Some people say that you cannot learn to be funny. Sometimes it's a matter of finding out how to put the puzzle together - which piece of material compliments the next best - and sometimes the only way to find this out is by getting on stage. Timing, stage presence, and reading your audience are all learned skills.
You can take classes from Steve Martin, but the best education you'll get is watching other comics, and at festival time there's a whole battalion of great ones gathered in one spot. To help you calm your nerves or shake any pre-performance stage fright you might be feeling, here are some tips I've learned over the past several years doing stand-up comedy.
You could improvise for the full five minutes, but this wouldn't strictly be considered stand-up, but rather improv comedy. In addition, both comedians and entrepreneurs must engage and entertain their demanding audiences. I love how she takes you day-by day through writing your first stand-up set as well as through writing spec script.
One of the worst mistakes a new comedian can make is memorizing their notes so it seems as if they are reciting scripted material word for word, and the audience will notice and lose interest quickly. While this is not all the information you need to know to get started, these are a few of the top items that I have done or seen done that have set people back from their comedy goals early on.
For those who seriously want to learn stand-up comedy, it should be noted that household name headlining comedians only use 10-15 words (average) before they get to a punchline. The Comedy Spot offers a Stand-up 101 Class every month. Still other comedians memorize their comedy material and then try
Suggested Studying to sell" their jokes to an audience in an unnatural way that doesn't coincide with their natural expressive comedy traits.
He became a Christian (and subsequently a Christian stand up comedian) a few years ago, channeling his sharp sense of humor into a family-oriented act that borrows from his experiences living in Bowling Green, Ohio, headquarters to the National Tractor Pulling Championships.
If you want to learn comedy from the best, one of the smartest places to start is with And Here's The Kicker by Mike Sacks, which is a collection of 21 in-depth interviews with some of the best living humor writers around, from Dave Barry to Allison Silverman, to Jack Handey.