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SIMPLE WEIRD WRITING EXERCISE

Posted on July 21, 2013 at 11:52 AM

comments (29)

A fun exercise in creativity is what I call writing weird.

Simply write down some weird things.

(dress weird while you do it if you want) go for the eccentric, flaky.

Have fun and write weirdness, oddity, bizarre, you don't have to make sense and you don't have to go for a joke or laughs. Go for different!

Take a topic you already have and run it thru your weird state as I call it. See what happens and let me know. Betcha create the funny in something! ;)

STAND-UP, WHAT IT IS, REALIZATIONS & STUFF.

Posted on July 19, 2013 at 12:17 PM

comments (5)

Sometimes it's about the challenge, the difficulty, the impossibility of it all. It's about providing for yourself an opportunity to do something nobody has ever done before. It's about being the first to say or express something and realizing that it is an immense responsibility with an awesome payoff. A roar of laughter from a crowd...the applause... the appreciation, affection and adulation, no question a very addictive process. A process that keeps you even through the nights where something goes wrong, the audience doesn't give you what you need or you were simply off your game.

Perhaps a realization has set in?... in that it's all temporary and it's all part of what you have to do. Each show you have to earn it and that is the way it is.

It is getting to the point where you can say,

'I don't just do standup'...I AM standup! ;)*

*I am reminded of my bud Jordan Brady's film "I Am Comic"! If you haven't seen it I highly recommend it!

NEVER UNDERESTIMATE THE POWER OF THE RANT!

Posted on July 16, 2013 at 12:29 PM

comments (3)

.~Don't you agree that there's nothing more emotionally satisfying sometimes then to go off on something!? Just be irrational, passionate, borderline offensive??

To me it seems so soulfully human to get fed up with something or about something and so want to vent your frustrations outwardly thru physical actions, sounds and of course speech.The speech itself is more of an utterance of exhaustive pain, expressions and a few sentences, sometimes even just a few strained syllables. Now that's an emotional rant!...and ever so often fertile soil for ....comedy!

Try it. You've heard you need stage time? For a good rant you'll need a little page time! Just pour it out...remember that comedy is image and bullet points. That's how you write a rant...let the editor go and allow the thoughts and emotions to flow. ;) I'm betting you'll get some usable material....or arrested if you do this at Starbucks...but that's a personal story! Go rant and see what I mean.

Perform better standup instantly!

Posted on May 29, 2013 at 12:19 PM

comments (15)

Warning: new font ahead!! (Relax!...it's my usual one anyway)

(A simple thing you can do to improve your standup immediately)

Stop using notes on stage. When you take your notebook on stage and refer to it you disconnect with the audience every time. It becomes a support and you will go to it even when there is no need. Begin to improve your memory by using it. No notes on stage means you're serious about your standup. Ah that WAS simple eh?

Serve the Punch line.

Posted on May 27, 2013 at 3:28 PM

comments (3)

Great stand-ups instinctively know when and how to drop punch lines. It's just part of what they do, like breathing...hitting the punch with born in timing that is beautiful to experience. They also know attitude, character and have plenty of it...but they respect punch lines plain and simple.

Stand-up would have never become an art form without the precious punch line. Repeat after me, it's not about the setup- it's about the punch line...otherwise it's some sort of meandering boring poetry. Setups serve the punch line. Why? Because in standup comedy EVERYTHING serves the punch line.

Here is a short lesson in standup. Get to the point make that point funny and then repeat. Every point needs a subject, every subject needs a punch line.

Everything a comedian does on stage should serve the punch line. (see Rodney Dangerfield). His clothing, his moves, actions, reactions, facial expressions right down to catch phrases from Rodney served his punch line. In Dangerfield's case many times punch lines served other punch lines!