Stand-up Comedy, part 5

I should just say at this point that I should mention that the fast start guide I spoke about in an earlier post is a distilled version of the earlier system...

Killer Stand-up

The essential difference between the two is that the earlier system has a lot more bells and whistles. It's a really in-depth guide to writing and performing stand-up comedy. There're loads of interactive examples: how to information, interviews with comedians and extracts from comedians performing their acts as well as extracts of the author performing his act too. You don't get that too often.

Think of it like this if the Fast Start Guide is a sports car then this system is a Sherman tank. If ever I want a quick reminder about the approach and how I can best apply a technique then I look through the Stand-up Comedy Fast Start Guide

Stand-up Comedy, part 4

Stand-up Comedy - Comedy Evaluator Pro

Now this is really a great piece of kit.

Imagine having a piece of software that allows you to pinpoint exactly which part of your stand-up comedy act needs work. Imagine being able to find out how many laughs you are generating per minute in your stand-up comedy act. Imagine finding out how you need to improve in order to become a headline comedian.

Well, imagine no more because you can get hold of the

Comedy Evaluator Pro

I couldn't believe this when I got it.

It take a few goes to get used to how the software works but once you get used to it you can work out everything I mentioned in the last paragraph and more. Not only that but you can see an evaluation of different well known stand-up comedians comedy acts. And you can print out a report on your own act so that you monitor your progress.

I don't know about you but when I used to record my stand-up comedy act I was sort of hunting around in the dark with what to do with the recording. Sure, I could work out which lines got laughs and which didn't, but it didn't really give me a lot to go on beyond that. Now, you get to see exactly where you are on a funny scale. I guess it's almost like the old-fashioned laugh-o-meter. Except this actually works.

It provides you with objective measurable feedback when you run it alongside any audio or video recording of your stand-up comedy act. There's also a table to you can chart your progress and see where you need to aim for. You can't get better than that really.

Stand-up Comedy, part 3

Stand-up Comedy

Whoops, I forgot to mention:

The comedy professionals who consistently kill (storm or whatever euphemism you want to use for being really funny) audiences get a minimum of 4 to 6 laughs per minute throughout their entire act.

That's what you should aim for - a minimum of 4 to 6 quality laughs for every minute you are on stage when simply using your own individual sense of humour and outlook on life.

Speaking professionals that maintain 45 seconds of laughter for each 5 minutes of presenting are kicking the proverbial posterior.

Look, whether you are a stand-up comedian or a funny public speaker, the fact remains:

The funnier you are, the more money you make.

Yes, there is a certain amount of promotion and marketing involved, but lets be honest if you don't have "the product" (your comedy act) then you are essentially selling the sizzle without delivering the steak! If that happens the stand-up comedy police will surely be called.

Stand-up Comedy Fast Start Guide

Stand-up Comedy, part 2

The Stand-up Comedy Fast Start Guide

Review

Let me start by saying that there is no single secret, tool, or formula that will make you a successful comedian or speaker. But there are methods that allow you to harness the sense of humour you already possess. That plus a bit of effort.

I think it’s fair to say that every successful stand-up comedian has strategies that, in some way, allow them to deliver a hilarious act on stage.

Whether they are aware of it or not, successful stand-up comedians are usually applying
3 Essential Strategies to get the results they want on stage...

They are able to do the following:

1. Produce large quantities of hilarious comedy material in the shortest possible time.

2. Test, edit, and refine comedy material in the fewest performances possible.

3. Develop and maintain ultimate stage comfort.

This is a fairly basic plan for success and for developing a solid act as a professional stand-up comedian or speaker who incorporates comedy into speeches and presentations. I’m sure you’ll agree that if you have these bases covered, you have the greatest chance for success in either the comedy or speaking business idustry.

However, you must know how to get these strategies to work for you. The good news is, it can be done and there is a system that will work to help you accomplish your comedy goals as a comedian or speaker...

