Developing a Process
This was in response to a question about how I prepared and my method when I first got started doing Stand-up.
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I’m going to write a lot here, some of which may work for you, some of which may not. Obviously everyone is different, but these are the things that I’ve found that help me produce and develop, so I hope you won’t think I’m saying it’s the only way or anything like that.
Before I started doing stand up I prepped for about a month. This let me write a decent amount of material and then cut out a lot of it since comedy is, like anything else, a numbers game; the more times you take aim and shoot the more times you’re gonna hit. It also gave me time to memorize the jokes I decided on and ingrain them so that I didn’t just lose my shit in front of people the first time I did it. I also read up on and read/listened to interviews with a lot of my favorite comedians beforehand, just so I could try to form realistic expectations.
The first time I did it maybe half or a little more than half of my jokes worked. A bunch didn’t, but overall I regarded that as a big success. Crafting a set is about constantly editing, cutting out and replacing material that doesn’t work or is weak with stronger material is in some senses the hardest part, since at first you’re just going to focus so much on keeping it together onstage that it’s hard to also observe yourself and edit. This is why I highly recommend you get a little audio recorder and tape all your sets in some way or another, it keeps you honest, especially when things are kind of working and it’s easy to misremember. Even if nothing works the first time that shouldn’t discourage you. If still nothing is ever working 6 months later, then maybe reevaluate.
Ok, on to the looooong advice section… I hope you make it through and it helps.
1.
Always always always carry a pen and pad. When you think of something, write it down. Apologize to people if you have to, but write it down or you will forget. I recommend something that fits in your pocket and not too high end or expensive, because hopefully you will be filling it up often enough that that is not cost-effective (I started out with moleskein but quickly just moved to little spiral pads because I was spending too damn much).
2.
If people ask you to tell them your jokes, tell them that that’s like going up to a singer-songwriter and asking him to hum one of his songs (because they would be like “nah I don’t like the sound of that humming, I’m not going to go to one of your shows). The same is true of comedy. The jokes you tell on the streets are not the same as the ones you would prepare for a show. 9 times out of 10 people won’t enjoy the joke or laugh (they will be too busy judging to actually enjoy it. Psychological studies show that people rate things as less funny if they are in in an evaluative mindset as opposed to just an intaking mindset) so unless it’s a friend that you trust, don’t bother (and even then, don’t throw out a joke just because a friend didn’t like it. Different things work for individuals than crowds). If someone really presses, still don’t do it. To avoid offending them, invite them to come see one of your sets so that they get the full effect. This is a great opportunity to invite people to come see you perform.
3.
Find a writing style that works for you. Because I do stuff like Steven Wright or Demetri or Zach, with just a few words to a joke, it’s less conversational and the words have to be just so. I try to do a lot of sit-down writing sessions in cafes where I don’t have the internet to distract me (sometimes I’ll do word puzzles or redefine words in a dictionary or something to get myself into the interpretive mindset, this is stuff I learned from an interview with Demetri). Other people just come up with a general idea and mostly write on stage as they go. This is good for some people, but for a lot of people it is a manifestation of laziness. Since I’ve been really busy at work, my jokes more recently have been longer and more conversational. This isn’t inherently better or worse, it’s just different. I still try to get in at least one or two marathon writing sessions a week. Seriously though, get out of you house to write. Comedy is like a filter, you need to take stuff in, ideas images, words, interactions, and synthesize it with your personal filter, which you will develop over time (as I am in the process of doing myself). When you are at home, you will see the same things you always see and so your brain will automatically filter things out, it’s like autopilot because it knows the environment. When you go to new places your brain automatically has to work at understanding and intaking new stimuli, so you are more likely to notice small truths that would otherwise pass you by. Also writing right before bed or right after waking up can help, these are times when you are less attached to the standard world and more in your own, free-associative, personal world, and so you’re more likely to get things that are unique at these times.
4.
