Funny Stories
Comedy is hard. I have been a stand up comic for nearly five years now and I admit the road has been far from easy. In fact, it’s one of the most difficult things I’ve undertaken in my life. To some, stand-up seems easy enough. Come up with some jokes and use them to make an audience laugh. To others, telling jokes on a stage with a spotlight on you seems like the closest thing to dying. But stand-up is more than just delivering quality jokes or engaging a crowd. Jokes are a critical component, of course, but there are numerous aspects to a quality, comedic performance.
Write
When I first started comedy, I learned very quickly that writing was a critical part of the trade. If I wasn’t writing consistently, my jokes wouldn’t hit. As much much as people think of comedy as a performance, the foundation is in the writing. And it’s not just writing one joke. It’s writing a bit, taking it up, redrafting it, performing, adding to it, trying it again, reworking it until eventually you have something you’re happy with.
When I hear people use the word “grind” I often think of the joke writing process. It’s a grind writing quality material. You have to identify and remove anything surrounding the joke that doesn’t work until eventually you are either left with something or you’ve ground it all up.
