Introduction

When I would go on stage to perform, I would go on stage to get laughs — big laughs.

I didn’t go on stage to get boos or groans, or to incite a riot. I didn’t want an audience to walk out on me (called “walking the room”) because I grossed them out, angered them, or disgusted them.

For the purposes of this lesson, I’m going to assume that we are in agreement on this issue.

There are certain topics that can rapidly arouse negative feelings in an audience. These topics include, but are certainly not limited to:

• Politics
• Religion
• Mental or physical disabilities
• Racist humor
• Hatred directed at any race, creed, background, or lifestyle
• Abortion
• Animal cruelty
• Gross or unsavory descriptions of just about anything
• Dirty act, wrong audience

Let me say that there are exceptions to every rule.

It all depends on the angle that is taken and the skill used in the delivery.

But generally speaking, if you venture down one of these paths, you are entering risky territory.

Some of the items from the list above speak for themselves and should require no further discussion in regards to their potential to generate negative results.

Some items on the list allow for more leeway, provided they are approached from a unique or “politically correct” point of view.

Probably one of the most talented, funny and original comedians I have seen in recent years is Eddie Izzard.

He has the ability to talk about topics that most comedians could not even begin to touch. How does he do it?

First of all, he is likable on stage.

But most important of all, he approaches what would be considered by many as “forbidden topics” — like religion and executions in days of old — from a perspective that is hilarious and not offensive to the audience.

Now, another person could have taken these subjects and completely offended an audience.

But Eddie Izzard does it in a such a way that most people really can’t be offended by it. They’re too busy laughing.

Personally, I have a tendency to push the envelope myself when it comes to some topics.

So, rather than tell you what you can or can’t say, I will engage in a general discussion when it comes to potentially sensitive issues or risky stand-up comedy topics and potentially negative results.

I will also cover some other stand-up comedy material aspects as well.

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How To Handle Touchy Stand-up Comedy Topics

A lot of very experienced comedians will tell you to do or say whatever you want when it comes to stand-up comedy.

I don’t totally subscribe to this general philosophy.

The reason why is fairly simple. While I was an artist who cherished creative freedom of speech, I was also a performer, an entertainer.

My job was to make people laugh as hard as I can. My job was not to create social change or to make right political or social injustice.

That job is better left to leaders skilled in such areas.

As a professional performer, I felt it is was my responsibility to consider my audience and the potential ramifications of what I wanted to say on stage.

The basic guidelines that I used for screening my material were fairly simple:

If the audience wasn’t laughing, then it was not fun for my audience or me.

I craved the instant gratification that stand-up comedy gave me when I could make an audience laugh so hard it hurts.

So in some respects, I guess you could say that my concern for the audience is really a selfish concern when you get to the heart of the matter.

Despite the politically correct boundaries that tend to prevail throughout society in this day and age, I personally had had little difficulty saying what I wanted to on stage.

I feel that the reason for this is because I refused to develop stand-up comedy material about almost all of the items I provided on the above list.

If I did encroach on an area that may be sensitive, I made sure that I could approach it from an angle or perspective that would be widely accepted by a general audience without negative ramifications.

But I don’t want you to think that you are held hostage by the “God of Political Correctness.”

But I do want you to know that certain audiences are more accepting of travel outside socially established boundaries, and every audience has its limit on how far you can go.

It has also been my experience that an audience is more than willing to let you know if you have gone too far.

But generally speaking, the funnier your material is, the less offensive the material appears to be.

It’s hard to get ticked off if you’re laughing so hard you can’t breathe.

I had a habit of getting to gigs early to watch the audience arrive.

Early in my comedy career, I was at a gig at a comedy club, and as I’m watching this particular audience arrive, a man who is obviously blind is being escorted to a seat by his companion.

I had a few references to the blind in my act, so I went to the blind man’s table and introduced myself as one of the comedians in the show.

I told him that I had some material about the blind in my act and asked if he would find that offensive.

Without hesitation, he asked, “Is it funny?” I told him I thought it was. He said, “Well, as long as it’s funny, it’s okay with me.”

After the show, I saw him leaving the club with his companion. I asked if he liked my show. With a big smile on his face, he laughed and said, “You were right. The blind stuff was funny.”

As a side note, let me say that when I was doing corporate work, I usually leave out any material with references to the blind in my act.

As I have mentioned before, I liked to work. As you progress as a comedian, you will find that a great deal of the work that you get, no matter where it is, is based on referral.

But someone is less likely to refer you to another show if they think there’s a possibility that you’ll go too far over the line for that audience.

I was fortunate that I had a large amount of material that I could draw from.

I possessed the quantity of solid material that I had from using the very techniques you are reviewing in this course.

I could pick and choose the material that I would do based on the audience and the performing environment.

But I found that I usually didn’t have to worry about cutting out touchy material for a particular show.

