Screenwriter Scott Myers has a formula to make you a better screenwriter. I used this formula to make myself a better comedian by taking his idea and applying it to stand up comedy. So here is the Comedian’s 1,2,7,14 Formula AKA The Fastest Way To Get Better At Comedy.
The Comedy 1,2,7,14 Formula
- Write Out 1 Headliner Joke A Week
- Watch Or Listen To 2 Comedy Specials or Albums
- Write 7 Jokes A Week
- Work 14 Hours Per Week Prepping Your Set
I have found that this process has impacted my comedy skills faster than anything else I could do. It doesn’t take a ton of time but it does take discipline and dedication to use it to your advantage. The best part about this formula is the fact that you will not only consume large amounts of comedic material but you will end up in a Neo like state of uploading skills directly to your brain.
Believe it or not there are lots of comedians who do not watch comedy specials or study those who came before them. In no other skill do you not study the masters or greats who did the same craft you are trying to take on. Could you imagine if in a profession like an actor who never learned their lines or studied acting and instead went at it alone trying to make up lines or figure out how to act just from trial and error? No one would ever want to see a movie, play, or TV show with that actor again.
1 – Write Out 1 Headliner Joke A Week
Pick out your favorite comedian or at least one who has been popular in your style. You should even listen to and study comedians you don’t personally enjoy but have been successful comedians, not comedy actors but comedians. Every week,write out at least 1 joke from a headliners comedy special.
By learning the structure, timing, and process of a joke by deconstructing it you will gain a valuable skill. This will make you a better joke writer as well as help you understand what makes a joke work. It’s like understanding how a magic trick works, because essentially comedy is like magic. You distract with the setup and amaze with the punchline.
2 – Watch Or Listen To 2 Comedy Specials or Albums
Turn on Netflix and watch the latest comedy special. Then go and find a comedy album on Apple Music, Spotify or even YouTube. I would recommend consuming one new special and one classic special. Think of any new Netflix special and Eddie Murphy “Raw”. Every week, watch or listen to at least 2 full stand up comedy specials. Don’t worry there are over 600 starting from the 1950’s. Sure they may not be your style but you can learn something from every one of them.
If you go through and consume to two different comedy specials every week you will see a pattern emerge. For example you can see how Eddie Murphy influenced Chris Rock and how Chris Rock influenced Kevin Hart. Everyone learns from everyone, so why not sit at the feet of those who came before you and learn. Your jokes and crowds will thank you.
7 – Write 7 Jokes A Week
If you write seven jokes a week you will be on point. Too hard to sit down and write even jokes in one day? Try just writing one joke per day. It may take you ten minutes, it may take you an hour, but however long it takes, you knock out a joke per day so that every week, you produce 7 brand new jokes.
These jokes don’t have to be the best they just have to have the basic setup and punchline makeup. Why? Because this is like training for a fight. If you are training to be a boxer you work on learning one punch at a time then work on building combos.
14 – Work 14 Hours Per Week Prepping Your Set
This is how you will learn the fine art of set building. While you are writing one set you are prepping another. Research. Brainstorming. Rewriting. Tagging. If you just find 2 hours per day to build your sets you will grow leaps and bounds. Create a master file Word document or use a notebook. Put everything you come up with into that file.
Most professional comedians juggle multiple sets at the same time. A five minute set, a ten minute set, a 45 minute set, along with A jokes, B jokes, etc. Here’s how you can start learning that skill-set: Writing one set, prepping another. Two hours per day so that every week, you devote 14 hours to prep.
This little bit of prep work will go a long way. While other comedians only focus on their sets right before they go on stage at an open mic or show you will have studied, honed, and refined your set for fourteen hours the week before. That’s most likely at least thirteen hours more than most comedians. You will be hours ahead of them in mastering comedy just with a little time dedicated to your craft every day.
If you follow the Comedian’s 1,2,7,14 Formula here’s what you will end up with:
- You will have dissected and written 52 jokes.
- You will have watched and/or listened to 104 comedy specials.
- You will have written 365 unique jokes.
While all these tips seem simple it is really just repeating the process over and over, even when you are tired, mad, sad, sick, on vacation, or just busy. Success comes from doing something over and over until you are a master.
Once you do those over and over you will find some form of success. It may not be Kevin Hart, Jerry Seinfeld, or Chris Rock’s success but it will be the success you worked for and earned. Following the simple steps over and over will be the key to a long career in comedy instead of a long string of open mics and failed sets.
The program inputs so much comedy that you start to see patterns and ideas form faster than you had before. You become a comedy master in less time than people who avoid the process of studying comedy.