no real fear of judgment. Even if we say the stupidest things our friends can laugh at us and we don’t feel the humiliation we might feel if we were in front of a group of strangers.
Now imagine telling a story and there’s a new person in your group of friends; a person we want to impress. A person we might be attracted to, for example.
Can that affect your comedy timing?
Sure! But here’s the thing: some of us would not let that new person affect our timing. We have a sense of confidence. We are who we are and we’ve accepted that. You either like me or you don’t. Learning to be that person. Learning to be who you are will help you with your comedic timing. But in the meantime, until you develop that utter confidence on stage, you can use mechanics by understanding the process of what timing is.
Factors Affecting Comedic Timing
- Ambient noise
- How long it takes for the audience to hear your words.
- The complexity of the set up (if the audience can relate to the information)
- A language barrier.
- The confidence and clarity in your delivery.
- Are you communicating the information as clearly and concisely as possible.
- The setting of your show.
I learned something about the process of comedy timing while I was studying acting. We were given an assignment to find an example of bad timing. I found a perfect example in the most unexpected place…
How Porn Taught Comedic Timing
I stumbled upon a scene in a porno that was a perfect example of poor comedic timing.
(SIDE NOTE: I wasn’t actually researching the assignment at that moment; happy accident). 😀
FYI: if you want to find examples of bad comedy timing, porn is a good place to look! Or, late night infomercials.
In the porn scene, the characters are in an office. Two employees in the office suspect that the boss is banging the secretary. So when the secretary goes into his office for a meeting, the other employees decide to give it a few minutes, then take a peek.
CUT TO: The bosses office. The couple is doing it on the desk. The point of view of the camera is from the inside of the bosses office so that just beyond the action of boss and the secretary, we can see the door. Of course, it’s porn, so the door is wide open.
We then see the two office workers heads peer past the wall, into the frame of the doorway
The problem is they are already wearing an over-the-top look on their faces of utter shock.
So what’s wrong with that?
They only suspected the the boss and the secretary were doing the deed. They didn’t know for sure yet.
So their timing was off. Why were they already wearing a shocked look when they didn’t even have a chance to see what was happening?
4 Stages of Comedic Timing
They didn’t give the stages a chance to play out.
The stages are:
Reception: The brain has to receive information through our senses, (sight, sound, smell, taste, touch)
Logic: The brain has to process what it just sensed.
Transmission: Based on what the brain understands that it just sensed, it has to now decide how to respond, then transmit that response to the proper channels for the proper emotion. (Is it funny? Embarrassing? Humiliating? Repulsive? Gross? Frightening? Boring? Disgusting? Painful? Cringe? Etc.)
Physical Reaction: The body produces a physical response based on how the brain processed that sensation. Only then does the body produce a physical reaction. Ie: Laughter.
Anything that happens before those stages play out can negatively impact our timing.
Now keep in mind this all happens in nano seconds, so it’s often hard to perceive–unless of course it’s bad acting in a porn movie.
Learn Comedic Timing from a Baby
Another way to see this is action is to watch a baby experience something surprising.
If you hold a baby in two hands and do that thing that parents do where they sing “Oooooooh” where the note rises from a low pitch to a high pitch) and then ends with a sudden “BOO!”
Watch the face of the baby. It will stare for like half a second and then either laugh or cry.
That’s the brain processing whether or not this should be scary or funny.
The point is when we are performing stand-up comedy, the timing is very similar to those experiences.
If we don’t allow the audience to go through the stages, then our timing can be off.
NOTE: There are many other different factors to consider when it comes to timing. Not the least being that it is difficult to articulate comedic timing in a written blog post, so I will do a YouTube video to convey this concept a little more accurately.
So, in a nutshell, timing is a conversation. You have to convey information and allow the audience (your ‘friends’), to process the information and the respond.
Simple Way to Learn Comedic Timing
Want a simple way to learn timing?
When I was studying music. I took lessons. In the beginning, when the teacher put a piece of sheet music in front of me it took several attempts to get the rhythm right in the music.
But when he played it for me, I was able to kinda of duplicate what he just did. I learned the timing of the piece a lot faster.
So if you want to learn timing quickly, watch a well-established comedian who has an even delivery and a modest pace and doesn’t put in a lot of extra tricks.
- Brian Kiley
- Jim Gaffigan
- Stewart Francis
- Wanda Sykes
These comedians are good examples. Listen to their pacing, their enunciation, their vocal infections (the rise and fall of their pitch). Watching a good comedian deliver jokes will help you faster than anything.
Timing has a lot of complexities and nuances, too many to cover in a single blog post.
I will come back and visit the subject of timing in some follow up posts so be sure to sign up for my newsletter where I deliver a post a couple to three times a month depending on my schedule.
The most important thing to remember is that actual practice is what will help you to really develop your timing.
So get up on stage and practice!
