What I Learned Doing Stand Up Comedy
Jeff McHugh • April 26, 2015
bombing is a badge of honor
we need to know more about you
It is more important to be interesting than to be funny.
points of exaggeration
* Forward/backward in time
- “What if everybody was like that?”
- “Who was the first guy who came up with this?” Example Mitch Hedberg: “I want to get a job as someone who names kitchen appliances. Toaster, refrigerator, blender…. all you do is say what it does, and add “er”. I wanna work for the Kitchen Appliance Naming Institute. Hey, what does that do? It keeps stuff fresh. Well, that’s a fresher….I’m going on break.”
* World’s collide
- “That wouldn’t work in business.” “Things don’t go that way in the dating world.” Etc.
* Analogy
- “That’d be like if…” or “That’s like saying…”
- This is one of the most common. If you’re having trouble thinking of a punchline, start with an analogy.
* Overstatement / Understatement
- “That’s the worst thing” / “Nazis were jerks” Example Chris Rock: “I was born a suspect. I can walk down any street in America and women will clutch their purses tighter, hold onto their mace, lock their car doors. If I look up into the windows of apartments I pass, I can see old ladies on the phone. They’ve already dialed 9-1-1 and are just waiting for me to do something wrong.”
* Bait & Switch
- “Big Foot is terrorizing the residents of Salem. That’s so creepy, the idea of living in Salem.”
Photo Credit: Steve/Flickr
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