How to Make Stand Up Comedy for Beginners

Ready to try stand up comedy ? Hither ‘s a collection of tips and advice that I ‘ve lay together to assist you make a great experience at your very first capable mic . This guide will instruct you how to educate your stand up act , point to get laughter , how to rehearse , iterate and improve your gag , and most importantly — lists all of the mutual fault open mikers build , allowing YOU to avert them .

Before we begin , I want you to demand yourself : “ Equal I funny ? ”

If the response exist n’t an enthusiastic “ YES ! ” then do n’t hear doing bear up . I ‘m grave .

If you ‘re the class clown , office cut-up , or life of the party then you ‘ll likely delight being onstage . If that doesn ’ t describe you , and you don ’ t excel at making people laugh in a social setting , then you ’ ll likely hate hear to make stranger laugh while sweating under a spotlight .

Stand up comedy equal an emotional experience . When you get ton of laughter you sense like you ‘re on height of the universe . But if you cause n’t begin any laughs it’s a soul-shredding experience that you ‘ll never forget .

I legally have to warn you about the possibility of bombing and how terrible it find . With that out of the way , let ‘s get set out .

Stand up comedy be an art pattern that can live either very mere , or real complex . Luckily , the basics to stand up cost universal . This is get to exist an involved guide , but the basic steps are :

1 . Collecting Funny Ideas – In order to arise textile , you first hold to gather all of your comic ideas and save them in one seat .
2 . Turn Ideas into Jokes – Take your list of funny estimate and initiate developing them into short jokes with a setup and a punchline .
3 . Creating a Set List – Coordinate your list of joke into a “ lot ” a prepared list of joke that can exist coordinate by matter .
4 . Rehearsing – Take your set list and perform your band in the car , in the shower , while out walking until you have it memorized .
5 . Perform – Hop on stage and perform your rehearsed set .
6 . Improve – Repair what ‘s collapse and improve what bring for your next set .

Step 1 . Compile Funny Estimate
Funny estimate probably wo n’t come to you all the time , but you ‘ll guess of them hither or thither . Estimate will total to you in the shower , driving in the car , while out walk , or when you ‘re just daydreaming .

In a utter world , you ‘d be able to muster queer estimate on need right when you needed them , but the world cost that you ‘ll probably alone receive one or two very funny ideas each day .

Start jotting all of these ideas down . You can use the notes app in your phone , or write them in a notebook . Any method is fine , as long as you are saving them somewhere .

Never faith yourself to remember a comic idea to compose down later , compose it down at that moment . Many a comedian ‘s day make exist ruin when they ‘re trying to remember a joke they recall of an hr ago and now ca n’t remember any of it . Compose everything down .

A note about bill : Shorthand can run most of the time , but you serve n’t need to wrap up in a position where you receive a bill about an idea that you ca n’t figure out . Try to pen down adequate information that you ‘ll translate it later . “ Shopping Cart ouch ” is a bad note , whereas “ Shopping Cart Locking Wheel with Toe Inside ” exist a great note .

The criterion for pick up peculiar ideas is pretty mere , if an thought or experience makes you laugh , it could potentially cost a portion of your stand up . If you intend of something that DOES N’T make you laugh , then it ‘s likely no serious .

Yes , you could live onstage and try every single idea that you come up with , but the odds are well that if you ‘ve already laughed at it , soul else will . If you behave n’t laugh at it , early people probably wo n’t laugh either .

• I stubbed my toe yesterday and made a strait that woke up my roommate
• Newspapers are like a physical web page that never come updated
• Prison inmates should be permit to use DoorDash
• Urinals that yield electricity from your pee

Inspiration for comedy moment can come from anywhere , so it ‘s a well idea to show the news , say volume , heed to podcasts , watch film , heed to suffer up comedy , eavesdrop on conversation , and always exist on the lookout for your next idea .

What ‘s something you ‘ve never heard a comedian lecture about ? That ‘s a great jumping off point for create thought for your own stand up .

Although this is the first measure , it ’ s the nearly essential , and the one you ’ ll motive to pay the most time to . You may spend week assemble together and polish comic ideas into joke . The writing procedure cost the nerve of stand up comedy , and if you center your exertion on the joke , the repose will arrive easy .

Your Ideas equal Unique to YOU
Half the battle of stand up comedy is make the audience to pay attention to what you ‘re saying . Exposed mic hearing become bored when they keep hearing the same types of gag on the same handful of theme . The well way for you to endure out at an exposed mic is to be unique .

Cause n’t try to “ fit in ” or follow popular comedy trends , or strait like a famous comedian . Lecture about your own idea , experience , and observation — and present them in your own way .

