Introduction
You might be wondering why a course called “Easily Tap Into Your Best Stand-up Topics” would start with lessons about your comedy talent.
I will make it very easy for you – most new comedians actually don’t use their natural comedy talent they use everyday when they start performing as a new comedian.
Subsequently they suck night after night right from the beginning and most never get past comedy open mic nights in their stand-up comedy adventure.
There are a number of reasons for this that will be revealed in this course. But suffice it to say that if you don’t really know what your comedy talent is and how it works, then…
The chances are very good that you will end up like most other newbies and won’t use it when step on the stage as a comedian.
But you are in a very unique position in that if you will consume and apply ALL of the information provided in this course, then you will literally have more comedy topics and ideas than you can flesh out and more bulk, ready to edit/tighten comedy material than you will ever get stage time for.
I say that because most new comedians also struggle with what to talk about in their stand-up comedy routine.
My goal is to eliminate that issue to the maximum extent possible with this course.
With that said, let’s get started.
The First Secrets You Should Know
What is it that draws people to want to take a shot at becoming a comedian?
For most people, it is the recognition that they seem to have a way of making others laugh when they are engaged in casual conversations with people that they know or meet.
Not only that…
They seem to be able to use this skill without much effort or forethought at all – it just happens naturally in a most spontaneous way.
And it absolutely does not matter if someone has been labeled a “class clown” or they are just a person who uses their sense of humor occasionally.
The common denominator that all funny people have is that when they do use their sense of humor around the people they know and the people they meet, it generates genuine laughter — noteworthy laughs that lead to the next thing which is…
They start thinking about taking this ability to make others laugh to a more professional level as a comedian or speaking professional.
But something very odd (and largely disagreeable) seems to happen when someone attempts to use and apply their ability to make other people laugh in daily conversations as a comedian on the stage, which is…
When they try to make the “funny” happen on purpose with an audience, the “funny” doesn’t happen at all. The experience seems to land firmly in the hugely unwanted “flopped big time” category.
I already revealed the reason for this and it can be summed up in a single sentence and it certainly bears repeating:
A new comedian’s comedy talent — the exact same comedy talent that they use effortlessly to get laughs offstage — usually never makes it onstage for audience consumption.
So here is the very first secret you need to know if you don’t want to suck as a new comedian for months and months like most tend to do:
Secret #1: If you don’t actually know what your comedy talent is or how it works to get laughs — the exact same comedy talent you use offstage without hesitation or effort — then you will have difficulty using it onstage to generate laughs from an audience.
Hint: Your comedy talent is much more than just your sense of humor or the words you use when you talk.
Let me put this another way:
Most of the struggles a person will have getting the audience laughs they want when they step on stage as a comedian have a foundation that involves:
- Lack of knowledge about what their natural comedy talent is, how it was developed or how it actually works (or the realization it will work on stage)
- Using false or misleading information that effectively reduces or eliminates an individual’s natural comedy talent from being used onstage
- Lack of knowledge on how to refine, hone and package their natural comedy talent for audiences
But before I jump into a discussing about what your comedy talent actually is (so that you can use it onstage), here is the second secret you need to know:
Secret #2: You DO NOT develop a different or “better” sense of humor or comedy talent in order to generate big laughs as a comedian. What you MUST do is refine, hone and tightly structure the ALREADY DEVELOPED comedy talent that you have for audience consumption — that is, if you don’t want to suck as a new comedian for months on end.
So let’s get right to it and talk about what your comedy talent really is. This is key to being able to tap into comedy material that you have already developed and will develop easily in the future.
Your Comedy Talent Defined
The single most valuable asset that you can bring to the table as a comedian or humorous public speaker is your already developed comedy talent.
There is an old saying that goes like this:
“The last thing a fish notices is the water in which it is swimming in.”
The same sort of thing could be said about an individual’s comedy talent. I say that because of the organic and natural way it is developed over many years.
In other words, the last thing a person would notice is the comedy talent they use automatically and with little forethought – unless they actually knew what to look for and why it matters.
Understanding what your comedy talent is and how you use it on stage is one of the important keys to quickly identifying comedy material that will cause audiences to laugh.
I already gave you a hint in the previous section which was that your comedy talent is more than just your sense of humor.
So now let me define comedy talent completely so that we are both on the same page as I progress in this course:
Comedy talent: The ability to make others laugh as a result of the combination of both aspects of an individual’s sense of humor – the mental aspect and the physically expressive aspect.
Let me break down this definition even further as it is the key to unlocking the already developed comedy talent that you have right now to entertain audiences at a high level:
Sense of Humor Aspect #1 (The Mental Aspect): This is the “lens” through which you see the world around you. It is comprised of your perspectives and points of view on anything based on what you have experienced, know, thought about, etc. It’s how you “connect the dots” in your mind using information that you gather to generate laughs when you are talking with other people.
Sense of Humor Aspect #2 (The Expressive Aspect): This is the natural way by which you actually physically communicate the mental aspects of your sense of humor. This is a combination of the words you instinctively use, how you combine the words you choose to use along with the facial expressions, body language, voice inflection and tone variations that you use when you talk.
