I've been doing stand-up for three years and I'm trying to pick one style. To develop a strong writing voice. I have a bunch of amazing jokes, but I feel they are all over the place. One is
topical, one conceptual. I tried to stay conceptual but I got this one topical joke that I can't resist. Pointers?
"You're a ghost!"- Tom Scharpling
Surely this forum can't decide this for you.
Whatever audiences like the most. If they like you being all over the place, do that. If not, go with what you like best and what gets the bigger laughs.
How could we possibly be of any help when the only information we're given is that the jokes are amazing? If this is even remotely true, there's nothing at all I could possibly help you with other than maybe giving you dealership recommendations for where to buy your first Rolls Royce...
Hope this helps!!
Your style is Comedy Chameleon. At the beginning of their careers, all comedians choose between "conceptual" jokes or "topical" jokes. Todd Barry confided in me that it wasn't until a very traumatic wake-up call that he decided to go down the "topical" road, and he hasn't looked back. But, you might be able to blaze a new trail here. What you need to do is string together your style varieties using callbacks, because callbacks are the joke weaver's strands of wicker. You'll write that down if you're smart.
Would it be possible to write topical material but deliver it in a conceptual way?
Imagine this is really clever and really funny.
http://stayathomedadcast.tumblr.com
Thanks folks. Of course I exaggerate when I call my jokes amazing, I'm just saying that I am more concerned with consistency than quality.
Let me rephrase my question: when did the comics on this board begin to notice their particular style developing?
"You're a ghost!"- Tom Scharpling
wait so two jokes is a bunch?Originally Posted by Mo!
you don't really find a style as much as it finds you. just keep plugging away. or quit.
Comedy is all about the explication of the absurd. A comedian should present to the audience what he or she thinks is funny rather than what he or she thinks the audience thinks is funny. The things that the audience already recognizes as funny (absurd) do not need to be mentioned once more because it is already known. An audience member themselves could make the same observation, making the comedian superfluous. Instead, a comedian should present their own unique perspective, which the audience lacks since they are not the comedian. What all your jokes have in common is that they are your jokes. Keep being you.
Consistency in what you find funny and how you choose to express it just gradually forms as you write and perform, doesn't it? I guess I don't get the topical vs. conceptual dilemma. I know that some comedians choose a particular niche, like musical political satire, but there's no reason why your subject matter can't be all over the place as long as the jokes you unearth are true to your sense of humor.
I don't know things, I'm just posting this to balance out my joke post.
Edit: Darn you Keith Whitener and your more-eloquent advice.
I'm not a doctor, but I'd say my comedy style was pretty much intact when I started -- two parts semi-absurd rants, one part complaining about how I'm single. Of course, I've improved within that general framework -- when I was starting out, there was kind of a jarring disparity between the two topics, which I don't think is as true any more. And of course, I'm mostly writing better jokes now. And there are some minor things -- I used to write a lot more about British literature when I was studying it in college, for example. But pretty much, things = things. You can't control what you're inspired to write about.
Anyway, you're not going to do only one kind of joke. Comics who do only one kind of joke are generally very boring. By contrast, look at a guy like Patton Oswalt. He can do some absurd jokes ("facts about midgets" etc.), talk about politics, mock some kind of terrible media item or cultural trend, and then close with a factual anecdote about a weird thing that happened to him. What's the connection between all this stuff? There is no connection, and he doesn't try to pretend there's a connection. The only connection is that these are all things this guy thought of, and thought were funny. So what holds the act together isn't some kind of thematic thing, or some similarity in premises -- it's his persona.
And that's true of most comics, really. There are some exceptions, especially in certain fields of comedy. There are a lot of comics who just do one-liners, for example. There are a lot of comics who just write about current events. But if you don't find yourself drawn to do those things, you're better off sticking with the best material you have, and focusing on getting the audience to understand what you are about. Once they accept that, they'll follow you.
I mean, thing of it this way. When you're talking to a friend, and he's telling you about his day at work, and then he says, "oh, I saw that new movie, it was weird", you're not like, "my god, who is this guy? I thought this guy talked about work. Now he's watching movies -- I don't even know him any more." Why should comedy be any different? Audiences understand that most people think about a number of things; it's not really an issue.
Of course, if your authorial voice tends to vary -- you're writing one joke, and then you write another joke which couldn't possibly have come from the mouth of the guy in the first joke -- that's another thing. If you do that, maybe you should write a screenplay, or start doing characters onstage, or something.
Why paint yourself into a corner, I say, and don't worry so much about what makes people laugh. If they laugh, why would you want to handicap that by only doing one side of the spectrum? I think the personal style is a television stigma, where people had to sell themselves as the topical, abstract, etc comedian. It took 7 years for Gaffigan to get comfortable on stage. The people that have styles have been doing it so long and probably went from one spectrum to the next until they found something they like doing. But that happens what? 10? 15 years after doing comedy? Listen to early Pyror then one of his last albums. His style changes, for the better I think. That happens with a lot of comedians.
"'Taxi Driver' was the sequel to a movie called 'Hey Cabbie'. Directed by Stanley Donen." -Tom Scharpling
Adult Swim's Welcome Pages
Prop comedy.
I have a comment card from Hyena's Comedy Club in Fort Worth that asks what type of comedy you enjoy and gives four options:
Blue Collar
BET
Latino
Hypnotist
Forget topical or conceptual, you gots to fit into one of those.
hahaha
I refuse to mess with Texas
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the best way to develop a personal style in comedy is to find a good computer program for writing jokes.
Do they make that now?
Honestly, all I can say is don't force it. I've been doing comedy for the last 5 years now. Every year I think "oh I finally have my voice and personal style!" Then the next year I end up naturally changing it. Last year it was observational, this year topical. Next year, I might go a bit surrealist. It tends to depend on my mood. Two shows can be done in an angry rapid-fire approach that I enjoy and the third show I won't feel it at all and end up being more laid back and relaxed.
I am starting to realize it will take a few more years before the whole "unique personal style" truly crystalizes. For now, I write comedy I enjoy writing and if the audience laughs it is a success. Everything else will come on its own.
Can you pick more than one? Where does that leave Osvaldo Jenkins, the Mesmerchanic?
Point taken St Raw. Two jokes does not a bunch make.
Thank you all for your advice/jokes. In conclusion: I have nothing to worry about. Except being funny.
"You're a ghost!"- Tom Scharpling
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