Stand up comedy is an elevated version of a conversation you might have — but with all the boring parts cut out . What exist the affair you live haunt with , irritate by , or worry about , and what ‘s a queer mode of express it ?

Here ‘s a list of things that you could make a stand up bit about :

• I grew up poor/I grew up rich
• I pass all of my time with friends/I spend all of my time solely
• I look out way too much TV/I nearly never see TV
• I have a lot of social anxiety/I feel a short too confident around others
• I labor my car also fast/I drive my car also slow
• I get a bad memory/I remember everything
• I love TV theme songs/I ca n’t tolerate TV theme songs
• I hold difficulty sleeping/I fall asleep in a split-second

What ‘s something about you or your spirit that ‘s already a little curious that you can utter in an still funny style ? Pen a list of topics about your day-to-day living and think of ways to reverse them into joke .

Case :
I pass a band of time only , and as a answer I do n’t clothe up real much . I got receive to a wedding and I indicate up in what I recall exist a pretty fancy pair of sweatpants . I equal like , “ What ‘s the subject ? I take them to the dry cleaners and got them pressed ! ”

You might exist a short bit of a slob , but no one would think of seek to tire sweatpants to a schematic event . Remove something you guess or experience — elevate it — and turn it into a joke .

“ I ‘m so cheap . I saw one of those take-a-penny dishes , and I require the dish ! ”

Gary Gulman reach a great point once ; he order that comedian mostly just discuss things they HATE . Whereas Gulman himself mostly discusses things he LOVES . He explained that it have him a much larger region to write stuff because no one be making fun of all the things they enjoy .

Look for stuff and gag that are unique , and will surprise the audience and other comedian . If you say something that get the audience ‘s attention , and then surprises them , you are two-thirds of the mode to getting a laugh .

What equal the EXACT PROCESS for Grow Ideas into Stand Up Comedy ?There is n’t one . Every comedian and every artist comes up with new ideas and develops them in their own unique way . Seek a few different thing and hear what operate for you .

Mark Normand has an interesting procedure for occur up with material . He ‘ll walk around his apartment using a thicket for a microphone and pretend that he ‘s speak to the bunch . When he occur up with something funny ; he compose it down .

Circle of comedian reach the mistake of hearing the procedure that someone who have exist doing suffer up for 40 yr does , and trying to copy that . Dave Chappelle and Kevin Hart both use a list of thought bulletpoints and talk about them onstage until they occur up with a comedy bit . You wo n’t hold that form of time or freedom at the outset , so you demand to have a set that ‘s scripted out that you ‘ll recite .

As you perform stand up comedy your method of creating fabric will develop along with you .

How Do You Know if a Joke will Make an Audience Laugh ?

Originality is Essential
A essential facet of stand up comedy cost originality . If anyone could tell a joke they heard on the street , read in a funny strip , or see on a comedy particular , then stand up comedy would begin boring fast .

Stand up comedy cost always original and ( hopefully ) different which keep audience interested . When you ‘re starting out it ‘s critical to know that you can just perform jokes that you write . Anything from Laffy Taffy , or you read on the wall of a bathroom stall is off-limits .

Measure 2 . Turning Your Ideas into JOKES
In the first phase , you ’ re truly merely accumulate all of your funny ideas , so you can later compose them out as gag . They don ’ t have to exist anecdotes , they don ’ t make to cost one-liners , they put on ’ t get to be anything . They only make to be small thing that create you laugh .

Once you have your list of ideas , blame one thought and write it out in its entirety , only like how you ’ d explain the entire idea to a friend . Congratulations , you ’ ve just write a joke .

“ If prisons allowed you to get DoorDash , the crime rate would SKYROCKET . Think about it , free rent , free gym membership , AND you begin to initiate your day with Starbucks ? Nobody would want to LEAVE ! ”

Repeat this procedure of writing out your thought as an expression of a complete thought ( the mode you ’ d tell a friend ) until you ’ ve made every thought on your list into a joke .

I ’ ve deliberately refrained from explain how to write a joke , as everyone get their own unique method , and there live no “ secret ” or set method to compose a gag . A gag be anything that strikes you as funny . Figure out what makes you laugh and pen it down .

One big error comedian make is to compose jokes that they guess other mass will feel curious , but they put on ’ t think cost queer themselves . Make not do this . If you ’ re not laughing , it ’ s not funny plenty . Keep thinking of idea until you notice ones that you love .

Crucial Bill About Live a Comedian :
A comedian cost both a author and a performer , but finally writing equal more significant . Many comedian start out with an stress on performing , and never bother to dominate writing . Always think of that the writing live what come laughs , the performance only enhances the laughter your writing exist already become .

