Comedian : 50 Important Tips For Stand Up Comedians
By: Dane Lee Thursday May 17 2012
Map: Home | Comedian - Date Submitted: 2010-10-30 22:37:56 - Views: 240
Here are additional tips and reminders that you can do in order to get yourself on the road to become a professional stand-up comedian:
1. Make videos of your performances. You want to be able to go back and look at how it turned out. There may be some things that you didn’t like and may have to make some adjustments.
2. Were you moving too much? Were you talking too slow or too fast? Did you talk too loud? It may take you several viewings to determine how you can polish it up.
3. Go to the clubs. If you are not ready for the comedy clubs yet, start at places that host open mic nights. However, in order to better your craft, go to other comedy clubs to see how other stand-up comedians perform.
4. You will be able to observe and take notes. Eventually, you will be able to connect with some club owners once they get familiar with seeing your face in their place. You will also be able to get with other stand-up comedians.
5. Have a notebook handy when you are performing. You may end up getting ideas for your stand-up routine at the last minute. If you don’t have a notebook, then you won’t be able to keep your thoughts. As soon as it hits, write it down if you haven’t taken the stage yet.
6. Don’t drag your feet on getting out there in front of an audience. The more you put yourself out there, the more you will be able to perform. In turn, you will be able to learn the ropes of stand-up comedy performances. It’s better to get more chances to perform because you will get more exposure.
7. If you mess up, keep going. Don’t think that each time you perform your standup routine that the audience will fall in love with you. Sorry, but that is not the case. You will experience what is feels like for people not to laugh at your jokes because they feel that they are not funny. You will see the looks on their face that tell you your show was a waste of time and they want a refund. All you can do is move forward, look at what worked and what didn’t. You will work even harder to get it right the next time.
8. One thing that can get you a label that you don’t want stealing other’s comedian’s materials. Don’t even think about doing it in any way, shape, form or fashion. Even if you are using the material with different words, leave it alone. Your career will be null and void and you will have bitten the dust very quickly.
9. When a promoter or club manager gives you a time slot, stay within that time frame. You would be overstepping your bounds and taking advantage of what was given to you. That would be considered rude, inconsiderate and unprofessional to go over your time limit. There may be other acts after yours and they have to get on when it’s their time. Even if the audience is not responding, that is no reason to take more time then you’re supposed to have. Rest assured you have probably blown your chance at performing at their venue in the future.
10. Be nice to your audience. You want them to be receptive to you and laugh at your material. There’s no need to be insulting. Just because some other comedians do it, does not mean you have to be the status quo.
In fact, you should want to be different so that people will notice. Plus, if you did say something out of turn, you don’t know how some members of the audience would take it. They may get humiliated or mad and walk out. That’s not something you want to see at your show.
11. Don’t focus on imitating other comedians. You need to be different than the others and stand out. The audience wants to see the real you, not trying to be someone else. You want the audience to see how funny you can be by using your own material. Be the real thing and not something fake.
12. Just because you have new material does not mean that you throw out the old stuff. There may be times when you will need to pull it out and use it. If your new material is not working, go back to some of the old material that you have. This can help you get out of a jam.
13. If you need more ideas on how to write stand-up jokes, get an instruction manual that will provide you with ideas on how you can write material that will make people laugh.
14. Think about your personality when you are writing. What is your attitude like? How do you feel when you are about to perform?
15. Write some jokes on things that you know about or some observations that you’ve seen. Create a small segment and do a performance while you’re alone. You can even videotape it to see how you look and sound. There may be things that you will need to eliminate once you have heard the tape.
16. Keep writing more jokes. Write as many as you can. As you continue to write, you will become more comfortable with creating your own material. It will eventually get easier for you. Sometimes you will have plenty of jokes to create and write. Other days you may not be as fortunate.
17. As you are working on your material, be confident enough that it will be good enough for your upcoming audience. Convert your material into a conversation.
18. Polish up your material and put the finishing touches on it. Go over it several times to make sure it sounds and looks right.
19. You can stand up when you are performing. You can either hold the microphone in your hand or leave it in the stand. Some stand-up comedians will hold it in their hand if it’s their first time in order to make themselves feel comfortable. There are some comedians who will sit down on a stool while they are performing.
20. When you are performing, pronounce your words so that the audience can understand what you are saying. Your voice should carry so that the entire room can hear you. Look at the crowd as you are performing. You have to be confident in what you’re doing. The audience will know whether or not that confidence is showing as you perform.
21. As you finish your performance, the audience will more than likely applaud, especially if it was really funny. Or you may receive a few heckles. Nevertheless, you need to thank them for coming out. They took the time out of their schedule to pay and see you perform. Let them know that you really appreciate them. This will keep them coming back. Audiences like to know when they are appreciated.