To get these strategies to work for you, you must utilize a customized version of each of these strategies that are tailored to your own unique sense of humour.

I'll be honest with you, no number of secrets will help you unless you orchestrate them into a specific cohesive system for delivering the results you want on stage. You need a fool-proof system for success that will really work for you and your own unique, individual sense of humour.

I stumbled across the website for the Stand-up Comedy Fast Start Guide and I debated whether to purchase the e-books as I already have countless books on writing and performing stand-up comedy. Being such “a student of comedy”, I’m a hard audience as I know and have tried the majority of approaches to writing out there. But sometimes you just have to move out your comfort zone and step off the precipice.

I have learnt more about the comedy writing and performing process since reading the "Fast Start Guide" than I have ever learnt anywhere else.

For my money the "Fast Start Guide" and the "Comedy Timing Secrets" bonus e-book are worth the cost alone. But you also get the very valuable "How to Read an Audience" e-book too. Although it is fair to say that comedy timing and the ability to read an audience comes with experience on stage. However, the information in both these e-books details exactly what you should be looking out for with an audience and what you can do to help you with your timing. It puts into words what others know instinctively and that’s got to be a good thing.

The thing I always worry about is if a guide such as this is going to explain to me why something is funny. You’ve probably heard the comparison of analyzing why a joke or routine is funny to dissecting a frog; a handful of people find it interesting but ultimately both the joke and the frog die. Well, I was pleased to discover that it doesn't do this at all.

The best thing for me about the Stand-up Comedy Fast Start Guide is that I’m passionate about the whole process again. I actually look forward to writing and I’ve never done that.

Stand-up Comedy

Stand-up Comedy

I originally did stand-up comedy for two years on the London circuit in the U.K. I stopped performing, mainly because I got tied of trawling virtually the same 5-10 minute act around for those two years. Routines changed during that time, but my Stand-up Comedy act essentially remained unchanged.

I had no set approach for when I should develop more stand-up comedy material or how to develop it. The stand-up comedians that I met during this time, and the advice I got given, could not tell me when my 5-minute set was "finished" and when I should create another five minutes - slowly working my way up the “stand-up comedy ladder.”

I often asked myself “how do I quantify a really funny comedy act? Does the audience have to be laughing constantly? Or is it okay for them to be laughing less often?” I'd had seen comedians makes audiences gasp for breath and also ones that had an audience laughing, but not as frequently. And I'm not talking about bad open mike comedians either.

Towards the end of those two years I had lost all my passion for my material. I stopped enjoying writing jokes and something I couldn’t believe… I actually stopped enjoying the performing.

I’d read countless books on stand-up comedy writing and I couldn’t make them work for me. Friends would say to me: “hey, I like you’re stuff you sound really well-rehearsed and scripted.” That was a nice back-handed criticism. But no matter what method I used, my comedy material sounded exactly like that… material. I sounded scripted because that’s what I was. I wrote material so that it looked good on paper, without it necessarily being good when I delivered it.

I kept reading in books that I had to write about 50 jokes a day and throw out the rubbish ones and then write new ones. After all, the top gag writers have been doing this for years, right? But in all honesty, I was disgusted with the whole process.

I always found it a bit weird to write that many jokes in isolation from one another, then determine which ones did not work, and then wave them into a routine hoping that it would sound natural and be funny.

I was constantly being told I was much funnier in real life. But with the approach I had been using I couldn’t capture my natural sense of humour.

So you can imagine how frustrating and soul destroying this whole stand-up comedy game had become for me.

But all this was to change when I discovered the Stand-up Comedy Fast Start Guide

Stand-up Comedy

Stand up Comedy

Welcome, Willkommen, Bienvenue (and other language salutations that I don't know how to say) to my stand up comedy blog. Here I'll talk about stand up comedy writing and performing... Kinda straight forward really. Bye, Tschcuss, Adieu - oh you get the picture.