Have you considered taking a stand-up comedy class? Stand-up comedy is more popular than ever and so are stand-up comedy classes. I’ve learned quite a bit spending over $1000 on stand-up comedy classes. I have read many books on the subject, have been acting for over a year, and have had the privilege of speaking at length with some of the legends of comedy writing. I’m not here to disparage the people who provide comedy classes, or tell them that everyone is equal in value. I’m here to give you a broad overview of stand-up comedy classes and what you can expect, without spending money on something you don’t want. Instead, I want you to be happy learning this great art form. I think all the greats of comedy were funny at first, but they needed direction to become the best. The right class can help you with this. Comedians are not born, they are made.
Can’t I just learn it from a book?
In other subjects, I’d understand where you’re coming from, but not in stand-up comedy, a performance art, and you need hands-on instruction. Writing a joke can be taught from a book, that’s right, buy a copy of Gene Perret’s Comedy Writing Step-by-Step or Jerry Corley’s Breaking Comedy’s DNA if you don’t believe me. Comedy writing is necessary for any real comedian, unless you pay a writer, but it’s not the main reason you’re taking a stand-up comedy class. Choosing to take a stand-up comedy class means that you want to participate in an artistic performance, you want instant gratification of the crowd’s laughter, and you want to be the star. The things you can learn from a (good) stand-up comedy class: structure, stage etiquette, and networking with other comedians. Stand-up comedy is teachable, but you have to do the work.
everything is a theory
Some forms of comedy, such as sitcom writing and screenplay writing, are done with almost the same structure each time, but stand-up comedy is not. Stand-up comedy is experimental, it’s funny, and most of all, it’s new (unless you’re a comedian repeating jokes for several decades).
Before Steve Martin became a superstar, nobody did comedy like him. Comedy was a series of one-liners, and most comedians were alike because nothing differentiated them. Steve Martin was one of the first comedians to do anti-comedy, creating so much anticipation for a joke that it compels the audience to laugh. There are plenty of other examples of comedians bucking the trend. To name a few, there are Andrew Dice Clay, George Carlin, Stephen Wright, Richard Pryor, and Zach Galifinakis. You know and I know that these comedians rise to the top because they are consistent and original. Not everything a comedy teacher tells you is law. Professors who have had little or no success will always tell you to follow their formula for producing material. Remember #1, everything is a theory, even if it makes people laugh most of the time.
I love Steve Martin; he is one of my all time favorites, and I can’t wait to meet him one day. Be a Steve Martin, try new things, even if you fail you will learn what works and what doesn’t.
Learn proven methods
Even if you want to be one of these original comedians I mentioned above, you have to know what everyone is using to create material right now. #2 learning what currently works may still work for you, or at least you know where to start. Many successful comedians are really just a combination of learned skills, mixed together in a unique way. Successful comedians took classes, some even became stars, but they all knew what people were producing at the time they started. Learn all you can, read comedy books and start writing NOW. I don’t care if it sucks, writing is a process, it makes you better the more you write. Listen to any comedian talk about their early days, they all have one thing in common, their jokes suck. Your jokes will.
Credentials
#3 Comedy classes can be taught by anyone, so be careful. Many people, who have no idea what success in comedy is, are taking comedy classes. I don’t know everything about comedy, but then again, you’re not paying me. When a teacher expects you to pay him $350 for a class, he should at least be an authority on the subject. Here are some research things to do to determine the credentials of a stand-up comedy class teacher:
· Look at the teacher’s website.
Does he/she list the credits under your name?
· Do you have professional videos of your own standup? Are they even remotely funny? This is important. How can they teach you to be funny in your own way, if they are not funny?
· No online video is not a good sign. Stay away from these teachers.
· Do they teach at a reputable comedy club, like Improv or The Gotham? This is a sign that they are at least moderately respectable. Alright.
Search the Internet for reviews of the teacher. Chances are if it’s horrible, someone got so upset about losing $350 that they wrote something nasty and informative for you to read.
Ask several local comedians if they took the class. If they liked it, chances are you will like it. It is important to ask several comedians, the teacher’s friends will always say that it is good.
I found out about a good comedy teacher in Dallas, TX named Dean Lewis through word of mouth. This is a very powerful and still effective form of customer review. I always trust word of mouth over an online review, because word of mouth is usually genuine.
If you’re in Dallas, Dean Lewis is at deanlewiscomedy.com. He is an excellent choice to start your comedy career and he has credits. Dean is funny, a great teacher, and he’s a very sincere person, which counts for more in my book. Take his stand-up comedy class today!
