I want to say a few words about being a comedian. A comedian is someone who makes people laugh (and at least a couple times a minute). Which is easier said than done. A comedian is a stage persona; it's not exactly who the person is offstage.
So how does one craft a standup comedy stage persona that a)suits their personality, and b) is actually funny?
As Words
It's both easier and harder than it first seems. Your unique personality already exists; it's just up to you to highlight the funny bits, and then to live your life onstage. This all starts with attitude and mood.
As a former teacher, I've had a lot of practice speaking to groups of cold fish. I can tell you that funny more often stems from your attitude, and the crowd's willingness to come along, than anything you might plan to say. Most crowds want to come along - but you have to educate yourself as to what will shut them down. Because all it takes is the wrong word or two, right or wrong; once you've lost them you're all alone and it's that much harder to win them back.
The stage turns things up a notch or three. And that's the act, isn't it - electrifying your natural personality characteristics. It requires confidence and a degree of self-deprecation.
The comedian turns on his or her personality and lights up a room. They control the room, the stage, the narrative thread, and always (try to) have the last word with a laugh. They inspire and intersect ideas.
But more than this, they actively indicate the funny in every situation. They twist everything into a punchline; they deftly see things in the wrong way and create humor from their response. For example:
My father once told me "Be careful with you little girlfriend, or you'll have a baby on your hands." Yeah? Well when you're seventeen dating a seventeen year-old, you can imagine dealing with that. When you're fifty looking at a seventeen year-old, you're just trying to get out of Saturdays at the Chucky Cheese. Pulling your wife out of the hamster tubes is embarrassing!
As a working adult with 10-20 years of job experience, you accumulate a kind of porcupine-quill carapace for the job. And if you're an engineer, goodness help you. Making engineers laugh is a bit like sticking a fork in a toaster. In fact, it is literally like sticking a fork in a toaster. Leave it to the professionals.
You can't approach comedy with that kind of flat emotion and deadpan attitude. Your mood translates to the crowd in a kind of desirable psychological transference. Your attitude is the fundamental premise through which all gets filtered.
Consider the different types of funny attitudes from some great comedians: George Carlin's tough indignance. Woody Allen's clever insecurity, and Bob Newhart's halting insecurity. Johnny Carson's boyishness and self-deprecating criticism of his own jokes. Tommy Smothers' boyishness and naivete.
I'm going to add more examples from other eras:
Richard Lewis' overwrought angst. Lewis Black's rage with political absurdity. Bill Hicks' seditious frankness. Eddie Murphy's fast-talking, cool mockery. Richard Pryor's contemplative, off-color characterizations. Brian Regan's exaggerated immaturity. Steven Wright's deadpan absurdity. Think of your favorite comedians, and what characterizes their attitude or point of view.
As such, with your unique, comical attitude, any setup is funny simply by virtue of being in your repertoire. Just as a funny comedy sketch depends first on the characters and the situation, before anyone has even said a word, funny standup depends first on one thing: the comedian's unique, fresh point of view.
So what do you do when you're armed with this information? You become aware of your own attitude, and feeling, at the moment of writing the bit. Aware of the influence of your mood, you might better adapt it to the situation. After all, your default attitude of bristling logic can hardly serve the interests of absurdity, can it?
Keep in mind that range is possible. If you listen carefully to some comics, you can almost hear them channeling their influences as well. It' s hard to listen to Doug Stanhope without hearing Bill Hicks. Lots of young comics mimic Mitch Hedberg, or Dane Cook. Sometimes these attitudes come and go. Usually the audience is unaware of it at all, unless you blatantly rip off a comics mannerisms or vocal inflections. I won't even dignify hacking material directly with a statement.
How do you find your own comedic attitude? You don't. It finds you. Write what you think is funny, then turn it up ten degrees. If it makes you laugh, others somewhere will laugh too. Just make sure you write it in simple, clear language, punchy sentences, and tend towards brevity. Mark your punchlines - be aware of when they occur - and make sure you're delivering them at about one every ten seconds, with the funniest hit in the last beat. The audience wants to laugh, and to know when to laugh. Make it simple for them. Make it easier on yourself.
You've got to overshoot. You may not get a laugh every time; and you'll want at least two solid laughs every minute.
And finally look at every word you're saying. Every word. Isn't there a slightly funnier, slightly more absurd way of phrasing it? Don't save all the mirth for the punch!
Good luck!
Success As a Standup Comedian - A Few Words About Comedic Attitude
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