Introduction

It should be apparent that an individual’s natural comedy talent is the single most valuable asset a new comedian can use to succeed onstage.

But I want to expose why most new comedians actually tend to abandon their natural comedy talent when it comes to identifying the best comedy topics for the stand-up material they want to generate.

It revolves around the common notion that some sort of special “writing” skill is involved in order to begin to develop a stand-up routine that generates laughs.

So let’s start with some questions that may help to expose the issues associated with this notion:

• Did you learn to talk first or did you learn to write first?
• Are writing and talking the same forms of communication?
• Did you develop the sense of humor/comedy talent that you have as a result of handing people written notes that contained what you wanted to say to make others laugh?
• If so, when you stopped in the middle of a conversation to write down your comments, observations, experiences, etc. and handed them to the person/people you were talking with — did they read those notes and then start laughing out loud?
• Is that how you discovered you could make other people laugh – which led you to want to become a comedian?

Let’s dive a bit deeper into some particular aspects about your comedy talent – the comedy talent that you use naturally when you speak and cause others to laugh.

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Differences Matter

Common sense would dictate that the easiest path to finding the best comedy topics for a stand-up routine would involve using a process that taps directly into a person’s natural comedy talent – the comedy talent that they use daily when they talk and express themselves.

But that is not what usually happens for most new comedians. Instead, every aspect of developing stand-up material tends to come from some sort of “writing” approach — including the process of coming up with the initial topics for that material.

And it is easy to see why the “writing” approach can cause issues once the differences between writing and talking are identified, such as:

• Talking is a completely different form of communication than writing, even though both involve the use of words and sentences.
• You learned to talk before you learned to write.
• The skill set needed for writing is very different than the skill set needed for talking. As a matter of fact, the skill set for writing is also learned in a completely different way than the skill set for talking is learned.
• Writing is designed specifically to engage an individual reader using only words and sentences. Talking engages one or more people and uses much more than just words.
• Talking and physically expressing oneself is far easier than trying to write anything.
• You developed the comedy talent you have from talking and physically expressing your sense humor, not from any sort of writing process.
• The comedy talent that other people experience when you speak involves much more than just the words you choose to use.
• You use less words to convey your sense of humor when you talk than when you do when you write anything.

Hint: You need only do a search engine search using the term “differences between talking and writing” to easily verify what I have just presented.

But here is the problem that causes new comedians to struggle to identify the best comedy topics for a stand-up comedy act…

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A Big Disconnect

Most new comedians seem to be bound by the imaginary stand-up comedy law of the universe which demands that they create and develop stand-up comedy material using some sort of mandatory “writing” process that works something like this:

First, they need to somehow “figure out”, fabricate or otherwise guess what comedy topics could possibly be funny for an audience.

Then they need to somehow “write” funny stand-up comedy jokes/material that is based the guessed or fabricated comedy topics that they came up with — usually with some sort of “joke formula” injection to come up with the punchlines for the material..

That’s what virtually all the books on stand-up comedy (#ad) will tell you. That’s what you will be taught to do in virtually any stand-up comedy workshop or class you choose to take as well.

I cover issues with this approach in detail in the very first lesson in my more extensive online course.

But let me ask you this:

When you are involved in a conversation and you say something that causes others to laugh, how did you come up with that? Did you stop and try to “write” it out first or did it just happen?

Wait a minute – you didn’t stop and write out what you needed to say to get the laughs?

Hold on – I’ll bet this question is going through your head right now…

Yeah, but the comedy talent needed to develop a stand-up comedy routine completely different than the comedy talent that is used when talking with friends, family, coworkers and people we meet – right?

And the answer is…

Absolutely Not.

One of the most overlooked, discounted or otherwise dismissed aspects of stand-up comedy is this:

The comedy talent a comedian uses onstage is THE EXACT SAME COMEDY TALENT that they use offstage – that is, if they want to get big and frequent laughs when they deliver a tightly structured stand-up routine.

I gave you the reason for this in the last lesson – let me refresh your memory:

It has taken your ENTIRE LIFE and countless verbal interactions with other people for you to develop the sense of humor/comedy talent your have right now.

I’m talking about the EXACT SAME COMEDY TALENT that led you to consider taking a shot at stand-up comedy in the first place.

So if you want to quickly and easily identify the best comedy topics for your stand-up comedy routine, may I suggest that you use your already developed natural comedy talent to do that using the information provided in this course.

Note: I will be covering the differences between generating laughter in casual conversations versus on the stand-up comedy stage in another lesson.

I need to cover one important aspect regarding writing down your stand-up comedy material before I move forward.

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Writing Vs. Writing Down

One of the things that I want to make clear is that there is a huge difference between “writing” comedy material (literary style, intended for a reader) and “writing down” and structuring what you want to say and express to a live audience using your natural comedy talent.

So in order to not be misunderstood, please note:

Your stand-up comedy material should ALWAYS be written down.

That’s because unless you are eating special mushrooms, you cannot see words and sentences as they leave your mouth, which means unless your stand-up comedy material is written down you can’t:

> Edit to remove unnecessary words or sentences

> Rearrange your material for greater laughter impact

> Expand your comedy material

> Add or edit punchlines

> Map out your natural speaking rhythm and timing

> Determine how long you material will be when delivered

> And on and on…

But what I am referring to has nothing to do with trying to fabricate, guess or otherwise “write jokes” out of thin air using literary writing methodologies that DO NOT WORK.

What I am specifically referring to is writing down what you want to say and express to an audience in a way that incorporates ALL of your already developed comedy talent.

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Wrap Up

In computer science, there is a concept that you have probably heard of called garbage in, garbage out.

Garbage in, garbage out: The concept that flawed, or nonsense input data produces nonsense output or “garbage” results.

This same concept can be applied to stand-up comedy material in this way:

If you start with comedy topics that are fabricated, concocted, or otherwise made up and that do not actually reflect your true sense of humor and natural comedy talent that you use when speaking and expressing yourself…

The stand-up comedy material that you end up delivering to audiences won’t have the laughter impact that you want – if any at all.

So in order to be able to easily pinpoint the best comedy topics, comedy ideas and bulk comedy material for a stand-up comedy routine, you MUST be able to trust your sense of humor and your natural comedy talent.

Otherwise, you will simply end up trying to “write” your way to a funny stand-up routine like most other new comedians do. Again, just suffer through ANY comedy open mic anywhere in the world to see how well that is working out for them.

Now let’s look at some specifics about punchlines – what they are, how they are structured and how all funny people use them to get laughs.

This information will come in quite handy when you start pinpointing comedy topics that you will want to structure into stand-up comedy material.

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