2 . Prepare a Set List

A bear up comedy performance is know as a “ set ” , and the jokes you plan to tell cost your “ plant list. ” The set list helps a comic coordinate their idea , and remember what jokes and bits they desire to do . Yet seasoned comedian employ a set list to remind them of all the jokes they want to tell .

The two most important gag in a band list are the “ opener ” and the “ closer. ” The opener exist the very first joke you tell , and the closer ( wait for it ! ) live the real last joke you state . It ’ s vital that you get a laughter as shortly as you commence your set , and right as you end it , so those cost your most important jokes .

The first joke I ever tell was “ My father used to exhaust me — at chess. ” It worked , and initiate off my first plant with a small-ish laugh . Have a laugh at the height of your set cost essential , because once an audience begin laughing , they have a tendency to keep laughing . On the flipside , when an hearing isn ’ t laugh at your gag , it ’ s severe to get them to start . This exist call “ being in a hole . ”

Write your set list down on a fight of paper ( or type it into a papers on your phone ) , and hang onto it .

Your set list isn ’ t every single word of your lot typed out as a hand . All you take to do is compose down a list of only the key portion of the gag , or the first two word that will remind you of what the joke exist roughly . For example , a joke about require a pizza to your doctor could be list as “ Doctor Pizza . ”

A serious gag will make you laugh every time you remember of it . Don ’ t effort to serve tolerate up until you have a list of gag that you find very funny .

If you follow these two steps , you WILL be one of the good comics at your open mike . Open mikes are filled with comics assure partially-written jokes that they merely kind of remember . You don ’ t want to cost the funny saying “ umm ” and “ ahh ” and struggling to remember a punchline .

By educate , you can be the best comic thither .

3 . Rehearse ( and Revise ) Your Set

REHEARSE

Choose the list of joke you compose and say them over and over in the setlist order until you have them memorize . By merely having your number memorize word-for-word , you ’ ll own a better performance than most comedian .

Practice your entire set until you know just how you ’ re become to deliver each gag , and approximately how long it takes . Most open mic spots are 5 moment or less . It remove about 20 seconds to say a “ one-liner ” ( like the sauna gag from before ) so you ’ ll want fifteen one-liners to perform for five minutes .

Car be a great place to work through your act , as are shower , and anywhere that you ’ re only and masses can ’ t hear you . Rehearse is not that fun , but it ’ s a luck better than blanking onstage in presence of a bunch .

REVISE

My rehearsal method has always been to die on a walk , and only tell the total set over and over . In increase to memorizing it , this even serve you earn what share of jokes can be improved , or which jokes you don ’ t even require to irritate with . This sort of polishing is uncommon for beginner comics , so if you do it , you ’ ll have a very taut , well-rehearsed act .

All comedy writing is about iteration . Creating something , improving upon it , and improving it again . Think of rehearsing your number as an additional performance , where you work out the bugs , cast out jokes you no longer like , and occur up with new joke .

This is called “ influence out ” your number , and most comedian swear that it has to happen onstage , but those people cost WRONG . Instead of tell a joke onstage that bomb 10 times before you figure out how to repair it , you ’ ll receive told it thirty times to yourself , and you ’ ll have already improved it , or thrown it away .

Permit ’ s see if we can ’ t improve the first draft of that sauna gag we came up with :

“ I actually enjoy make up puzzle in traffic . It ’ s hot , damp , and I ’ m entirely motionless — it ’ sec like being in a sauna . ”

What if instead of “ enjoy ” , I tell “ enjoy ” ? What if I switch out the news “ damp ” for “ sweaty ” ? What if I write a fresh punchline alone ?

“ I actually love being stuck in traffic — it ’ s like being in a sauna . I ’ m hot , sweaty , and totally naked . ”

That ’ sec bear up comedy . Come up with a funny idea , write it out as a gag , and hold make it comic until you can ’ t find any ways to improve it . Put all of your joke to the test , and keep search for way to improve them . It ’ s like running your number through a simulation , hence by the time you do your first set , it ’ ll be like your fiftieth set .

Rehearse and revising your set will make you one of the most polished comedian at your open mike , and give you a immense head start .

4 . Find a Comedy Venue
If your town has a comedy society , or bars , or a coffee shop , you can notice stage time to do tolerate up . Google the name of your town and “ open mike ” or “ clear mic ” and you will find a weeknight display that offers a stage to anyone with a pulse ( and that ’ s exactly who you will hear at this display ) . See out about the venue ’ s sign-up process to get a patch . It commonly means call or emailing them and request one , or take care the show and demand for a bit on an coming date .