That’s because I omitted topics when developing my own stand-up comedy material that could be problematic to begin with and I would develop my material clean first.

Even in the comedy clubs, where you generally have the most leeway on what you can say, I have seen firsthand the negative impact a comedian can have on an audience.

I watched one comedian attempt to present his “insight” on religion to an audience.

Not only did he get no laughs, but most of the audience walked out before he was finished. That, to me, is not comedy.

I have done shows where there were children in the audience, at synagogues, at charity events, and on cruise ships.

If your act is made up of strictly bedroom and bathroom material, and every other word is profane, you have just eliminated a huge market where you can work.

It’s the audience that makes a performer a star or a pauper.

I provide the following recommendations, which you can keep in mind as you go through the process of developing your own stand-up comedy material.

You can also use these recommendations to screen your act after it has been completed:

• Keep your audience in mind when you develop your comedy material. Know that some audiences are more receptive than others with regards to certain types of humor.
• Be creative first, then screen your material for items that may “go over the line.” If you do have material in this category, make sure the angle you use would be acceptable to a general audience.
• Perform your “edgy” material for comedy club audiences only.
• Stay away from topics or angles on topics that will anger, disgust, polarize, or divide your audience. If you decide to tackle a topic like politics, hit both sides of the issues.

Let the audience always be your guide on what’s funny and what’s not. If your material makes an audience (as a whole) uncomfortable, trust me, you will be very uncomfortable.

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Talking About Sex In Your Act

It goes without saying that sex is a huge topic for discussion in almost any circle.

I’m going to assume that you have heard of it before. Let me say that it is extremely rare for comedians to not have comedy material or, at the very least, references to sex in their act.

Unfortunately, too many comedians base their entire act on this single topic.

I had adult material about sex in my act. But the material I brought to the stage was not lewd or graphic in a “raw” way.

I didn’t use a single profane word usually associated with sex when I hit the topic; I related sex to something else to say exactly what I wanted and to get the impact I desired.

Here are just a few observations and recommendations I can make about material dealing with sex:

• Raw or graphic detail about sex acts, desires, or fantasies alone is generally not funny.
• I have found that an overwhelming number of comedians will resort to sexual jokes when their other material is not working. My recommendation is that they should spend more time developing their other material. If you have material that is truly funny, it is funny anytime, anywhere.
• Don’t leave sex out of your act (unless you are working in the higher paying markets outside the comedy club scene). It’s a great topic. Just be unique and creative when you approach this topic. Your audiences will love you for it.
• While sex has been and probably always will be a killer topic for the stage, realize that there are other things to talk about besides sex.
• Be aware that some audiences are accepting of sexual material and others are not.
• As always, let the audience be your guide on what’s funny and what’s not.

I don’t want to sound like a parent, nor do I desire to impair anyone’s creativity.

One of my goals is to help new comedians talk about most anything they desire with great impact and huge laughs.

But I do want you to realize:

There are pitfalls in the business of comedy entertainment, just like any other business.

This is one business where you have a tremendous amount of control when it comes to your success, as opposed to many other ventures.

No matter what happens, have fun with this. Life is way too short not to.

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Timeless Material

When I developed material for the stage, I wanted it to be funny, recognizable, and accepted anywhere, anytime I performed. I wanted my material to be timeless.

By timeless, I mean that the material I do today will be just as strong a year from now or 5 years from now.

That’s one of the reasons I steer clear from talking about recent big news events or popular movies that will pass from the mind of the audience in a month or two.

One way to keep your material timeless is with the references you use in your act.

Be careful of the references that you use in your act. If they are not timeless, make sure they are up to date.

If you are talking about a current day event and you reference, let’s say, the Beatles or the movie Saturday Night Fever, your material may appear to be old and out of date.

More than that, it may not be recognized by younger members of your audience.

Like everything else, there are exceptions to every rule.

If you are talking about the way things were “back in the day,” of course you are going to use old references.

But if you do “back in the day” material, you had better have some current references (or timeless references like Abraham Lincoln, cars, brushing your teeth) in your material that your audience can relate to.

Let’s say that you wanted to do a bit about former FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover.

While he may have been a very popular figure 40+ years ago, the chances are very good that he has been dead longer than many members of a general audience have even been alive. They will know little about this person.

If you talk about how great your 8 track tape player still works, keep in mind that there could be a huge segment of your audience that doesn’t even know what an 8 track tape player is or even looks like.

Think of it this way:

Who is your audience?

The age range for the majority of comedy club audiences is roughly 25 to 50 years of age.

That means there are comedy club patrons who don’t even know what life is like without ATM machines, CDs, or computers.

I have worked with comedians who have been doing the same act for 20 years or longer.

Don’t get me wrong — they are funny, skilled professionals. But the age of their act shows.

I write my material in a general context, talking about everyday life that almost everyone can relate to, unless they are hermits. I have very few references to anything that may date my material.

