To Class or Not to Class

by Dan on September 3, 2010

There’s a somewhat predictable backlash burrowing through pro standup against standup classes and workshops, as manifested in both the above vid, and a recent blog entry by Doug Stanhope on his website.

Predictable for lots of reasons.  Standups are structure-averse down in their bones, [click to continue…]

{ 0 comments }

SWT #9: The Over-Build/Scale Back Theory of New Material

by Dan on September 2, 2010

Part of my own personal writer’s apparatus is a form of OCD where I have to fully glean out the potential in a comedy concept.  That means researching it (Wiki, Googlisciousness), finding all its tributaries, [click to continue…]

{ 1 comment }

Super-Evolving a Joke

September 1, 2010

Here’s a concept:  how do you super-evolve a joke?
Some jokes are tidbits, cast-offs, nibbles, a little light giggle, move on.  But standup thrives on the hardcore joke, the joke that has length, heft, power, explosiveness, lastability.

Read the full article →

The Development Gauntlet

August 31, 2010

There is a long and often unexplored expanse in standup, a wasteland through which many fail to trek, a deserted abandoned tract of land that separates the successful from the unsuccessful, the powerful from the weak, the funny from the, well, the unfunny.
It’s the Development Zone.

Read the full article →

The Rewards #1: The Weird Good Feeling of Standup

August 31, 2010

So, why do you do standup comedy?  Doesn’t matter what level you’re at, why do you do it?  What gets first timers striding toward stage at a contest?  Why do local amateurs hit open mikes week after week.? Why do pro comics head back out on the the road year after year?
If you’ve [...]

Read the full article →

Your Hold Backs

August 30, 2010

Here’s something I’ve noticed working with comics:  they punch themselves in the face alot.
By which I mean

Read the full article →

Writing Technique #7: Pre-Soaks

August 29, 2010

So I’m putting together a list of specific “humor creating” techniques used by standups and monologue writers, and one thing that keeps coming up again and again is how important it is for those who work in the humor medium to really understand “pre-soaks”:  topics in every culture that are already bathed and saturated in [...]

Read the full article →

Yeah, Pretty Much

August 28, 2010

Pretty funny, pretty instructive, on comedy careering.  Maybe not quite this in reality, but not far off.

Read the full article →

Ergo, Comedian Ego

August 28, 2010

Here’s the theory:  every human being has some sense of who they are, an “ego” if you will.  An ego is a complicated sense of who you are internally, for real, when you’re alone, inside your head, monitoring your feelings, processing.  It’s your self-awareness,

Read the full article →

Producing a Show

August 26, 2010

Good article by my old Virginia Beach acquaintance, Dan Allen, on self-producing shows.
Summarized, I think, by, uh, it’s quite a bit of work.

Read the full article →

← Previous Entries