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50 Stand-Up Comedy Tips

Jared Volle

Want to learn how to become a professional comedian? Here are 50 time-tested stand-up
comedy tips that will help you build a solid career in comedy. While there are hundreds of
comedy tips to choose from, applying these 50 stand-up comedy tips are going to help you at
every level of your comedy career. Whether you’re an aspiring comedian with stage fright or
you’re getting paid gigs, these comedy tips can still take you to the next level.

Below are 50 of the best tips for becoming a comedian:

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TIPS FOR WRITING STAND-UP COMEDY

Don’t attempt to both write and analyze your material at the
same time
When you try to analyze how funny your writing is while simultaneously trying to write you’ll end
up frustrated. This will give comedians writer’s block every time. Break writing down into writing
for quantity (getting words, ideas, and joke premises on the page) and writing for quality
(revising your material until it gets the laugh you want).

Pick a Point of View

Comedians that don’t have a defined point of view aren’t interesting to audience members.
They’re just talking about “stuff”. Don’t be afraid to find your authentic point of view and stand
behind it. Even if it’s wrong the audience will get a good laugh at how ridiculous it is. More likely
than not, the audience will identify with your crazy reaction to a situation and you’ll end up
creating rapport with the audience and getting some huge laughs at the same time. Learn more
about comedian point of view here.

Write every day

Don’t just write when you feel like it. Either have a set time to write every day or decide that,
whatever happens, you’ll find time to spend at least 10 minutes writing… even if nothing great
comes out of it. Writing every day gives you’re ideas time to develop between writing sessions.
When you get back to writing the next day, you’ll have more ideas to work with.

Allow ideas to evolve

You best material isn’t going to be written the first time through. Usually, comedians will write a
joke that gets the main idea of the joke across to the audience and test it out. From there, they
repeatedly revise and test their joke out until they find the best way of writing and delivering a
line. Many comedians do this 20, 30, or 50 times before settling on the final form of the joke.

Get into flow

Creative flow only happens when you stop constantly checking yourself. When you’re in a
creative mood, don’t stop it by questioning yourself. Just let it flow. Write as much down as
possible. If you begin analyzing your comedy writing too early you break the flow. It’s like
attempting to run a marathon and turning around every 15 seconds to see how well you’re
doing. You can always analyze, so stay in flow while you have it.
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Learn the mechanics of writing comedy

There are many principles of writing and performing stand-up comedy. Stand-up comedy has
been around a long time and the comedians that have gone before you have figured a thing or
two out. Don’t try to build an entire career by trial-and-error. Learn what works and what doesn’t
early on and then apply those rules. You can always break them later. We teach all of these
principles in our Faster & Funnier stand-up comedy course.

Don’t just use one writing strategy

There’s a lot of comedy teachers that make writing comedy sound simple (i.e. “All you do is step
one, two, and three… then repeat). Problem is, if you use any kind of a system to write material
the audience is going to figure it out REAL quick (good luck building a 45 minute set). Instead,
learn the principles of those systems and ditch the system as quickly as possible. Using the
same strategy as everyone else will get you the same results as everyone else (stuck doing
open mics for eternity).

Continually switch around material to create a stronger, more

consistent set
Each joke within your set doesn’t stand alone. Some jokes work best paired with others or
further away from others. Continually switch around the order of your jokes to find the right
sequence. Usually, this means creating “bits.” Think of jokes as paragraphs in a book, bits as
chapters, and your set as the whole book. Each bit has a common theme that makes it go well
with other jokes. Continually restructure the order to find the best sequence.

Don’t worry about spelling or grammar when writing

Stand-up comedy is spoken, not written. The audience doesn’t care if you didn’t spell a word
correctly cause they’ll never know. However, countless time comedians will think of a great joke,
begin writing the setup line down, see that they didn’t spell something correctly, go back and
change the spelling, and then… forget what the hell the joke was. Spelling can wait. I joke that
isn’t captured on paper may never be seen again.