Again, it is BOTH of these sense of humor aspects that make up your comedy talent — the exact same comedy talent that you use offstage and will absolutely want to use onstage to get the audience laughs that you want (and need to make headway quickly).
Which brings me to the next secret you need to know when it comes to generating big audience laughs when you are speaking to an audience…
Secret #3: If you are unwilling or unable to effectively use BOTH aspects of your ALREADY DEVELOPED comedy talent when you stand before an audience, your ability to generate laughs will be greatly reduced or eliminated altogether.
I am going to dive deeper into Secret #3 in just a few moments, But for now, I am going to talk about Secret #4:
Secret #4
Secret #4: Your comedy talent is representative of a highly personalized skill set that you have developed over years as a result of countless in-person verbal interactions that you have had with literally thousands of people over the course of your life.
This secret is important because it provides the foundation for understanding exactly why someone can’t “learn” to have a better or a “funnier” sense of humor than they already have.
To put this into perspective…
It has literally taken your entire lifetime to not only develop the unique sense of humor mental aspects that you have, but to also develop the physically expressive aspects of your sense humor that you use naturally in order to be able to generate the laughs you get when you are talking with others.
Not only that…
The comedy talent that ANY individual has right now is the result of countless live and in-person verbal exchanges that have taken place — starting from when they began talking as a very young child.
So the idea that someone can somehow develop a “new” or “better” sense of humor/comedy talent to get the needed laughs as a comedian — particularly in a short period of time — is beyond ludicrous, at least until partial brain transplant surgery or a new sense of humor type of brain download becomes available.
But you would be amazed at the number of people who actually believe that learning or somehow developing some sort of “better” or “different” sense of humor and comedy talent is a requirement in order to get the audience laughs that are needed to progress as a comedian.
Much of that is due to hitting a brick wall over and over again and getting little if any laughter from their stand-up comedy efforts.
So let’s talk a bit more about Secret #3.
Expanding On Secret #3
There is actually quite a bit of information revealed in Secret #3 if you truly understand it. Of significant note is this secret provides one of the major reasons why new comedians can’t get the laughs they want when they hit the stage.
So let’s take a look at this secret again and then I will explain why it is important to understand::
Secret #3: If you are unwilling or unable to effectively use BOTH aspects of your ALREADY DEVELOPED comedy talent when you stand before an audience, your ability to generate laughs will be greatly reduced or eliminated altogether.
Notice the term “BOTH aspects” in this secret (referring to the mental aspects AND the physically expressive aspects of a person’s sense of humor previously identified).
Let’s cut right to the chase:
If you do not include the physically expressive aspects of your comedy talent when creating, developing, editing, honing and delivering your stand-up comedy material…
Your stand-up comedy material WILL NOT generate the laughs you need to move forward as a comedian.
You will flop on stage and you will continue to do so until this issue is corrected – no matter what system, method or process that you use to develop and deliver your stand-up comedy material.
That includes the system that I provide in my online course as well.
The mental aspects of your sense of humor — the “lens” by which you see the world around you based on your experience with life and that directly influences what you say when you use your sense of humor — works seamlessly in conjunction with the way you physically express your sense of humor.
So it’s NOT just words alone that you use that causes others to laugh when you use your sense of humor.
It is a combination of the words you use AND the way you express those words that you say (in the unique way that only you can do).
Specifically, I’m talking about the voice inflection and tone variations that are unique to you when you use and express your sense of humor.
I’m also talking about the body language and facial expressions that are unique to you when you use and express your sense of humor.
Think of it this way. You can have the best car that money can buy, but if it doesn’t have a steering wheel you won’t get very far.
Likewise, if you have just the steering wheel of the finest car in your possession, you simply won’t get very far without the rest of the car.
When you use your sense of humor, think of the words that you use as the steering wheel of a car. It’s a pretty small part of a car compared to the rest of it, but it is essential in order to drive the car.
Now, think of the way that you physically express your sense of humor – voice inflections, tone variations, facial expressions and body language as the rest of the car.
If either aspect is missing, the results are not favorable when it comes to getting from point A to point B using an automobile.
The exact same condition applies when it comes using your sense of humor to get laughs from an audience as a comedian.
You MUST use and apply BOTH the mental and expressive aspects that make up your natural comedy talent in order to get the results you want when you step onstage – right from the very beginning of producing stand-up material for the stage.
If either aspect is missing, the results will not be favorable when it comes to generating audience laughs as a comedian.
It is also worth noting that the comedy talent that you have didn’t happen because you engaged the mental aspects of your sense of humor separately from the expressive aspects of your sense of humor.
In other words, you don’t learn to drive a car using only the steering wheel without the rest of the car, nor do you learn to drive a car without a steering wheel.
But as stupidly simple as it may seem, one of the biggest mistakes new comedians make is assuming that only words alone are what causes individuals or audiences to laugh.
In the next lesson I will reveal how comedy talent gets lost in the process of developing a stand-up comedy routine.