HOW DO I WRITE? PERFORM?

                       Along with many other standup comedy tips.

STANDUP IS MADE UP OF PARTS THAT ARE ALL ASSOCIATED. COMEDY IS MUCH ABOUT ASSOCIATION.

*SETUP/PUNCHLINE (BASIC FORMULA FOR JOKES)

*CHARACTER...IT'S HOW YOU SAY IT....IT DRIVES THE COMEDY

*ATTITUDE...IT'S WHAT YOU MEAN...IT'S THE EMOTION 

*ATTITUDE IS HUMAN GRAVITY...

                      *GIVE THEM ALL OF WHAT YOU GOT?

              IN STANDUP YOU GIVE THEM ALL OF WHAT YOU ARE!

*CHARACTER is necessary because standup is visual, the audience sees you and begins immediately to judge you.

 ...voice, wardrobe, language, and even your stance..you're comedic pose.

TIP: Video yourself and watch for natural stances...and don't be afraid to experiment. Find the right stances. --Body language!

*ATTITUDE is the spice, it's your personal touch, it's where you make the stand in standup! Remember that comedy is emotional.

Attitude is pure emotion! It's your connection to the audience.

                IDEAS, PREMISES, WRITING AND EXPANDING IDEAS

IDEA...that's just it. It's an idea until it triggers an emotion in you. Then when you put yourself into an idea it becomes a premise.

PREMISE is a thought out idea that is personal. The more emotional it is the more the tension and the bigger the punch will slam into the audience.

PUNCHLINE tip: DON'T FORGET TO POP YOUR PUNCHLINES!! Say'em like you mean them! You know they're funny, express them like that!

...the key to expanding a joke into a bit is ASSOCIATION.

Always look for a GROUP that your topic might fit into.

You must first drain the topic you're originally beginning with. This is often done with tangent lists of info about your topic all the while also recording all associated terms, expressions, conjured images that the topic instills in you...etc etc.

Always look for GROUPS that your topic might be part of...example: you might be doing some jokes about your

wife. Your wife is part of a bigger group WOMEN!- Your association with her is RELATIONSHIPS-RELATIVES are attached to both of you.

So you might start off talking about being married, then go to wife, then to women! Bam! You now have a bit that is seamless. According to the topic this might end up being

more than several jokes with tags etc.

Then connecting the series of jokes you write to yet another FEELING...gives you yet another route to jokes. PAIN comes in. CONFUSING? ANGRY? EXHAUST YOU?

                     HOW DO I WRITE AND standup comedy.

~REMEMBER THAT COMEDY WRITING IS FIRST AND FOREMOST CHOOSING THE RIGHT TOPIC! IT MUST STIR EMOTIONS IN YOU.

WRITE DOWN...  IMAGES AND BULLET POINTS!!

...SOMETHING HAS TO HAPPEN IN YOUR JOKE. SOMEBODY HAS TO LOSE OR SOMETHING WEIRD HAS GOT TO GO ON AND IN YOUR OWN WAY THERE HAS TO BE A BEGINNING AND AN ENDING...HOPEFULLY A FUNNY ENDING.

...THERE MIGHT BE A COLLISION OF WORLDS OR TWIST THAT WAS UNSEEN. A TRUTH BECOMES KNOWN.... IT HAS TO BE EMOTIONAL WHAM!... YOU GOT A PUNCHLINE.

~WHAT IS FUNNY? FUNNY IS SURPISE! AND IT NEED ONLY MAKE SENSE FROM THE CORNER OF YOUR EYE. ONCE YOU LOOK STRAIGHT AT IT, IT MAY DISAPPEAR.

what is funny to me?

...SURPRISE AND EMBARASSMENT

...TALK ABOUT WHAT HAS CHANGED. THINGS ARE ALWAYS CHANGING.

....WHAT HAVE YOU ACQUIRED? YOU HAVE GOTTEN SOMETHING NEW LATELY, TALK ABOUT IT.

....OPPOSITES

....THINGS OUT OF PLACE - EXAGGERATION - RIDICULE - IGNORANCE

....COMPARISONS - FORCING A CONNECTION TO TWO UNCONNECTED THINGS

....MIMICING

....CALLBACKS

....MISSED OBSERVATIONS

....LISTING

....MISDIRECTION

WRITE OUT YOUR TOPICS.

DO THEY TELL A STORY? JUDGING BY TOPICS WHAT IS THE RUNNING THEME OF YOUR ACT?

COMEDY IS A BIG 'HOW DO YOU FEEL ABOUT IT' UNIVERSE

...DO THINGS PISS YOU OFF? DO YOU SEE AN ABSURDITY IN SOMETHING? CYNICAL? CONFUSED?

YOU DON'T WANT TO BE ABSTRACT, YOU WANT TO BE CONCRETE. ABSTRACT IS DOGS

CONCRETE IS 'YOUR DOG'!

The audience has to identify with what you're saying. The way they do that in standup is with emotion.

CONCRETE is personal and therefore more emotional.

                                     EXTRA exercises....

*WRITE NEW PUNCHLINES FOR YOUR JOKES YOU ALREADY HAVE PUNCHLINES FOR.

*WRITE TOP 10 LIST (see Letterman)

...writing a top 10 list for your topics will yield you new jokes and expand your thinking.

*WRITING GOOD NEWS BAD NEWS JOKES ARE FUN AND YOU CAN COME UP WITH QUICK PUNCHLINES THIS WAY.

REMEMBER IN YOUR SET YOU HAVE TO HAVE A GOOD OPENING AND A GREAT CLOSING.