THANKS Jared. I've read many books on comedy, studied many videos. Honestly your books, audio programs, and videos have changed my comedy in a matter of weeks. Now everytime i hit the stage i'm an entirely different animal. I'm getting applause breaks, people asking me when i'm performing again, big comedians recommending me ... I've only been doing this 4 months! Thank you so much, i will spread the word.
+Sean Philippe Thanks. I'll be coming out with more creativity training in late March. If you like Faster & Funnier and Creativity For Comedians, the new stuff will blow your mind. I'll be making the big announcement in late March
My favorites have always been autobiographies. They give you a really good feel for what its actually like without trying to push crazy formulas and stuff. Check out Born Standing Up by Steve Martin.
theres no way you were able to do that in 4 months. I've been doing stand up for over a year now.. stand up is one of those things that the only way to get more conditioned as a professional is to keep doing it. 4 months!??!?!? thats insane. any comedian would think you're ludacris if they heard that
This was very helpful, thanks. A lot of it confirmed what I already suspected, and I’ve already incorporated in my fledgling standup, over the past five months. Writing a new set for each month. But it’s good to know. I’m on the right track. Now I just need a lot more stage time. Thanks again.
I have the article open in my phone browser. I never close it, and refer often. Finally watching the video. Has helped me level up in the craft. Thank you.
THANK YOU Jared! My very first on stage open mic went over extremely well, and I had plateaued and actually went backwards with the amount of big laughs I was getting. I wonder where I went wrong, but after watching this video I realized that I took away my uniqueness to focus on my fundamentals and took a different approach to writing my jokes.
How long have you been performing? If you want to go deeper, you can check out Faster & Funnier or Playfully Inappropriate. FNF is better for new comedians, Playfully Inappropriate is great if you're looking to use comedic storytelling. Both have a lot of focus on uniqueness.
Really great stuff. However, still, i cant help but wonder: Is today's comedy world really ready for radical uniqueness? There just seems to be such a focus nowadays on fundaments, that i seriously wonder if a Kauffman or a Martin would be able to get gigs today.
I don't see radical uniqueness as the most important factor anymore. Most of the genres are already set by this point. For me, I see uniqueness as finding your comedic voice and tapping authenticity. It's about finding how YOU want to relate to the audience. That is your uniqueness. From there, comedians need to learn how to be effective within that framework. How similar you are to other comedians will determine how many of the generic rules you can apply to your own style. That's the trade-off that every comedian needs to make. The most radical comedians take a long time to get proficient because they have to build the rules from scratch. But most comedians will find some type of trade-off.
This is a great video man. Have you considered making a video about the social aspect of stand up comedy? How the comics relate to each other. Networking, business and promotion. I find those aspects much more difficult to deal w than the actual performance end of it. Thanks again.
Hi Jared I'm so impressed with your explanations and clarifications. I just want to start my own comedy group, ie, I wanna bring together like 5 comedians train them and start our daily shows in our City. Please advise me on what important things should I focus on before bringing them together?
+kirkland meadows I appreciate your compliment... though I can't take full credit. This video summarizes the research of those that are much smarter than me. I'm only trying to bridge the gap between creativity research and application of my love of stand-up comedy. My comedy career was a constant struggle before I started applying creativity strategies to my writing and performances. Then the whole game changed.
Question! So since you got this figured out, how come I haven't heard of you? Not bashing you or nothing, and i do think you know what are talking about, but just really giving you credit in a sense. I know things dont happen over night, so i may see you or hear of you one day.
I'm a beginner as you know. I'm just past the stage fright stage. I'm barely getting acquainted with what makes funny from the cookie cutter formula of Premise, Setup, punchline. I'm experimenting with my comic voice. I can do it sometimes without writing it out to make the funny. I need a lot of practice. I don't think my perspective is unique.
Understanding the cookie-cutter method is an important first step. This video is about realizing that there's a vast world that lies beyond what's already been done. Even as a new comedian, you want to be staying open to new ideas and experiments. That's what allows your comedy to evolve towards uniqueness. Master the principles of cookie-cutter comedy, but then move beyond it.
If you are not original and yourself in anything in life, then there is no point to even your existence. This is the sad fact of why so many people are miserable and why the entertainment industry has become garbage imo. BTW it is really hard to be unique when you are a young person. Without age and maturity you usually just don't have the life experience to be interesting.
greenguy4u everyone isn’t a creative type. Not everyone needs to be or wants to be original. They just want to be the peg that will fit in the hole they’re placed without commotion
Really good advice, I feel more capable of writing this way. Due to the pandemic all open mics in my area are closed, any advice on what I could do to begin my stand up career in the meantime?
@@DrewVolle Thanks for replying! During this time at home I have been watching comedy specials, listening to podcasts interviewing comedians, reading books, including yours, and I have even started writing some bits. I was ready to go on my first open mic but the pandemic hit and now im stuck:(. What im wondering is how can i get comedy experience during this time. Comedy clubs wont be open for many more months, so no matter how many jokes I write I cant test them in front of a live audience. In your opinion, what should I do?
@@camilomanjarres1903 There's no much you can do if there aren't any stages to get on. I've been working on different projects. It's a good time to write sketches or other forms of comedy that don't require a live audience. It'll still make you a better comedian, since comedy writing in different genres is very similar. You can't get good at writing sketches without also improving your stand-up. It doesn't have to be sketch, but I think sketch is the closest to what would help you improve as a comedian. Personally, I've spent my time learning how to code and designing a video game that I've wanted to produce for a long time. There are tons of opportunities. If there's no stage time, find another one that inspires you.
I did my first gig last weekend in front of an audience of 1. who for the record had smoked weed for her first time ever in Hawaii. It was in the lobby of a hotel. I was completely smashed, and the lobby was empty except for me and this woman. I did a bit about how the universe is 90billion light years wide, and if we spent the next billion years of science learning how to bend space time. It would still be faster than driving. by about the 9th power. She didn't get the joke, but told me after the show she was really engaged, and was probably too high to laugh. I realized I was in the wrong hotel and then checked in to mine. You are welcome.
Thanks for your video! Do these tips actually help a comedian start getting paid? Will a booker look for the comedian if he is unique and has good material? I heard in one of the workshops I took that the only way to make money doing comedy is selling tickets. I also see some other comedians online teaching people how to be more successful how to do this and that... I do want to get better but also make some money from it.
I must add that there are likely people who are the Mozart, Michael Jackson, Da Vinci's of the craft. Born to do it and it is innate. Also not undermining the requirements to be accepted into Hollywood level status.
Mozart was plaining the piano from 3 years old. His father was a composer. Nothing innate about his piano playing. His early works were absolutely awful.