Writing Comedy Material
A career on the comedy circuit can be a fun and rewarding career. What could be better than making other people laugh 
and getting paid to do so? If you are going to pursue a career in this field, you have a long, albeit funny, road ahead of you. One of the tricks of the trade is learning how to write comedy, and believe it or not a pen and paper are not your only tools.
Experiences
Perhaps one of the best tools you have at your disposal for writing comedy is your unique experiences. Every day of your life there is an opportunity to gather material; you simply have to be on the lookout for it. It is wise to carry some type of recording device with you at all times, even when you are performing your day job! (Provided it is not against company regulations) Wingfam A small digital recording device or a notepad and paper will work fine. Do not leave this step out, the chances that you will remember a potential joke once you get home are slim to none!
Newspaper
Do you get the daily news? You never know when a headline is going to jump off the page and say write material around me! Take for instance “Army Vehicle Disappears” and in small print, “after being painted with camouflage paint”. Conversational Hypnosis Some of the funniest routines in history have been pulled from the days headline news, or an editor’s misplacement of a comma!
Delivery
As important as your material is your delivery. Imagine yourself having a conversation; do you naturally pause during a sentence? Of course, everyone does. Rarely will you find anyone who will complete a full sentence without breathing pauses and even dramatic effect. What all this means is you need to find your natural speaking rhythm and not just try to recite lines. Even the most well written comedy skit will come off wooden and boring if you do not master this skill.
Taboo Topics
There was a time when certain topics were off limits, but generally speaking there is nothing expressly forbidden when it comes to comedic topics. Politics, religion, gender, ethnicity (particularly your own) and family are all fair game in most instances. A good comedian can make even the most ordinary topics into a great source of humor. A visit to the doctors or an encounter with an auto insurance salesperson can inspire laughter in the hands of a creative commedian. Even events that would normally be a disaster such as water damage orlando can actually be turned into a joke in the hands of the right comedian. Could you go over an unseen boundary? Sure, comedians do so all the time, and if you have material that pushes your social boundaries, it couldn’t hurt to bounce it off people you know. Too many faux pas and you could sink a promising career, but let’s be realistic in this anything goes society the material would have to be pretty bad or poorly timed. Making jokes about survivors of a natural disaster for example.
Conclusion
Writing comedy is much more than simply sitting down with your pen and paper. There are all manner of places to draw inspiration from, some of the best being your own life experience. A crazy uncle, weird cousin or even your spouse is fair game, and it works because your audience can relate.
History of Stand-up Comedy in US
A merry heart doeth good like a medicine and this has been a well-known fact for generations. Elpotosi For as long as this country has been established there has been some form of comedy, though what you would have seen in the early 1800′s bears little resemblance to stand-up comedy today. Apartments Krakow Just as the country and society has evolved, so then did comedy, with a few notable changes over the years. Here is a brief recounting of the different eras of comedy.
Black Face
In the early 1800′s minstrel, shows included acts that became known as black face. Fat Loss 4 Idiots Though it would be highly controversial today, you have to remember the time period. These shows would feature white players who blackened their face and would mimic black stereotypes. Often they would wear wigs, tailcoats and gloves to enhance their appearance. This type of comedy continued in some areas up until the civil rights era in the United States and even longer in Europe.
Minstrel shows began to wane and vaudeville rose to take its place. Vaudeville performances became popular around 1880 until around 1930 and included comics, musicians, trained animals, magicians and much more. Some well-known names in comedy arose from this genre including Jack Benny, Gracie Allen and Groucho Marx, just to name a few. Most comedians would rely on physical or “slap-stick” routines to garner laughter that is until the microphone became center stage!
Radio
Finally, comedy had a voice that could be heard by the masses, radio changed forever the way comedic performances were done. Not all vaudeville stars were able to make the transition as this entailed using timing and prepared content rather than physical humor. Argan Oil At this point in time, comedy became closer to what you would recognize today, comedic material, timing and the one-liner came into being.
50′s and 60′s
The who’s who of comedy during this era are names still recognizable today, think Johnny Carson, Phyllis Diller and Don Rickles. One notable difference in this era was the breakdown of racial divisions. Comedy has always reflected the changes in society and as the barriers came down notable black comedians arrived on the scene, Bill Cosby and Redd Foxx just to name a couple. Limits were being challenged in these two decades up to and including what was socially acceptable. Lenny Bruce would push the boundaries hard enough to get arrested for his material!
Television
The next step in the comedy journey was television. For the first time comedians could combine spoken humor with physical comedy. Do you remember the Ed Sullivan show? Variety shows like this became wildly popular. Ilomessina
70′s
If there was one decade that was huge for comics, it would be the 70′s. Not only were more and more people getting into the game but there were also multiple mediums they could take advantage of. Radio, television, arena’s and records. Big name comics were now selling out concert arena’s and still pushing the boundaries of what was socially acceptable.
Final Thoughts
The past three decades have seen a mixture and natural evolution of all of the above. Television and in particular the wide variety of stations has opened up more and more opportunities for comics of all walks of life. Language and content in many routines today would have been taboo only a few short years ago and it is certain that comedians will continue to push against the norms in the bid for more laughter.
Becoming a Comic
You have been the class clown, resident funny guy at college and comic relief at family functions, why not go all out and make a career out of it? If you have been thinking along these lines you should know there is more to the process than merely being funny. In order to make it big in the comedy world you need talent, confidence and a few tips to get you started!
Preparation
Before you attend your first open mic night, you will want to spend a little time preparing. Most people would think this means simply writing down or printing out a good list of jokes and one-liners, and yet there is so much more to it than that. Material is important but more so is the way in which you deliver it, facial expressions as well as body movements can convey much more than what you are saying with your lips!
