Stand-up comedy is one of the most popular forms of live theater in existence. In the stand up course, we would learn how to write a joke, we'd go away and write it, then come back and perform it, one by one, on stage. You do not even have to make them funny to begin with, so it is great for overcoming writers block - just start off with a story and gradually try to turn things into humorous situations.
Almost everybody at an open mic will be a newish comedian or one of their friends, they're not going to give you a hard time. All of the books in the series are extremely funny and fun and fast-moving, but my favorite is The Code of the Woosters Reading any of the books can help you get into the right mood and mindset to write your own original material.
And like most jokes, it's funny because it's true. But you can easily give the impression that you are by simply looking in all directions as you take the microphone and start your stand-up routine. Mitch Hedberg and Anthony Jeselnik are both very funny one-liner comedians, but each one delivered their jokes in a completely different way.
Watching other comedians perform will help, but it doesn't replace actually getting on stage. For example, if you want to write a joke about internet dating, you may include jokes about how you're constantly changing your personal information because it never feels good enough.
HBO presented comedians uncensored for the first time, beginning with Robert Klein in 1975, and was instrumental in reaching larger audiences. The ‘Have I Got News for You' writer will be speaking at the Craft of Comedy Writing Conference on 24 April. Now some of you might already know that, but here's the other
storeboard.com thing: If you hang around comedy clubs enough and you are friends with all the promoters and comics, sometimes you might get asked to go on stage at the last minute.