Writing Comedy

Frequent cursing and discussing sex is common in stand-up routines. Considering my presentation will take place in school, I'm sure I can't curse, and considering my age and lack of experience, I don't think I can talk about sex either. (The only thing worse than not knowing anything about sex is having my parents offer to explain it.)






What I Learned

Well, the thing is, there is no set recipe for writing comedy. Every performance is about a different topic. Every comedian is different. Therefore, the websites I visited almost all said different things relative to writing comedy. However, there were some steps/pieces of advice that I found in more than just a couple sites. They are listed below:

• Just find time to write. Get out a pad of paper, don't think too hard, and write out ANY ideas.
• I'm going to buy one of those yellow notepads to put all of my writing on.
• I'll try to write a little bit every day and provide updates.
• It's not a formal way of note-taking. This is just a way to get ideas down.
• All ideas are good. They can later be morphed into a string of jokes/stories.

• It's informal. Like a speech. A conversation. It's not an essay. Full sentences not needed.
• As you can see, I didn't use full sentences above.
• Speak like it's a conversation with friends.
• Use the same dialogue/sentence structure

• What Exactly to Write About: Likes, Dislikes (these can come across funny), funny stories.
• Dislikes make the funniest performances (in my opinion)
• It provides the opportunity to rant about something that I'm passionate about.
• I think it'd be easier to find something funny in something I don't like rather than in one I do.

• Establish a point of view. Make it clear in the writing.
• How do I feel about what I'm talking about?
• What's my perspective/opinion?

*** Here's a website that I found to be very helpful: http://www.creativestandup.com/how-to-be-a-comedian-writing-comedy/


Final Thoughts

• When Writing...
• Take Risks.
• Put yourself out there.
• Write what you feel and passionately show it.

If I'm being completely honest, I'm very nervous. It's like I'm telling people that I'm going to make them laugh, and they're telling me to prove it. There are expectations set that I think are difficult to achieve. Still, I'm up for the challenge. I'm ready to start writing some of my own material. I'll start small - every day or two, I'll take 15-30 minutes and jot down any ideas that come to mind. I'll try to update you in my weekly posts, either by taking pictures or just typing up what I drafted.

Well, off I go. Wish me luck.

The Introduction

After days of stressing over my Genius Project topic, it finally hit me. I was just sitting in the middle of Spanish class and the idea came to me.

Stand-up comedy; it was the perfect idea!

I love comedy. When most people listen to Pandora radio, they listen to "Today's Hits," or "Katy Perry Radio." However, I listen to comedy stations - particularly stations like "Dane Cook Radio" and "Chris Rock Radio" (these are comedians if you were unaware) - basically, I enjoy comedy.

(Chris Rock)

Over the summer, my family took me to an event called Oddball Fest, where a large group of comedians came together for one big performance. Headlining the show was one of my favorite comedians, Louis C.K. I had a blast, and it increased my love for comedy.


My interest in pursuing stand-up comedy increased when I gave it a little more thought - I talked to my dad and uncle about it, and we ended up making up jokes about random topics for over a half hour.

In order to write and perform stand-up comedy, over the next six cycles, I'm going to be spending time researching, listening, watching, writing, and performing.

First, I'll do research on specific strategies and ways to approach stand-up. Then, I'm going to just listen to performances through Pandora, just to get a feel for the art. Next, I'll watch performances through YouTube and Netflix to understand the body language and stage presence necessary. I'll then write my own material about random things that I decide to write about. Lastly, I'm going to practice performing, and keep practicing until my final presentation.

My obvious goal for the project is to learn about the art of stand-up comedy.
However, I also have a few smaller goals.

First of all, I want to improve my public speaking and acting skills, because not only are they important in stand-up comedy, but I'm very bad at these skills and they're essential in other fields too.
I also want to be able to "find the funny," in simple, everyday things. By this, I mean I want to be able to pick out any random object, idea, etc., and be able to put a satirical twist and effect on it in hopes of appealing to
my audience.

Ultimately, in my TED Talk, I want to simply make my audience laugh and enjoy my presentation.