Don’t steal material

This will get you instantly banned from the stand-up comedy community. What’s scary here is
that no comedian is going to come up to you and tell you they know you stole a joke… they’ll
either quietly decide to never work with you or they’ll talk behind your back. Either way, you
lose. It’s not worth killing on an open mic and burning bridges you’ll need later in your career.
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Comedy is about self-expression

Don’t sit down at your computer and try to “think up jokes.” You’ll be very frustrated when
nothing good come to you. Instead, use your writing time to express yourself. Talk about your
frustrations, your ex-girlfriend… whatever. Comedy gets it’s power from the audience’s ability to
identify with you and your material. When you don’t express yourself, you’re just saying words
on a stage. Here is an article all about how to use self-expression in stand-up comedy.

Don’t require perfection

If you require perfection when you write comedy you’ll end up loathing your writing time. Until
you get a joke on stage you’ll never know whether it’s funny or not. Even famous comedians
test out their material. If you’re doing a joke that’s new then, by its very definition, you don’t
know what’s going to happen. Accept that perfection is impossible and instead strive for
excellence.
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TIPS FOR PERFORMING STAND-UP COMEDY

Don’t memorize every word of your performance

If you memorize every word in your performance you’ll end up very mechanical on stage. Two
things will happen. First, you’ll lose all feeling in your material. You’ll know longer feel authentic
to the audience. Instead, the audience will feel like you’re talking AT them instead of TO them.
You don’t naturally memorize words when you talk to your friends ,you just do it. Second, you’re
going to forget where you were at. The first thing that breaks your concentration will derail you
and, since all you know are a string of words, you’ll be unable to remember which word you
were on… the whole thing is going to fall apart. Instead, memorize what you want to talk about
and then simply talk about it. Click here for a guide on preparing for your first comedy
performance.

Focus on what you want to tell the audience, not on yourself

When you focus on yourself you get stage fright. When you focus on the audience you feel
passion for what you’re saying. The brain is wired to think of only one thing at a time. When your
focus is completely on the audience you’ll forget yourself and sink into the moment. You’ll begin
enjoying comedy more than you ever have. There’s no room for stage fright. Also, when you
concentrate on the audience, the audience is going to feel that. They’ll feel that you’re being
authentic. When you care about them, they’re going to care about you.

Talk TO the audience, not AT them

Break down the 4th wall. You’re not on television. You’re live. Talk to the audience as if they’re
actually there. When you talk TO the audience you’ll come off far more authentic and the
audience is going to respond to you more positively. When comedians launch directly into
memorized material it signals to audience members that they’re just on stage “saying words.”
There’s no connection there. The audience is going to stop paying attention.

Perform several times a week

The more time you spend on stage the more success you’ll have. Performing frequently allows
you to test out the ideas you had while writing much faster. If you’re going to rewrite a joke 50
times before settling on the perfect one, you might want to perform more than once a week. Not
only does it help you revise your material, but it helps you develop stage comfort as well.
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Find a home venue

A home venue is a show that you feel very comfortable performing on. When you perform on
new shows you never know what the audience is going to be like. Having a “home base” gives
you a place where you can take chances, try new jokes out, or learn how to interact with
audience members. After you’ve had a few good shows at that venue, you don’t really have
anything left to prove to the audience or fellow comedians. You can relax and be more creative.

Create a set list

A set list is a piece of paper that goes in your pocket (or sometimes on the stool) while you’re on
stage that reminds you of what subjects you want to talk about. While certainly not necessary,
for new comedians it is comforting to know that if you forget what you wanted to talk about that
you have a back-up. Only write one or two words per subject on your set list. If you try to write
the entire joke out you’ll end up reading the joke to the audience.

Just because you get a laugh doesn’t mean you’re “done”

Getting a laugh doesn’t mean you have a finished joke. It means you have the basis for a joke.
After a joke gets a laugh your job is to figure out how to maximize the laughter for the next
audience by revising the joke. Try taking out words that aren’t necessary or adding other words/
phrases in. Test. Test. Test.