22. Don’t be in a hurry to leave after you are finished. It’s only proper and fitting that you stay for the other performances that come after you. There were probably some that stayed for yours, so you should also extend that same courtesy. Besides, you might be able to pick up some pointers while watching the performance.
23. When creating jokes, type them on your computer as well as writing them. You may be sitting there and a thought comes across. Instead of looking for a pen and notebook, type it on a blank document and save it as a file.
24. You may have some jokes that you don’t think are up to par. However, it’s a good idea to try them on for size anyway. You never know how your audience will react.
25. In addition to videotaping your material, you can also use an mp3 player. There may be times when you can’t look at your video. At least you would be able to listen to yourself do stand-up jokes. You will be able to hear how you sound.
26. You can also try using material from the news of the day and spin it into some jokes. Some of the more common subjects are celebrities, athletes and politicians.
27. You should not laugh at your own jokes.
28. During your performance, if there are people in the audience that try to distract you, stay calm and keep trying to perform. Eventually if they keep doing it, they will be asked to leave by management.
29. If you are performing at an open mic night, it should be with performances that are similar to yours. It would be embarrassing to perform on a night where others are doing poetry and other readings not related to comedy.
30. Believe it or not, there are people in the audience that will write down your jokes in hopes of using them. Keep an eye out for people like that while you are performing.
31. Don’t overdo a joke. Perform it within the appropriate time frame. It can get old and stale if you keep going on with it and the audience will get irritated.
32. Don’t bash fellow stand-up comedians. Keep your opinions to yourself. If you have something to share, allow them to ask you. If they don’t, then don’t push the issue. This will not get you any love from your peers.
33. Being offensive is a no-no. You are there to make them laugh. They don’t want to hear about things that are vile and get them upset.
34. Express yourself in a way that people would appreciate it. Just be yourself when you do it.
35. Don’t talk so loud where you can bust the eardrums of the people in the audience. Keep the volume to an acceptable level. Tone your voice down and adjust the microphone if you have to.
36. During your performance, keep a good attitude, no matter what. Even when the audience doesn’t laugh at your jokes, keep a smile on your face.
37. Don’t become a substance abuser. This will not help you when you are performing on stage. It will not help you when you are trying to create new material. In fact, you won’t be able to think straight when you are in this zone. Always be sober when you are performing in front of an audience.
38. It weighs more on an audience on how they receive your performance rather than focusing on you. You are there to make them laugh. If you are not delivering, they are not going to laugh at your jokes. You are there to entertain them, not to entertain yourself.
39. Be friendly at all times and don’t offend others, especially your fellow stand-up comedians. You never know when you will need a favor from them one day. If you have more enemies than friends, you could be messed up. No one would want to do anything for you.
40. Don’t be conceited because you have a few gigs under your belt. There are people out there who are professionals that know how to carry themselves accordingly. They know that if they don’t, that they could be out of a job. Acting stuck up will force someone to put you back in your place from whence you started.
41. Don’t make fun of other people. Don’t hurt their feelings intentionally. You are there to perform, not to ridicule anyone. People in the audience will take offense to that and walk out. Your fan base may start to decrease.
42. When you perform, don’t force yourself to create a joke where you have no idea whether it’s going to be funny or not. Stay with your normal flow and perform the way you normally do. If you have to, create some new material days before you are on to perform again.
43. You have to project an image that is positively portraying you as a stand-up comedian. You want your audience to know that you are friendly and are looking to help them have a good time while you are performing.
44. Try not to do anything that will turn your audience away from you.
45. It’s ok to be clean cut so that your audience will know you are funny, but serious about your craft.
46. Don’t go overboard when you are performing and telling jokes. Even though free speech is out there, sometimes we have to use caution as not to offend others.
47. Make your jokes so that people can get the jest of what you are talking about. You don’t want them leaving the venue shaking their heads in wonder.
48. If you perform one-liners, make sure that they are good ones. Not every stand-up comedian is able to do this, but if you are, more power to you. They can be your ram in the bush when you need additional material to perform. Be careful about the subject matter in which you use the one-liners.
49. Doing story jokes require stand-up comedians to be real about the subject or at least do it as though it could be the real deal. You should not make up or lie about what you are talking about.
50. Be yourself and be natural. Anything else the audience would pick up on it right away.
If you would like to learn how to become a comedian then visit our Career Forum or read more articles about becoming a comedian in Comedian Category.
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also works as a writer, editor, producer and promoter when they are first starting out. Viewed: 230 Times. Read More ...
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