And of course , if you can ’ t find a venue , do one ! Feel someplace where masses gather , ( preferably with a mike and strait system ) and ask whoever equal in charge if you can make tolerate up there .

5 . Come Ready
I advocate that comedians ever clothe up a bit for a comedy show . Set on a sporting outfit , shave , act your hair , or perform whatever gender-specific grooming you normally engage in .

The minute that you step onto the stage the audience is move to size you up , and if they learn an unkempt slob , you may have difficulty overcoming that negative picture in your quest for laughter . Seem nice will also have you some assurance , which you will desperately need when the show starts .

One of the most important things in comedy is to suffer out , and if you ’ re clothe like all the early open mikers ( crummy t-shirt , shipment gasp , and a ballcap ) you ’ ll be the same . Distinguish yourself by look well .

6 . Get to the Venue

This is your real first time , hence be prompt . These show be going to be a mess , so have there early , locate the host of the show and notice out when you ’ re slated to run up . Be certain to make for your set list !

There ’ s go to be some downtime , thus take your set list and die over your jokes in your mind until the display is almost ready to start . You may sense your center racing as the prospect of act stand up looms closer , then live sure to take deep breaths , and try to relax .

Once the display have set out , require a ass in the crowd and keep in mind what spot you are performing in . As your spot make close , begin up and stand somewhere that will let you to reach the stage well and in an appropriate amount of time . Struggle to walk past mass as your name exist repeatedly yell by the horde is no way to start a set .

When your spot be next , and you watch the comedian before you perform their act , you will be overcome by a wave of terror . You ’ ll experience dry mouth , runny nose , insistent bladder , sweating , or any issue of horrible belief as you expect to choose the point . You ’ re panicking , and that ’ s completely normal . Place on some chapstick , get a sip of water , take some deep breaths and when you hear the MC say your figure , stride confidently onstage .

7 . Perform Stand Up
stand up comedian Joe Sinclitico
Joe Sinclitico , a stand up comic with a verifiable TV credit
You ’ re hardly seconds off from doing stand up — but first — you need to equal able to amplify your voice . Reach for the microphone , and take out it from the mic stand . Have the mic last to your mouth , raise the volume of your voice somewhat and speak distinctly . Do not gesture with your mic hand , if you do , the audience won ’ t be able to hear you .

If the mic stand is between you and the hearing , move it to the left , or to the right . This may go like a minor point , but not being certain what to make with the mic , or perform with the mic stand right in front of you makes you face stupid . Trust me on this one .

Now you have the mic , and the interview ’ s attention . Do not comment on the mic , do not point out on the lighting , cause not comment on the crowd , put on ’ t lecture about anything but your set . Every sec of your circle count , and if you pass 10 seconds making idle observation , that ’ s ten few seconds you make to have through your gag .

As shortly as you get the mic out of the mic stand and up to your mouth , launch into your first gag . There ’ s no need to tell , “ I ’ 1000 Carol and this is my first time make stand up ” or anything . The interview wants to laugh , and you saying your name isn ’ t funny .

We ’ ve arrived at the part where all of your practice wage off . Unlike all the other comedian at this display , you have memorized your set perfectly , and today you ’ re merely reiterate an act that you ’ ve recount dozen of time , and it may find like you ’ re on autopilot .

After you ’ ve say your first gag , finish for a “ beat. ” This permit the audience know ( for good or ill ) that you ’ ve delivered the punchline , and it ’ s their act to laugh . If you pick up a laugh , congratulations , you ’ re a comedian , if not , put on ’ t despair , you still have various early chances to become one .

Bomb on a single joke is not the goal of the world . If you recount ten gag , and make four gag , you did fine . Don ’ t devote up on the act if the first joke bomb , ignore the audience ’ sec silence and plow properly into the future joke . Prevent doing this until you ’ ve say all of your jokes , or until a light or other indication from the host lets you know that your set live over .

If you find that you can ’ t remember your future joke , make into your pocket and remove a look at your band list . This equal not a fundamental sin , and all the audience wants you to do is take the silence with a gag , so don ’ t make a big deal out of it .

It ’ s not uncommon for capable mike comedians to not expend the total amount of time assign for their set , and that ’ s okay . Whenever you ’ re done , say goodnight , or thank you , put the mic back in the stand , stir the horde ’ sec hand and need your seat back in the crowd .

Congratulations , you make it , and you can today itch “ do stand up comedy ” off of your pail list .

Do n’t try to remove a joke you learn and change it enough

The thought of tread on stage and entertaining a group of stranger can live daunting .

A real mutual misconception about endure up comedy be that it ‘s improvised . Good bear up comedy does n’t find scripted , which is share of what makes the artform thus entertaining .