Introduction

As a new comedian, you are in a unique situation to have a huge advantage over virtually every other new comedian from this perspective:

You have an easily identifiable and verifiable performance target that you need to reach in order to progress as a comedian.

You can call this the goal because if you cannot closely approach, reach or exceed this goal, you are going nowhere in stand-up comedy.

What can give you a massive advantage over other new comedians is that most are unaware of any sort of objective performance goal or target that they can (and should) work towards in order to progress quickly as a comedian.

If you want to reach any goal, common sense would dictate that you need to know what it is.

As you are probably aware, I like to provide a means of verification whenever I can so that you know that it’s not just me speculating or pontificating about things related to becoming a professional comedian.

With that said, here is the performance target/goal that I am talking about:

To make noteworthy progress as a comedian, you need to be able to generate an average of 18 or more seconds of audience laughter for each performing minute they are on stage – whether it be for 3 minutes or 60 minutes.

And you only need access to YouTube or any other stand-up comedy video or audio by an accomplished comedian to easily verify that they reach or exceed the performance target that I have just described when they deliver their stand-up comedy routines to audiences.

Now that you know the performance goal to shoot for, you actually have an edge over other new comedians if you choose to take advantage of it. I say that because…

Most new comedians tend to be clueless about how to create a tightly structured stand-up comedy routine that capitalizes on ALL of their comedy talent, much less having idea of any sort of performance goal they need to reach to get ahead as a comedian.

So let’s explore this a bit deeper.

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Just The Facts

Every comedian is afforded the exact same 60 seconds every performing minute that they are on stage to generate laughs whether they perform for 3 minutes or 60 minutes.

Stand-up comedy is an audience reactive performing art. A stand-up comedy routine that slays an audience causes the audience to react (laugh or applaud) multiple times in any given performing minute.

Audience laughter generated from delivering a killer stand-up comedy act consumes time in varying increments multiple times in any given performing minute.

Audiences cannot laugh out loud and listen at the same time. Subsequently comedians must afford the appropriate amount of time for an audience to laugh (and/or applaud).

So, to quickly summarize the observable and undeniable facts that I have just presented:

When a comedian is talking the audience is listening. When the audience is laughing (and/or applauding), the comedian is not talking. Both of these activities consume time each performing minute.

Now let’s take a closer look at what is involved with generating an average 18 or more seconds of audience laughter each performing minute. Specifically, I want to cover punchlines since these are what cause laughter to happen during a stand-up comedy performance.

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About Those Punchlines

As a general rule, most professional comedians generate an average of 4-6+ laughs per minute in order to reach the needed average of 18 or more seconds of laughter for each performing minute.

Reaching an average of 18 or more seconds of laughter each performing minute is headliner level stand-up comedy.

Note 1: This is even easier to verify using a video platform like YouTube because all you need are your fingers and to keep an eye on the video timer in order to count the number of laughs a pro comedian generates in any given minute of their stand-up routine.

Note 2: Simply counting laughs per minute is NOT the best way to determine actual stand-up comedy performance levels. The reason why is covered in this on my blog: Why Counting Laughs Per Minute Is Not The Best Way To Determine Comedian Performance Levels.

Given the fact that it is the punchlines that generates the laughs in a stand-up routine, that means that every performing minute should have an average of 4-6+ punchlines delivered to make those laughs happen.

Now I know that there are some people who may look at this and say “Wow – that seems hard!” So let me say this:

If you are trying to “write” your stand-up comedy material in a literary manner that is automatically produced for a reader, then yes – trying to get 4-6+ punchlines into every minute of your comedy material is going to be VERY DIFFICULT AT BEST.

Note: You should know why because of the differences between talking and writing that have been covered in this Success Primer.

However, if you are structuring what you want to say and express to an audience in a way that showcases your comedy talent the way that you use it naturally…

Getting 4-6+ punchlines is not nearly so difficult, particularly when you know and understand what a spoken word punchline is as it relates specifically to you and how you communicate (and you should from the Punchline Secrets lesson).

But you still need to know what you are doing when you take this more organic approach to producing your stand-up material.

Please allow me to explain why I can say that…

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An Economy Of Words Is A Must

You should already know that when you communicate verbally with others you don’t just use words alone.

There are other means of communication involved (facial expressions, body language, voice tone inflections) that not only enhance the words you use, but these other communication avenues also REDUCE the number of words you need to use when you talk.

That is a very important aspect of creating and delivering a tight stand-up comedy routine if you consider this:

If a comedian is generating an average of 18+ seconds of laughter each minute, that means they are spending an average of 42 (or less) seconds each minute delivering their stand-up comedy routine.

