Dave Chapelle, Bill Burr, Kevin Hart – these are among the greatest comedians of our generation. They earn worldwide fame and millions of dollars from each of their stand up shows. If you think you got the wits to be the next comedy king, you need a game plan to climb the stairs to the comedy kingdom.
I have compiled for you a simple, step-by-step guideline to learn the magic of making people laugh. Though learning every possible thing about stand comedy from a single article is not realistic, I’ve provided a surefire way to help you understand if stand-up comedy is truly your thing.
You may think that you might need a brain transplant before reaching the professional level, but that’s not true. If you have the talent, you can grow from a witty college cut-up to a stand-up comedy star in no time. Here are some simple steps to learn stand-up comedy.
Steps to Learn Stand-up Comedy
The stars you see in the comedy industry today once struggled just like you. Always remember that. The secret is just practicing hard and persistently honing your talent. No matter how talented you are, if you don’t practice hard, you will not master stand-up comedy.
Understanding the Structure of a Joke
What is a joke? The purest definition of a joke is- something said by a person that makes people laugh. That’s it.
Our brain automatically detects a joke without rationally thinking about its structure. But, as a stand-up comedian, you have to understand and dissect the structure of a joke.
A joke is made up of two parts. They are-
- Setup
Setup is the part of the joke that sets people up for laughing. In this part, people will look at you expectedly for the next part- the joke’s punch line.
- Punch
The punch sets the laughter-bomb free. It triggers the audience to laugh. For a comedian, it’s the most sensitive part. It is also the deciding part of acceptance or failure. Whether you will be met with roars of laughter or resounding silence, both of them depend on the punch line.
Let’s take a joke for an example-
Setup- What do you call a belt made of watches?
Punch- A waste of time.
Brainstorming Joke Ideas
Getting ideas is one of the most potent obstacles many aspiring stand-up comedians face. “Where do you get your joke ideas from?” is one of the most asked questions.
The answer is from your day-to-day life. Don’t write a joke on something you hardly know about. Remember that you are an artist. And for an artist, your unique perspective on day-to-day matters makes you different from a non-artist. It’s your main selling point.
Think about the aspects of your life you find funny. Don’t try to guess what the audience might find funny. That guessing game is dangerous, and almost always backfires.
Learn to Write a joke
Writing a joke is relatively easy. Anyone can do it. You have to follow a few steps to write a successful joke. Check them out below:
- Select a topic and write as many jokes as you can on it.
- Listen and observe your surroundings for comic potential.
- Your life is you mine for jokes. Use it well.
- Keep a relatable common ground for everyone in your jokes.
- Build a story keeping the punch line in the center.
- The setup of your joke and punch line should not be conflicting.
- Remember Shakespeare’s saying, “Brevity is levity”- your jokes should be short and concise.
- Add “Jab lines” to make your jokes funnier.
- The punch line is the heart of your joke. Make it short but surprising.
- After finishing your joke, test its potential to make people laugh.
- You might have to write and revise your joke multiple times before it is finished. Even famous comedians have been known to work for years on some of their jokes.
These are the basic steps. But if you are not satisfied with the punch line, rewrite your joke until you find it satisfactory.
Polish Your Jokes
Worry about polishing your jokes when you are comfortable writing them. Keep writing and move on. Come back later to edit your jokes.
There are some points you need to remember while polishing your jokes. The characteristics of good jokes are as follows:
- Don’t make your joke wordy. Keep it short.
- Your audience needs to respond to your jokes by laughing; they are not supposed to think about them.
- If your audience has to think about your joke, consider it a bad joke.
- Every punch line has a word that triggers laughter in your audience. Try to put that word at the very end of your sentence.
- People find the word “egg” funny, whereas the word “orange” thoughtful and not funny. Use words with hard consonants; these words are funnier. Words with “K”, “C”, “Qu”, etc.
- Rule of rhythmic three: Use sentences that have three things. For example, I have three life rules: eating, sleeping, and eating… again.
- Put common and everyday knowledge in your jokes.
- Use direct quotes. For example, My mother said, “Son, you will clean the dishes today.” Then I replied, “In your dreams.” and then ran at full speed, out of the house.
- Don’t use puns. It makes people think and not laugh.
Proper Rehearsal
Why do you need to rehearse? The reason is that just memorizing and parroting your jokes will not make your audience laugh. Making people laugh is an act of creativity. Rehearsing your jokes makes you experience them and pushes your creativity to grow.
Handling The Microphone
- The microphone should touch the bottom of your chin.
- Speaking directly on the microphone makes your breathing louder to the audience and destroys the hard consonants’ sharpness. It makes jokes sound soft and not funny. Remember, your audience is not here for a live ASMR experience.
- Check if the microphone is working at the start of the show. Just say, “Hello, can you hear me?”
- Don’t pound on the microphone if it doesn’t work.
- Don’t get angry and yell if the microphone doesn’t get fixed.
- Leave one hand free to act the joke out.
Overcome Stage Fright
- Think about how bad it can get. You may go completely blank and forget everything. But it is possible to turn that situation into something funny, on the spot.
- Remember that people are here to laugh. It’s not a serious presentation for a thesis paper submission. Even if you go blank on stage, you can joke about your severe stage fright and talk about it. Talking about your stage fright helps to cope with it.
- Don’t be self-critical. Believe in yourself. Tell yourself, “Of course, I can do it.”
Perform Anywhere You Can and Gain Experience
Perform whenever you can and wherever you can. Suppose you are hanging out with a bunch of friends, go in front of them and tell all the jokes you’ve got, good or otherwise. Or are you at lunch with some colleagues?
Perform there too. Make a stage for yourself in any place you go to.
Conclusion
I hope you have got the simple steps to learn to stand-up comedy. Making people laugh is a precious talent. If you have that, don’t let it go waste. Remember the three P’s- Practice, Perform, and Progress.
Perform anywhere; just gather up a few people and tell them your jokes. If they laugh, that’s your reward! If they don’t, run the loop of the three P’s again!