Help me write stand-up comedy!

Question

ive just began writing stand-up, i have some material about jars of food, spiders, and buses, i told my mum and shes a harsh critic, she said the materials okay but my delivers c**p pretty much, does anyone have any jokes they dont need or any stand-up delivery advice? and im a huge fan of the old noel fielding stuff and lee evans, i try not to steal jokes but adapt them...so i pretty much need advice for writing and delivering my stuff please

Answer 1

practice makes perfect.practice in front of a mirror.try different expessions and voice tones.watch stand up comedy and study how the "pros" do it.how do they say the joke??watch their facial expressions,and body movement.good luck. :)

Answer 2

The big thing for a stand-up comic is to develop a stage persona, a schtick, a character-type that you can portray effectively.

Look at the big-time famous comics--what's their schtick?  Rodney Dangerfield is a schlemazel, Don Rickles is a schlemiel (look 'em up in Wikipedia or a Yiddish dictionary if you need to).  Stephen Wright is semi-catatonic.  Robin Williams is a maniac.  Steve Martin is smug.  Whoopi Goldberg is a cool street type.  Lily Tomlin is a smarmy intellectual.  Roseanne Barr is trailer-park trash.  Joan Rivers is trying too hard to be a star.  Phyllis Diller is a wierdo.  Chris Rock is the latest in a series of streetwise guys that started maybe with Richard Pryor.  Bill Cosby is mainstreet.  Jerry Seinfeld is Mr. Disaffected.

Once you figure out your stage persona--and you need to try it out in a mirror and determine if you can pull it off with your face, body type, and movements--then you have the clue to the delivery style you want to cultivate, the clothes you want to wear on stage, and the type of material you want to strive to write for yourself.

And also--comedians need to know stage timing.  When the audience laughs (or applauds!), guage the volume--it will peak quickly, stay loud for a few fractions of a second, then start to die down.  When it's half as loud as it was at its peak, it's time to start the next line.  Now, pauses are good to use right before a great punchline.  Other than that, whether you go Robin-Williams fast or Stephen-Wright slow will depend on your stage persona.

Finally, I hear a lot of comics nowadays who don't have a well-planned routine.  Try to think of your set as having three parts--first you grab the audience with some quick lines to get them interested and laughing early; then you can continue your routine with longer threads, funny stories, whatever the main material is--then comes the part that lots of comics don't do, the big ending.  If you're a storyteller, try to make the ending of the set a real unexpected, hilarious conclusion to a story.  If you are doing lots of one-liners, save a terrific one for the end.  You might get a good reception if your ending unexpectedly goes back to an earlier theme in the set, or if it creatively ties together a couple fo themes you introduced.

There, that ought to be enough work for you--Oh, try to read up and study acting; I recommend books by Uta Hagan and Robert Lewis.

Answer 3

chinese guy walks into an eye doctor's office. Eye doctor says he has a cataract. Chinese go says, "no, i drive Rincoln Continentalr."  

Answer 4

Why don't you just peruse Yahoo Answers and make fun of the stupid questions here?  The teeny boppers ask the dumbest of them all.  Sometimes the sarcastic answers are the best!

Cheers mate!

Answer 5

Two guys went into a bar. they had several drinks and one of the guys goes to the bathroom. after a while he hears his buddy screaming and he say i'd better go check this out. he gets to the bathroom and say, " what's going on in here?" The other guy say, "I don't know but everytime i go to flush the toilet something rreaches up and squeezes the h**l out of my balls. the other guy shakes his head and says, "You dumbass, you're sitting on the mop bucket!"

Answer 6

ummmm I'm just good in your mom jokes lol:

ur mom is so stupid she bought a tape on how to fix a vcr

Answer 7

i took an art of comedy course last yr at my UC n what i learned most from that class is that the easier material to make draws from your more embarrasing or upsetting experiences. If you tweak the situation, adjust the inflection in ur voice and even incorporate physicality u could make a gut busting joke. I got an A in that class because every joke i made was based off of experience not what everyone else is expecting or what u may think people want to hear.  

Answer 8

We cant all be stand up comedians dude... if you cant make a few lines then i suggest you stick at just enjoying stand up.

Answer 9

watch lee evans, physical comedy is probably the most effective. the jokes dont have to be that funny if they are physical.

do some research. and maybe use everyday situations that people can familiarize with

xx

Answer 10

Writing material when you are new is harder than you would think.  I read about 7 different books on how to structure your funniness.  Some comics tell stories, some tell jokes, and some use props.  I would figure out which style fits your persoanlity the closest and than learn how to write in that manner.  Doing stand up to just one person is almost impossible.  Just have you material memorized and go to an open mic night with a bunch of friends.  Delivery is something you will learn as you perform.(tape all of your acts)  When something works, remember why.  When something doesn't, figure out why.  Do not ever steal anyones material.(thats for hacks).  Also try to befriend a comedian who is willing to help you get better.(most of them don't want to help you be funnier than they are,)  Hit the stage as often as possible, write as much as possible, and eventually you will own the crowd.  Good Luck.

Answer 11

make it urself !!!!!!

Answer 12

settle down there dane cook... write your own jokes. if you "adapt" jokes you're just as bad as mencia, or dane.

Answer 13

Tell jokes about the pushy sales people!  

Answer 14

First off you need to look at your audience like an old friend if you are uncomfortable people can tell and there will be hecklers waiting to see this and start in on you ....You have to be clear headed if you fumble a joke it s as bad as fumbling a football Personally I don t have any jokes you would like to do because my humor is different from the mainstream but good luck man