In other words, they have an average of 42 seconds to set up and deliver an average of 4-6+ punchlines and taglines each performing minute.

At an average speech rate of 120 spoken words per minute (2 words per second), a comedian would have roughly 84 words (more or less — usually less) to deliver their stand-up comedy material along with 4-6+ punchlines in order to generate a minimum of 18 seconds of laughter per minute.

In reality, the actual number of words used in any particular minute of stand-up comedy material can vary quite a bit, meaning that some minutes a comedian may only use 40 words to generate laughs for a minute of material and use 80 words in another minute.

My point here is that an economy of words is required every minute a comedian is performing on stage in order to:

• Deliver set-up information
• Deliver punchlines
• Allow audiences time to laugh once punchlines have been delivered

Of interest to note:

None of the “conventional” and so-called “expert” resources that you can get your hands on address what I have just presented.

I certainly didn’t have access to any of this sort of information when I started as a comedian. Because if I did have access to this information, it would have certainly had an impact on the way I produced my comedy material in the beginning – even without the benefit of using the Killer Stand-up Comedy System that I ultimately developed.

The most important thing to realize is this:

No matter what system, method or process you use to produce your stand-up comedy material – you must still meet the performance level that I have described in order to get beyond open mic/opener level as a comedian.

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The Benefits To You

Before I move forward on describing just how advantageous the information in this report can be to new comedians, please note:

There’s always seems to be some fool who will say that stand-up comedy is subjective and cannot be measured – so what I am providing as far as a performance level is not valid.

The problem with this particular argument is this – while the “funny factor” associated with any comedy material delivered to an audience is 100% subjective, the audience laughter generated by ANY comedy material is 100% objective and easily measurable.

Interesting side note: The amount of objective quantifiable laughter generated is a powerful indicator of how the “subjective” aspect of stand-up comedy material delivered is consumed and responded to by an audience.

You should also be aware that you can use your smart phone and a couple of free apps (that are most likely already installed) to quickly and easily obtain an objective measurement the true overall performance level of any comedian (including yourself).

[beautiful_link_preview url=”https://www.comedyevaluatorpro.com/203/smartphone-secrets-for-comedians/” target=”_blank”]

Probably one of the best benefits of using this sort of objective measurement on how funny your comedy material is – based on seconds of laughter generated each performing minute – is that you aren’t dependent on any sort of “subjective analysis” by any other comedian or other observer of your routine in order to know DEFINITIVELY just how funny your stand-up comedy is.

Not only is there no guesswork involved, but you also know without a doubt which minutes of your stand-up comedy routine need tightening or adjustment to get better laughs.

Do you have a car? Does it have a gas gauge? Which is better – the gas gauge works or it doesn’t work at all?

Measuring seconds of audience laughter generated during your performances is your “gas gauge” as a comedian. Or…

You can simply depend on guessing and asking other comedians (who usually can’t generate audience laughs themselves) how well you are doing on stage. That’s what most new comedians do, so you won’t be alone.

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Wrap Up

This lesson has been focused on illustrating these critical aspects of generating headliner level laughs on stage as a comedian:

• You have a limited number words to set-up any particular punchline in any stand-up comedy joke or bit you want to deliver.
• You only have an average of 42 seconds (or less) to generate a minimum average of 18 seconds of laughter per minute with 4-6+ punchlines.
• You must be acutely aware of the punchline frequency in any given minute of your stand-up comedy material since punchlines cause the laughs to happen.
• You have a means to objectively measure your performance level as a comedian using your smart phone – without the need for ANYONE to “subjectively” verify how well you did on stage.

And the most important part of all is this:

You do not have to hold the “title” of comedian headliner in order to generate headliner laughter levels with your stand-up comedy material if you know how to skillfully craft a stand-up comedy act that incorporates ALL of your comedy talent right from the start.

Hint: What will move a comedian from opening act to feature act and feature act to headliner is the length of time they are able to generate an average of 18+ seconds of laughter each performing minute.

Like I said before, every comedian is afforded the same 60 seconds each minute to deliver their stand-up comedy act and generate the laughs they need during a stand-up comedy performance.

And it will always be the comedians who can generate the most laughs every minute they are on stage that enjoy the most opportunities stand-up comedy has to offer.

Developing tightly structured, headliner stand-up comedy material for the stage that works for you and your sense of humor is NOT difficult if you truly have comedy talent and you are using the proven methods provided in the Killer Stand-up Online Course.

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