Introduction

In order to get your comedy material memorized quickly, adjusted as needed and to have it completely molded to your verbal communication style using your natural expressive comedy traits for maximum laughter impact…

I recommend that you use a two phase approach to rehearsing your stand-up comedy material — initial rehearsal, then move on to professional rehearsal.

This lesson will cover the initial rehearsal phase, which is super easy to do if you will follow the guidelines provided.

You will need a private space where you can vocalize your material out loud without distraction for both rehearsal phases.

At this point you should have a quantity of comedy material transcribed on your word processor using the Single Line Format technique.

I recommend that you only work with 3-7 minutes of material at any one time in order to get the best results in the shortest period of time.

In the initial rehearsal phase, you are primarily reading your material out loud as it is transcribed on paper using this process, only working with 4-8 lines at a time.

The important reasons for this will become obvious as you progress through this lesson…

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What Initial Rehearsal Is All About

This initial rehearsal phase has some very important functionality that you must be aware of while you are reading your material out loud and committing your lines to memory (which should be fairly easy provided you developed comedy material that you have a personal connection to or interest in):

1. You are making sure that the material you are expressing about any topic is formatted the way you speak naturally and with the same speaking rhythm that you would use to verbally communicate to a friend, family member, co-worker or acquaintance.

You should make adjustments in this initial rehearsal phase as needed to ensure what you have written on paper is transcribed the way you actually talk — NOT the way you write.

2. You are adding or adjusting your reactions (punchlines) to the material being expressed OUT LOUD.

An amazing thing will start to happen as you are reading your comedy material out loud…

Your sense of humor will begin to kick in and additional content and punchlines will begin to emerge.

You will most certainly want to make adjustments to your transcribed material to reflect these changes or additions if warranted.

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The Initial Rehearsal Process

In the initial rehearsal phase, it doesn’t matter if you are sitting or standing.

Here’s the process:

1. Read the first 4-8 lines OUT LOUD 10 times from your material as it is transcribed.

2. Put the paper down and say the 4-8 lines the way you normally express yourself. Do this 5-10 times until you have the material memorized.

3. Read the next 4-8 lines OUT LOUD 10 times.

4. Put the paper down and say all the lines you have worked on so far.

5. Repeat the process until you have 1-2 minutes of your material memorized and can say it OUT LOUD without looking at your transcribed material on paper.

6. Make adjustments as they occur to the comedy material that you initially transcribed.

You want to keep what it is you want to say and express to an audience in alignment with what you have transcribed on your word processor.

7. Take the 1-2 minutes of material that you have memorized and begin the professional rehearsal phase (covered in the next lesson).

Because you are only working with very small quantities of stand-up comedy material at a time, you should be able to complete the initial rehearsal phase for each minute or two of your material in about 15 minutes.

But as you go through the initial rehearsal process, I do want to caution you about getting into what I call a never ending loop, which can occur during both the initial or professional rehearsal phases…

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Avoiding The Never Ending Loop

The never ending loop is a condition where each time you read or rehearse your comedy material out loud, major changes tend to occur frequently.

You also begin to second guess your previous comedy material and you are continually changing it to make it “better”.

Here are the problems you will run into with a never ending loop:

• You will have self imposed difficulty memorizing your comedy material due to constant changes.This will also make for a haphazard delivery when you actually take your comedy material on stage because you multiple “versions” of the same comedy material in your head.
• You can get to a juncture where you can’t tell what’s funny to you and what’s not — which contributes to continued and most likely unnecessary changes in your comedy material.
• You can begin to “write” punchlines that read funny on paper instead of trusting your own sense of humor or the comedy material you have developed.

There’s absolutely nothing wrong with expanding, contracting or adjusting your stand-up comedy material during the initial rehearsal phase or even during the professional rehearsal phase if needed.

However, if you get into a never ending loop, you can end up making tight and funny stand-up comedy material wordier and less funny.

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More About The Initial Rehearsal Phase

Keep these things in mind as you go through the process of initial rehearsal:

1. Stand-up comedy is an exercise in repetition — repeating material that works with the same emotional attributes, expressive traits, sincerity and intensity over and over again for different audiences.

2. You need a foundation of core comedy material that works and works well as quickly as possible.

That core will be weakened if you are constantly changing every single aspect of any particular bit or chunk you intend to deliver.

3. It is much easier to expand a foundational and proven core stand-up comedy material than unproven comedy material that is constantly being changed before it ever reaches the stage.

4. The moment you begin to second guess your comedy material, your sense of humor and start trying to “figure out” what an audience “may think” is funny is the moment you have wasted your time developing your comedy material using the techniques and methods provided in this course.

5. Don’t become dependent solely upon the words and lines you have transcribed on paper.

You are going to find very quickly that as you go through the initial rehearsal process and start memorizing your material…

Your comedy material is going to become less and less funny to you because the “newness” of the material will have worn off (as it should — you should be able to deliver your comedy material just like the story you’ve told a hundred times about your uncle Joe who went to a party, got drunk and ended up with his head stuck between the toilet and the bathtub).

But never forget that an audience has NOT yet heard your material and it will be very new and very fresh to them.

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Your Turn

Use your initial rehearsal time to:

• Make sure that you are expressing yourself and your comedy material NATURALLY — in your normal, everyday speaking rhythm and tone.
• Make any needed changes to your stand-up comedy material BEFORE you take it through the professional rehearsal process.
• Commit your material to memory.

I would strongly recommend that you do your initial rehearsal work in 15-30 minute intervals, and then take a break so you don’t get stale during the process.

Your comedy material should consist of multiple topics. Switch topics each time you do your initial rehearsal work — again, so that you do get stale during the process.

If you do make changes or adjustments to your comedy material, make sure they are mostly completed BEFORE you begin professional rehearsal because…

That’s when you are going to hone your final comedy entertainment product for audiences to experience and enjoy.

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