3 Cool Ways to get Started Writing Your Comedy Act
I get this question a lot. How do I write a stand-up comedy act? What’s the best way to start? That’s a typical dilemma in comedy, isn’t it? Just getting started
Hannibal Buress Laughed in the Face of Loyola University
Hannibal Buress laughed in the face of Loyola University in a recent performance at the Catholic College in Chicago. Buress opened his act with a projection image of an email that
Why Wait? Plan your Own Success!
I believe that if you think an idea is funny, but it's not getting laughs, then most likely it's funny, but it's just missing an element that is needed to trigger the laugh.
In my classes, part of what we study is WHY people laugh. What triggers that?
When you understand that at its most intrinsic level you can begin to make changes to a joke to take it from a semi-chuckle (because it's a funny idea) to a triggered laugh because it a funny joke.
Here's an example:
Holidays Can be Stressful or They Can be Comedy Gold, Your Choice!
I love the holidays, but every year we hear stories about how stressful the holidays can be.
Suicide rates go up, family arguments occur, anxiety and depression increases, crime increases and so do heart attacks.
That's not fake news, those are facts and I know it sounds drastic, but as a comedian I say, "Comedy Gold, right?!"
One way to be sure you're keeping your sense of humor is to remember to keep
Trying to Write Jokes, but Feeling Stuck?
So you're writing and you get a premise down on the page and then... it just doesn’t seem to go anywhere. Does this happen to you?
I was Skype-coaching with one of my students today and he said, I've been trying to write, but I keep feeling like I'm getting stuck."
It can be super frustrating, especially when you’re just writing to put something, ANYTHING, on the page.
So how do you take that idea and make it into something?
Here's a sure-fire way to develop that idea further to get to the jokes.
How to Keep an Emcee’s Horrible Introduction from Tanking your Show
There are a ton of ways an emcee can ruin the introduction for a comedian. They can bomb a joke then immediately bring you up. They can create an incident with someone in the audience and bring you up on a sour note. They can screw up your name or screw up your intro.
They can do a backwards intro. A backwards intro is where they mention your name first and the audience doesn't feel the impulse to applaud...
25 Ways to Make Money with Your Comedy
When I started out as a comedian I wanted to learn all I could about the business. And watching my father go through his ups and downs financially as an actor, I looked at comedy, not as frivolity, but as a business. Once I did that, I saw all the possibilities and I focused on the ones that would give me the best return.
So I put together a quick list called 25 Ways to Make Money with Your Comedy.
Most don't even know these avenues of revenue exist.
Revenge may be Best Cold, but Success is Best Always.
Joe Dungan, one of my hardest working students and one of my master teachers just won The Clean Comedy Challenge 2017 at the Ice House in Pasadena, CA!
Joe competed against a litany of other comedians. And he must've done great because at the end of the performances one of the other comedians said to him, "Get ready to collect your prize money," implying that it was clear who won the Clean Comedy Challenge.
So how did Joe do it?
I’m Funny around my Friends, but…
It's amazing to watch someone who's developing their skill at writing. They could crack a great joke right in front of you. And the moment you ask them to write it down, they fall back on their learning of writing in school, trying to use correct punctuation, grammar, etc., and they over write the joke.
That can kill the joke.
This is what you can do to fix it...