Get enough sleep. If possible, no less than 8 hours a night. Some people are more or less sensitive to this, but for me to do the kind of free-associative writing that I like to do, it works so much better if I’m well-rested. Caffeine helps too but it’s no substitute for enough sleep. When I get enough sleep I am SO much more productive and I make intuitive leaps I would never make otherwise. When you sleep your brain takes things that are vastly different and makes intuitive connections between them in ways that are very hard to achieve through conventional logical processes (it’s a bit similar to lateral thinking exercises). Metaphor and re-framing are facilitated so much by sleep and they are huge parts of comedy. There was a good radiolab (an amazing show out of WNYC) on sleep, check out the podcast of it at: http://www.wnyc.org/shows/radiolab/episodes/2007/05/25
By the way, this is something I have to constantly remind myself of, especially if I feel like I haven’t written enough in a day and want to stay up late to write or something. I rarely sleep enough, but I notice a huge difference when I do.
5.
Something that can also help with writing is listening to someone’s comedy for a while before working. Not while driving or anything but just listening intently or while walking or something, focusing on it. It’s just another way of kicking your brain into “joke” mode. Over time you’ll sense patterns and learn things about joke-writing even if you’re not analyzing it rigorously (though I also recommend that). A lot of people disagree with me on this, but I think it’s good to try to write in other peoples’ styles so long as you don’t straight up copy and you try to be influenced by a lot of people and not just one or two, so that instead of sounding like any one of them you are synthesizing it into a new voice that is your own. This is the difference between an evolution and revolution view of development. Some people think that for someone to be good it has to be unlike anything that came before (revolution mindset), but I think this is naive. Whether we know it or not we’re all standing on the shoulders of those who came before us, and if you get into comedy it’s because you like a style that someone is doing and you believe you can take that and develop on it and create something newer and maybe even better than that eventually (evolution mindset). This is also why I try to read lots of material on comedy. I really liked the book “Mathemtics and Humor” http://www.amazon.com/Mathematics-Humor-Study-Logic/dp/0226650251 and I’m really currently enjoying this textbook “The Psychology of Humor” http://www.amazon.com/Psychology-Humor-Integrative-Approach/dp/012372564X/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1210358674&sr=1-1
They are hard to read and may not always apply directly, but there are indirect lessons you learn just by consuming them just like you would from listening to different comics. This is also why I’m currently taking an improv class.
6.
Experiment. Push yourself, keep trying different things. If you start getting comfortable that’s good but that’s also a sign that you should be pushing yourself more. Try different types of jokes and different structures. Yes you are aiming at a goal, a product, but if you really want it to work you need to develop a strong process. Some things won’t work, some will but as long as you can learn from it then it isn’t a failure. Too many people try once or twice and then say “eh, if it didn’t work now it’s never going to.” This is dumb. Comedy is by nature experimental and the more you focus on process the better the eventual product will become. It’s not something you can get good at over night or even over the course of a few months or a year. Great comics have been doing it for years and they didn’t start out great, it takes a long time and you have to find a process you can believe in and enjoy because at some point (many points really) you will hit a wall, or something won’t turn out as you’d hoped and at that point if you don’t enjoy the process, or if you can’t believe in the process, you’re not going to have the motivation or desire to get through it.
7.
Lastly, set goals both short and long term. It doesn’t matter if they’re arbitrary, so long as you force yourself to meet them. I do the joke a day in a public format because it helps force me to produce on a regular basis and helps me see patterns in my work and try different things out. I write the little info with each joke so that I can reflect on the process because these are all different styles of learning. The best way to learn is of course to just do, but it’s also helpful to read other peoples’ work and introspect
I know this probably sounds like a lot more hassle and work than comedy ‘feels’ like it should be, and it is work, it is difficult, but I really love the work of it, so it doesn’t feel like work, you know? I love sitting around and thinking of jokes and making wry observations and always carrying my pen and pad on me so I can make notes at any time. It makes me feel more alive and aware when I am actively filtering the world through my comic filter. There are parts I don’t love, but on the whole I enjoy working on comedy about a million times more than I enjoy my day job, so for me it’s what I want to do professionally, and I’m trying to develop an ethic that will help me achieve that.