Don’t pick on audience members

There are audience members out there that are scared to death of a comedian talking to them.
If you pick on one of them the audience is going to empathize with them. If the audience
perceives you as being mean to an audience member they’ll turn on you for being a jerk. That
said, keeping it lighthearted is a great way of building rapport with the audience.

Balance writing and performing

Comedians are most effective when they balance their writing and performing time. Writing for
20 hours for every show you perform on is going to waste a lot of your time. You’ll find that ideas
you spent a lot of time on aren’t what the audience wants to hear. Instead, spend time writing
and get it on stage as soon as possible. That way you’re next writing session will be even
better… which makes your next performance even better… and on and on.
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Don’t take it out on the audience. It’s not their fault nobody
showed up.
We get it. You spent a LONG time writing and practicing and now you show up to an open mic
and there’s only 3 people sitting in the audience. Frustrating. That’s why comedians don’t put all
their hopes and dreams on a single show. For successful comedians, it’s about hitting 2-5
shows a night. They don’t get mad because there’s another show right around the corner. When
you get mad that the audience isn’t big enough you’re going to phone it in. When that happens,
you might as well have stayed home. You’re not going to learn whether a joke actually works
because you won’t tell it correctly. You’ll also miss the opportunity to work on crowd-work (a skill
that will be HUGE later on in your career).

Open mics are for training. Use them to learn your craft
Aspiring comedians tend to think that open mics are a place where everyone spends hours and
hours before the show making sure everything is perfect. Not true in the least. Open mics are
for learning your craft. That’s it. If the audience didn’t pay to see you perform than you don’t owe
them anything. This might sound selfish, but it actually makes for a much better performance.
Instead of doing the same jokes you’ll end up stretching yourself and possibly writing new
material off-the-cuff.

Don’t speak formally

Throughout school you’ve been taught to write very formally. You were taught to write complete
sentences, to use introductions and conclusions, etc. But that’s not how people communicate in
everyday life. When you talk to a friend you’ll say only half a though and pause. You’ll use
informal words. You’ll gesture. This is what people are accustomed to when communicating.
When you get on stage and speak as if you’re on a school debate team it comes out awkward
and inauthentic. Listen to how you and others around you naturally speak. Your performances
should mimic it.
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TIPS FOR MARKETING YOUR STAND-UP COMEDY

Get good. Then get seen

Job #1 is to get to the point where you can consistently go out and get laughs on stage. If you’re
hit-or-miss with your performances, you’re not ready to market yourself. Take the time to
develop a solid set and get some stage time under your belt. Don’t burn bridges by performing
on shows that are above your experience level. Bombing an open mic is no big deal. Bombing a
show that people paid money to see (i.e. a showcase) is a big deal. You can be sure that that
booker isn’t going to want anything to do with you again… even if you’ve gotten better since.

Be remarkable
It doesn’t matter what medium you use to market yourself, if you’re not worth talking about
you’re not going to get the YouTube views, the Twitter followers, or whatever. It goes back to
“Get good. Then get seen.” But being remarkable isn’t simply about having high enough quality
material. Just because you get the audience to laugh doesn’t mean that they’re actually going to
remember you long after the show or become a fan of yours. Remarkable is all about becoming
“sticky” in the mind of the audience. The number one way of doing this is by being highly
creative. Here’s more on how to become a more creative comedian:

Be around the scene. Not an outsider

The more often you’re seen by other comedians the more comfortable their going to be around
you. If you’re an outsider than they’ll likely balk at giving you a slot on their show. However, if
they’ve seen you perform several times in the past and like your material, they’ll likely come to
you when they have an opportunity.

Don’t be a jerk
Don’t be a jerk to anyone: fellow comedians, bookers, audience members… anyone. It’ll come
back to bite you every time. The easier you are to work with the more people are going to want
to work with you. That means more gigs and more opportunities for your career.

