For example, common stand-up comedy topics include dating, marriage, and children. Carry a notebook with you wherever you go so you can write down ideas as you get them. Stay current with the news so you can use topical humor in your jokes. Don’t tell yourself any ideas are too stupid or not funny enough while you’re brainstorming since they may be funny when you try them out with an audience. You may also get new ideas that built on the topic you don’t think is funny.
For example, if you want to write a joke about internet dating, you may include jokes about how you’re constantly changing your personal information because it never feels good enough. Include any and all the ideas you get while you make your list. You don’t know if an idea is bad until you try it out.
For example, if your topic is about going to the movies, your set-up may be, “I love seeing movies in the theater, but I hate people going to the movies. . . besides me. ” Write a few different set-ups for your jokes to see what works and what doesn’t. String related topics together. If your main joke is about going to a movie, you may start with smaller jokes about getting concessions or annoying people in the theater to build up to your punchline.
At the end of your punchline, your joke should only be about 250 words. Try writing one-liners to practice set-up and punchline in the same sentence. An example of a one-liner could be, “I probably won’t eat soup when I live in Arizona, unless it’s a little chili. ”
For example, you may tell a joke about an experience you had with a ghost and then your next joke could be about ghost-hunting TV shows. Mix up the order of your jokes to see what other options you can try. Try including a one-liner in between jokes that you can use to transition between topics.
Pretend there’s an audience in the room while you record so you present as if you were on stage.
Each joke should last between 90 seconds to 2 minutes long, but there are no official guidelines on how your jokes are structured. Try writing your joke in 250 words, and then edit it down to 100 words. Keep editing it down until it only uses 50 words. This can help you filter your joke to the bare essentials.
Listen to how other comedians tell their jokes to get an idea of how to structure your sentence. Think of writing a joke like writing a song by developing a rhythm for your material. Pay attention to how the words flow together to determine whether it sounds too abrupt.
Record your performance to see where your friends and family laughed and where they didn’t. Make edits to your material to try and make it more humorous. Practicing a few times in front of people you know can help you overcome stage fright when performing in front of your audience.
Find a comedy club that’s near you that has a good crowd and frequent open mic nights to establish as a “home base” where you can try out material regularly. You may need to try out a few different clubs to find one that works for you.
Record the audio and video if you can so you can also watch your stage presence.
Don’t be afraid to laugh at your own jokes a little when you tell them. Aim to speak at around 100 words per minute to stay engaging and tell your joke clearly.
Never insult audience members or else you may come across as mean and unappreciative. Use small statements like, “Well that didn’t go so well,” to poke fun at yourself when a joke doesn’t land. The audience will usually laugh to ease any tension.
For example, you could say, “I’m John Smith and thank you! You’ve been a great audience!”