Superstars don’t teach
Let’s face it, Kevin Hart, Jerry Seinfeld, and Louis CK won’t be teaching comedy classes anytime soon. #4 Comedy teachers have not typically enjoyed great success in stand-up comedy. Don’t let this bother you, you can learn something from anyone who has had at least some success in comedy. I’m not saying this to put down comedy teachers, I’m just stating a fact. A good comedy teacher should have enjoyed some degree of success, but if he made a large sum of money from comedy, he wouldn’t need to teach it. They may have won a few pageants, made a few guest appearances on a sitcom, or opened for a national comedian. Somewhere between the open mic comedian and Louis CK is where you find a good teacher. Success at anything requires many factors working together to achieve massive success, not just the quality of one’s material. Many things can influence your success. A lot of funny people didn’t become mega-comedians, nor should you expect them to, but you do expect some success to show they know what they’re talking about. If someone has been successful in any area of comedy, there is something to be learned from him or her.
What you can expect to learn
Terminology
There are some basic things you’ll learn in a comedy class that I don’t mind divulging here, one of which is terminology. Comedians describe basics of the acting process through special language shown here.
Kill = When more than 80% of the crowd is laughing more than 80% of the time.
Die = When no one in the audience laughs 100% of the time.
Segway= A logical transition between two pieces of comedy.
Set= Your time on stage.
Act Out = An impression or imitation of yourself or someone else.
Speaker = Someone stupid enough to interrupt a comedian with a microphone.
A “little bit”: In addition to a comedy routine, it’s usually about a specific topic and in story form. Between two bits is the Segway.
Class
Generally, there are two schools of thought when it comes to the formation of comedy material; we currently refer to as a “bit”. The writing based on a single line and based on Act-out. I’ll clarify what I mean here by saying “based on a single line”. I don’t mean one-liners in the traditional sense, nor one-liner monologues. I mean coming up with one-liners and crafting a conversational story with one-liners intentionally placed in places to amplify laughter. Performance-based skits require acting and usually don’t have a ton of “jokes.”
I’ll give an example here from comedians you know. Robin Williams, Kevin Hart, and Joe Rogan mostly rely on acting rather than “writing jokes.” On the other hand, Jerry Seinfeld, Daniel Tosh and Dave Atell have “jokes”. None of these ways is bad, but you have to choose between them. Standup comedy classes typically teach one way or the other, not both. Remember one thing, when you become one or the other, it does not mean that you will not be doing something of the other style. If you write jokes, it will occasionally benefit you to act. If you act effectively, it will be to your advantage to pull a few pranks from time to time. I don’t know of any comedian who doesn’t do something in the other style.
What you need to do is contact the teacher of the stand-up comedy course before taking the class. Ask him if he teaches an acting-based comedy course or focuses on forming jokes. Make your decision based on this.
They are not always right
If a teacher tells you not to use something you think is funny, try it yourself to see if it works. Teachers can be wrong; Especially in comedy. A fellow national comedian once told Larry the Cable Guy that he shouldn’t have taken on that character, that it was a bad idea. He screwed up like $50 million dollars a year. Be sure to listen and learn, but it is never set in stone. A feeling is usually correct; don’t be afraid to act accordingly.
you are not the last class
Before you take your first comedy class, know that it shouldn’t be your last. If you decide that you are going to become a comedian and you want to be good, you have to continually learn. This is reading, taking classes, and learning if your material works in front of an audience. If it doesn’t work, change, but keep producing.
start typing now
Choose the best class you can, listen and learn. However, you can do something before this class starts. You need to start writing now, don’t wait until you become a calling professional to start writing. Your brain will be trained to consistently generate material, so you can do better when you become a student in a class. You should also treat it like a class, seriously. When you start typing make sure you set a quota otherwise it will start crashing. A fee can be in the form of time or number of words or lines. Don’t start with too high a fee, it’s very daunting. You can also use the method that Jerry Seinfeld uses, “Don’t break the chain.” Take a calendar and put an X on it each day you write, do it constantly so that it creates a chain. Now don’t ever break it.
Get on stage now
Google open mics in your city. You may have to drive a bit, but get on stage. You have to get over your fear of doing stand-up comedy, so start now. It’s not that scary once you’ve done it a few times. No matter what happens the first time, keep going. The first time is usually not going to go well, so forget about it. Start with one night a week, and then scale up to as many times a week as you can.