50 Best Stand-Up Comedy Tips
Want to learn how to become a professional comedian? Here are 50 time-tested stand-up comedy tips that will help you build a solid career in comedy.
While there are hundreds of comedy tips to choose from, applying these 50 stand-up comedy tips are going to help you at every level of your comedy career. Whether you’re an aspiring comedian with stage fright or you’re getting paid gigs, these comedy tips can still take you to the next level.
TIPS FOR WRITING STAND-UP COMEDY
PICK A POINT OF VIEW (POV)
Comedians that don’t have a defined point of view aren’t interesting to audience members. They’re just talking about “stuff.” Don’t be afraid to find your authentic point of view and stand behind it.
More likely than not, the audience will identify with your crazy reaction to a situation and you’ll end up creating a strong rapport with the audience and getting some huge laughs at the same time. POV isn’t a place where you want to “air on the side of caution.”
If you double down on anything… make it your POV. Learn more about Why Point-Of-View is so important in comedy.
Here are a few great examples of perfect Points of View (POV’s).
FIND THE COMEDIC CONFLICT
All humor is built off of comedic conflict. Whether the laugh is coming from a comedian, a movie, or even a blooper video… there’s always comedic conflict. Understanding how to create comedic conflict within your material is one of the most important parts of writing.
Without comedic conflict you’ll find that your writing falls flat… no matter how hard you try to write it. Being able to weave comedic conflict into stories is an effective way of creating captivating stories that pack a punch.
TAP YOUR AUTHENTIC, FUNNY SELF
The audience is there to see YOU… whether you’re famous or not. The more “real” you are with the audience, the more they respond to you.
One of the most common questions I get from newsletter subscribers is asking why they can be so funny with friends but, when they try to turn it into a comedy routine, their material comes out lifeless and humorless.
Being a great stand-up comedy writer is about understanding principles of comedy… it’s not about applying comedy techniques or formulas.
It’s counter-intuitive, but actually it’s far easier to develop hilarious material without using techniques or formulas.
Simply focusing on understanding core principles of comedy (the most important is Comedic Conflict) lets you’re authentic self (the one that’s funny with friends) come through in your material.
DON’T ATTEMPT TO BOTH WRITE AND ANALYZE YOUR MATERIAL AT THE SAME TIME
When you try to analyze how funny your writing is while simultaneously trying to write you’ll end up frustrated. This will give comedians writer’s block every time.
Here’s why: In order to judge your idea, you have to break it apart and study it… but the process of CREATING ideas is the exact opposite. Creativity is about COMBINING ideas. It is literally impossible to do both at the same time.
Here’s how to fix it: Break writing down into writing for quantity (getting words, ideas, and joke premises on the page) and writing for quality (revising or tweaking your material until it gets the laugh you want). This separates the two tasks and allows complete focus on achieving your immediate outcome.
GET INTO FLOW
Creative flow only happens when you stop constantly checking yourself (this has been shown by various creativity researchers). When you’re in a creative flow, don’t stop it by questioning or overanalyzing your material (trust me, this is easier said than done, but the pay-off is well worth it).
Just let it flow. Write as much down as possible. If you begin analyzing your comedy writing too early you’ll break the flow.
It’s like attempting to run a marathon and turning around every 15 seconds to see how well you’re doing. You can always analyze later, so stay in flow while you have it. Learn more about getting into a creative flow while writing and performing comedy with Tapping Your Comedy Muse. Read More...
