So, everyone at work thinks you are hilarious! People at parties always flock to you so you can tell them a new joke. In school, you won the class clown trophy and you are totally proud of it. Terrific! Now you want to learn how to make money being a Comedian. Is it time to take your funniness to a new level?
Unless you become part of an improvisational group, before you can get on stage, you really need to write some material. There are plenty of places that will happily let you make a fool of yourself, because even if you are terrible, the audience will still have fun, because they will enjoy your plight.
Hopefully that happens often. If it does, then perhaps, with an investment of time and the willingness to take a lot of abuse, you will make it in stand up. The business of humor is not usually a simple one. Making someone laugh at a party is easy. Finding material that sets you apart from the thousands of other comics, may not be quite as easy as you think.
Humor is an interesting topic. Can you determine what makes people laugh? It really should not be hard, but for some reason it really is. People at parties or at work already like you, so when you say something funny, they will respond in kind. However, when customers are actually looking to be entertained, you had better have at least a few gems come running out of your mouth or your set will not be a pleasant one.
With the mass appeal of viral marketing, it is pretty easy to record yourself and place it on one of the many sites that show videos. People are constantly searching for humorous items, so if you are funny, they will find you. If you have interesting opinions on current events or the crisis of the day, your viral audience will let you know.
You must build your own persona. If you try to be a copy of another comic, you will fail. There is only one Chris Rock and you are not him. Profanity may get you a laugh, but it is not the way to become a professional comic. People laugh when they are surprised. So, surprise them with a perfectly chosen nasty word and do it infrequently. That has some merit.
When creating your material, try not to spend the entire time talking about drugs. You must be current and that concept is very eighty’s. It is all right to discuss politics and religion, but be careful. Remember, your goal is to get at least half of the audience to like you!!
What should make you nervous is whether or not you are prepared to fail. When you fail, you get better. That sounds silly, but it is the only technique that allows you to get better. So, in conclusion, write good material about how you think the world should be versus how it actually is. Add your thoughts on how to make it better without being the village idiot. Practice handling rejection or at least include the pain you felt after you hit on that guy or girl at the bar and they laughed at you!! Then you may be prepared to get your new career on the way.