Network
Networking is the #1 marketing strategy in stand-up comedy. Every one of your paid gigs is
going to be as a result of who you know. A fellow comedian will enjoy your set on an open mic
and invite you to perform on a showcase or a paid gig. A recommendation can get you in the
door of a comedy club much faster than the best video. Network with fellow comedians. Then
use your network.
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Use YouTube effectively

Don’t post every single show on YouTube. In fact, don’t even (publicly) post YouTube videos
until you have a solid set. It’s fine to share them with friends and family privately. But remember,
bookers will find you and do their research. If they want to book you for a big show and the first
video they find of you is your very first performance you’re not going to book it.

Use Social Media

Social media is your friend. Befriend every comedian in your city. Those comedians will often
post which shows they’re performing on, giving you more ideas of what shows you can hit in the
future. It also helps your offline networking. Instead of being a stranger you’ll be someone
they’ve heard of… even if it was just online.

Be professional
There are ghastly stories about hilarious comedians acting out. Each time the booker says the
same thing “they were hilarious, but I can’t book them anymore.” Professional venues actually
rank professionalism above humor. A comedy club would much rather have a B-level comedian
that’ll be at the show on time than an A-lister that forgot to show up. Being professional means
being on time, not being a jerk, and being easy to work with.

Start an open mic in your town to get more stage time

Depending on what city you’re in there might not be many shows to perform on. If that’s the
case, start you own show and book fellow comedians. Not only does having your own show
help you network with other comedians (you now have something valuable that they want), but
you also have a show you can control. You can choose to emcee the show, book yourself in an
ideal spot, or take the night off… the choice is yours. You can even end up earning money.

Be unique
If you want the audience to remember you after the show, give them a reason. The more unique
you are as a comedian the more successful you’re going to be in the long-run. The comedians
that obtain the ultimate success all have one common trait… they were unique. It’s held true
since before comedy was even an industry and will be true long after stand-up comedy
perishes. Audiences love uniqueness. Once you meet a minimum standard of quality,
uniqueness becomes much more important to your success.
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Don’t let your fans grow cold

Once you have a fan, be it a Facebook fan, an email list sign up, or a YouTube subscriber, don’t
let them forget who you are. The fan was excited enough about your material to opt-in. That
means they want to hear from you. If it takes you 6 months to write them an email they’ll
completely forget who you are and mark it as spam. Once they love you, keep them loving you.

Use your network

When you have a network in place, start using it to get yourself booked. That means asking
your friends to book you on their shows, not just passively waiting for them to ask you. If their
show is any good they likely have tons of great comics that are continually asking them for
spots. It’s not that they won’t give you one, it’s that they’re busy juggling everyone else.
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TIPS FOR BECOMING A SUCCESSFUL COMEDIAN

Being funny is a requirement to get INTO comedy, not an

advantage
As a comedy teacher, I’ve heard again and again about how “naturally funny” my students are.
Here’s the cold hard fact… everyone in stand-up comedy is funny. That’s why they chose this
industry in the first place. Nobody has ever said “I’m not funny at all. I’ll be a comedian.” It’s like
assuming that you’ll be a successful entrepreneur because you have a business license. It’s a
requirement to start. Sure, some people are funnier than others, but don’t rest on your natural
sense of humor. Nurture it by studying comedy and applying what you’ve learned.

Learn your craft

Learn stand-up comedy inside and out. Don’t settle for trial-and-error. No matter what level
you’re at, there’s always something to learn. The most successful comedians are those that
don’t rest on their laurels. Search for every opportunity to learn more about what creates
success in stand-up comedy.

Fail fast
Becoming proficient at stand-up comedy requires some trial-and-error (yes, even if you study).
Learn these lessons as fast as possible by getting stage time. It makes no sense to perform
once a month and expect your career to take off. Get on stage and try out new jokes. Try new
delivery styles. Throw everything against the wall and see what sticks.