I had a chunk I would do about newspaper articles, but when I performed it, I present the material to make it appear like it happened recently.

Here’s how I did it:

I was reading the news about this guy…

Then I just go into the article. No one knew or cared when it happened. I didn’t identify the guy in the article and it really didn’t matter.

Nobody ever knew the age of the newspaper articles I talked about, because everyone misses events all the time that are not “major, earthshaking” news stories.

All the audience really cares about is that the material is funny.

If you make comparisons with some topic in your act, make sure that whatever you are comparing doesn’t go out of style, out of favor, or out of date in the eyes of the general public. You want them to know what you are talking about.

This is one of the things that amazes me when I watch Eddie Izzard perform — he talks about European and American history.

What do I know about European and American history? Not as much as I probably should, I have to say.

But in his act, Eddie almost teaches the history as he goes along, interjecting his own modern sense of humor, up-to-date references, and views of people today to describe what may have happened way back then.

Bottom line: The audience doesn’t have to know history to understand what he has to say. And last, but certainly not least, the man is simply hilarious.

Let’s say you want to talk about your kids on stage. As far as your act goes, they never have to grow up. They can always stay 5 or 10 years old and the audience won’t know any different.

As for me, my kids grew in my act. As they got older, I replaced the material I had about them when they were younger with material that’s pretty much consistent with their age.

But I could keep them at one age in my act for 20 years if I wanted to and it wouldn’t date my act. People can have children when they are 60 and 70 years old today (why, I don’t know).

I used to do a chunk about goofy laws. While new laws are passed each year, the ones I talk about have been on the books for years and will continue to be for years to come. Even if they get removed, who’s going to know?

If you decide to do current-event material, such as political humor, I hope you like to spend a lot of time developing comedy material.

You will have to constantly work to keep it up to date while it is fresh in the public mind.

Otherwise, you will end up with a bunch of old and worn-out material. As for me, I’m lazy. More than that, I found performing much easier than developing comedy material, despite the tools I have developed to make writing easier for me. So when I develop it it, I want it to count for a very long time.

A lot of comedians develop and perform current-event material, especially if the event is widely known.

But what seems to happen is that you have a lot of comedians writing material about the exact same thing.

As I have mentioned before, I don’t travel with the masses in my comedy adventure.

Hopefully this will give you some ideas on how to look at your own act and keep it “fresh.”

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Local Material

Stand-up comedians tend to develop “local material,” which is material about or references to local events, landmarks, or people. There’s nothing wrong with having local material in your act.

But keep in mind that most local material will only be funny to the people who are familiar with what you are talking about.

If you try this material outside the range of knowledge or reference of the audience, they will look at you like you just arrived from Mars.

There is a road sign that you can see on the I-5 freeway between San Diego and Los Angeles, California, showing a family of illegal aliens running like crazy, with the words “Caution” and “Prohibido” on the sign.

This sign, which is very familiar to local residents, is posted to warn illegal immigrants of the dangers of running across the freeway in an attempt to elude border patrol agents.

There are a number of comedians who make reference to this same sign. It is a unique landmark in the area in which I live.

But if I did that bit in Colorado, the audience wouldn’t know what I was talking about.

I only used local material in my act where I knew it would be easily recognized. I am not discouraging you from developing or using local material.

But I do want you to be aware of some issues associated with it.

Let’s say you have a huge killer bit that is largely based on local material.

Be aware that you can’t count that material in your total time when you are trying to get work outside of those local areas, unless you can switch items around to make it fit another area.

I had a limited amount of local material in my act because I wanted material that is easily recognized anywhere I may get to perform in this stand-up adventure.

So I designed my act in such a way that I could exclude the local material from a chunk without significant impact to the rest of it.

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Uncharted Territory

Let’s say that one (or more) of the topics you want to talk about is not well known or easily recognized by the common person on the street.

Say, for example, that you are passionate about atomic fusion. I don’t believe too many people know that much about atomic fusion. What do you do?

It’s fairly simple.

You need to inform your audience; make them aware of the unique and funny things about the topic if it is not widely known.

You inform them in general terms that they can understand. Relate your topic to something that is easily understood. Use references they can easily understand. Make comparisons that anyone could understand.

Answer the questions that the common person would ask about your topic. Answer the goofy questions that a common person might ask about your topic.

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Wrap Up

As a comedian you are a performing artist — an artist who has complete control over the comedy entertainment product that you work to develop and deliver to audiences.

But it should be obvious from the information provided in this Training Module that there are a number of aspects of stand-up comedy material to consider before you set out on the task of creating your act if you want to generate long and frequent laughter with your stand-up comedy material.

I also want to point this out as well:

The lessons in this Training Module are also a valuable reference resource that you may want to refer to as a part of your performance improvement reviews to determine why some of your stand-up comedy material didn’t have quite the impact you wanted it to.

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