Becoming a Stand-Up Comedian: Writing Material for Stage

An Overview to Help You Begin Your Comedy Writing Career

The key thing to remember when writing standup material is that there is no formula, no rules, and no shortcuts. While the majority of comedians use similar structures, comedians as diverse as Mitch Hedberg and Richard Pryor have used unorthodox styles with impressive results. So, the most important thing to remember in comedy is to do what you think is funny. If it works, great; if it doesn't, play with it, tinker with it, change it or even junk it. But you have to be yourself, in your act and your material.

There are certain guidelines, tips and tricks to help you write new material and improving existing material. This format is far too short to cover those in detail (please see the list of recommended books for this topic - I highly recommend Judy Carter's The Comedy Bible and her associated website), but we can cover the basics of joke writing, and some of the common mistakes new writers make with their material.

Where Does Funny Come From?

Honestly, who knows? Johnny Carson was most famous for his reaction to jokes that fell flat -- jokes written by a tremendously talented stable of writers who were sure that his monologue jokes were funny. And they were wrong. Sociologists comedians, writers, and everyone else have analyzed humor ad nauseum -- and made little progress.

In standup terms, one important thing to remember is that "funny" comes from "serious". Lenny Bruce attacked racism and the Catholic Church (among many, many other targets); George Carlin tackled television censors and war; and one of Richard Pryor's most famous bits discussed the time he nearly burned to death. Even jokes about marriage, travel, money and other common subjects discuss serious, often mundane subjects. A funny story about your crazy friend after twelve shots of whiskey isn't a joke (and probably won't even be funny on stage). Write material based on life, society, and the troubles we all face.

The Setup and The Punchline