Don’t move to a major market just because

You don’t have to be in Los Angeles or New York to be discovered (see “Get good. Then get
seen). Far too often new comedians will move to these cities in hopes that they’ll soon be
discovered (very soon, cause rent is usually horrific). Instead, they find that there are TONS of
comedians doing the same thing and it’s difficult to actually stand out. Hone your craft in your
own city and move only when people keep asking you why you’re staying.

Take a comedy class

Comedy classes are excellent ways of learning the mechanics of comedy. What’s so valuable
about a comedy class is that they’ll teach you things you never even thought to ask. Comedy
teachers and comedy coaches excel at taking new comedians and teaching them many of the
tools and strategies they’ll need for success. Learn more about our stand-up comedy courses.
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Learn from people that are where you want to be

The people that are ahead of you in this industry are there for one reason: they are doing
something right. If you learn what it is you can duplicate it in your own career and obtain similar
success. Look at how these comedians write material, deliver it, and market themselves. These
will provide invaluable insight into how to do it yourself.

Look at the big picture

Comedy isn’t an industry that you can simply put your head down and expect to get promoted
regularly. There’s no single path to success. In a normal job you can show up to work for years
and get promotions. Not so in comedy. To get ahead in stand-up comedy you’ll have to look at
the big picture. If you get lost in details you’ll end up spending all your time writing joke after
joke and never getting anywhere. Take time out and look at your current career trajectory.

Be cautious if you want to be a dirty comic

There’s nothing wrong with being a dirty comic. However, it will limit your ability to book some
shows. Some of the highest paid gigs in comedy are corporate gigs. And guess what, they don’t
hire dirty comics. They want clean, family-friendly entertainment… and they’re willing to pay
through the nose to get it. Keep this in mind when deciding whether to write 20 minutes about
having drunk sex.

Don’t be a look-a-like
The world already has a Chris Rock and a Jerry Seinfeld. They don’t need another one. If you’re
a look-a-like, the best you can hope for (even if you work REALLY hard) is to be seen as a
wanna-be. That said, you gotta start somewhere. That somewhere is likely going to be similar to
a comedian you love. That’s ok. Learn your lessons and then move forward into your own
persona. Click here for an article on comedian originality.

Don’t get caught up in strategies. Work on yourself.

Too often comedians want to know what action they should take to market themselves or how
other comedians write their comedy. As if there’s simply one single action that can make all their
problems go away. Are you underutilizing YouTube for marketing? Who cares? Cause that’s
probably not the only thing stopping you from doing a set on the Tonight Show. You should find
every strategy you can but at the same time realize that they’re just strategies. Who’s doing the
strategy is far more important.
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Benchmark comedians that are ahead of you

Look at the comedians that are where you want to be and begin comparing your career to
theirs. Sure, this might create a little dissatisfaction at first, but it will pull you in the direction you
want to go. You job then becomes to simply close the gap by taking consistent actions. When
you benchmark comedians that are killing it, you’ll no longer be satisfied with getting a couple of
laughs on stage. You’re going to bring your game to a whole new level. Learn more about
benchmarking in stand-up comedy.

Work ethic applies to comedy too

Seinfeld is one of the greatest comedians of all time because he has worked at it. He studied
comedy more than anyone else. He got on stage more than anyone else. He spend more time
writing than anyone else. How many “naturally funny” comedians do you think you blew right by
in his career? A ton of them. Natural talent is good. Natural talent and work ethic is unstoppable.

Study the masters

The great thing about the “masters” is how many YouTube videos you can find of them. Watch
their comedy and analyze it. Break it apart and understand what they’re doing and how they’re
doing it. Then apply those principles to your own comedy writing, performing, and marketing.

Be OK with lag time. It won’t happen overnight

Even with Seinfeld’s great work ethic, he didn’t become famous overnight. Any time you want to
master anything there’s going to be lag time. Consistently studying and applying what you
learned will pay off… every time.

That’s it for these quick stand-up comedy tips. If you’re a new comedian, make check out how
Faster & Funnier can super-charge your comedy career.

Jared Volle

CreativeStandUp.com