Connecting
The first rule of comedy is connecting with your audience and there are several ways to accomplish this task. One mistake many comedians make is rushing the stage, they will be in such a hurry to start their routine that it looks forced and the comedian conveys their nervousness. You have to stay calm, cool and collected and then make every effort to connect with the audience. You have to be able to connect with the audience whether you are making jokes about exciting topics such as sports or even more everyday topics such as water tanks. Looking each person in the eye is a great way to accomplish this, however it is nearly impossible. Instead look around your audience frequently, giving the impression that you are making eye contact.
On Stage Presence
If you want to quickly lose your audience, begin fumbling either with the microphone or your lines! Before you ever hit the stage, the microphone should feel like a natural extension of yourself. There is really only one way to accomplish this goal, practice, practice and then practice some more. You need to master the law of attraction and attraction marketing to make your audience instantly connect with you and love you. Start by practicing in front of your mirror at home, then perhaps with friends and family. The more at ease you are on stage the better your performance will come off!
Laughter
While you cannot rush your performance, you do want to get to the funny stuff pretty quickly. You should garner the first laugh in under a minute, better yet is to get them laughing within the first 35 seconds. The sooner they laugh the sooner they will be at ease, enjoy the show and want to hear more of what you have to say. Get this part right and they will be hanging on your every word.
Conclusion
Making people laugh takes talent, skill, good material, practice and confidence. It also helps to observe how the
“big boys” do it can you can observe them at Comedy Central. It does help to have a bit of natural talent but in reality; most of the skills can be learned. If you are concerned about stage fright, don’t be, it too can be overcome. The best weapon you have against stage fright is preparation and confidence. Remember, do not rush the microphone but get to the laughing as soon as possible.
The internet is also a great way to get the word out about your comedy act. If you are targeting comedy clubs in the Dallas area you will want to engage a consultant that is a specialist in SEO Dallas to ensure you rank your website for Dallas visitors to see. Over time, you can build a following of loyal fans and you will be on your way to the big time.
TURNING A DISADVANTAGE INTO AN ADVANTAGE – ANOTHER ROAD IN A CAREER IN COMEDY
The music fades, the lights dim, the MC announces the next artist, Comic, You. The applause thunders.
Your career in comedy has come the full circuit and you top the bill – or is it top banana?
It’s been a long haul from your days of being the class clown; the college campus comic and a follower of the open mic circuit.
You’ve stuck to your plan and made it. Congratulations!
Wow! A career in comedy; is it for everyone?
Sorry! no it’s not; then again, neither is brain surgery or pulpit-thumping preaching. Like all careers, a hopeful must follow and stick to a plan and at first needs to learn the basics.
Comedy is cruel. Someone or something is being lampooned and you as a comic need to realise this, or your career in comedy is going to be short-lived. You give flak, you take flack and being thick-skinned helps. Leswamp
Being a comic is likened to being a writer – you need to be a good people watcher and grab each moment that can be converted into a comedy situation. It also helps to be an observer so you can get to know your potential audience.
You will need the basic tools of a writer; a notebook or simple hand-held recorder. Then write it down and incorporate it into a script. Then re-write it again and perhaps again, until you feel it becoming a natural flow.
Okay! What Now?
Life and its experiences is a good way to begin. There are comics who have made a great career in comedy by turning a disadvantage into an advantage. One of Australia’s top comedians suffers from cerebral palsy and rather than let it be a burden; he takes the Mickey out of himself and his condition to a very large fan base across the nation. You can even promote yourself and your unique disadvantage online as a kind of “calling card” that makes you unique. An internet and seo consulting expert can help you promote your comedy act in all the search engines.
Other comedians use their race, religion and even physical appearance become their comedy genre. If you have a day job in addition to your comic career this also can be used as the subject of comedy and there are no bounds to the careers you could exploit from doctors to accountants to even marketers who engage in chiropractic marketing! One Canadian-born comic, when a high school and college student, could not crack a date – too ugly was the general comments. He therefore used that a basis for his comedy show: “Hey! I’m so ugly, even passport/driver’s license issuers refuse to take my photo.”
In the days when being of a certain sexual orientation, nationality or religion created cruel jokes and jibes, some of the world’s best have carved a great career in comedy, simply by playing on that fact.
Julian Clary uses his sexuality to his advantage as did two Aussie comics, Solomon and Goldberg in their popular circuit show: Madly Jewish and Slightly Gay. The late and great Danny Kaye played up his Russian heritage. Eddie Murphy, Richard Prior, Bill Cosby did not let their race or color stand in the way of making a career in comedy.
Your Patter
It’s a long time gone since comics stood on the stage and cracked joke after joke – it works but there are reservations. An English comic, say from Yorkshire, is not always going to crack Yorkie-style jokes, or jokes knocking Scotland, in Scotland, and expect uproarious laughter; same in reverse – well, Billy Connolly can get away with it.
More popular is being conversational. By writing your jokes and verbal sketches down in a script form, learning it and bringing it on stage in a natural conversational manner, just like you’re chatting to good friends around a dinner table.
Your Career in comedy has no- nos too.
There isn’t too much today that is taboo. Natural disasters perhaps. Even religion gets a serve. Latest victim is Mitt Romney where comics are doing a David Letterman-style, “Romney Is So Mormon, when he gets to the White house he’s gonna.”
So comics, to enhance your career in comedy. Study as if you would heart surgery. Learn every trick and nuance you can, watch other comics in action and Practise! Practise! Practise!