Do you guys hear these alot at your open mics? The guy whose's every punchline is meant to be shocking? I wrote some of these jokes(not all blue though) but I don't want to go in this direction if I'm gonna be just another of those guys.
I like my jokes and think they're funny but I'm just as motivated to write other types of material. Please let me know
It can get pretty boring if every joke in a set has the same structure. Don't be the M. Night Shyamalan of comedy.
Or do...be...!Originally Posted by dicknose
Or, you know, just have a couple of them, if that's what happens.
You're overthinking this. What have you written? Is it good? There's your answer.
There is never a point when a good comedian with original material has to worry because some other good comedians have a similar style.
You're trying to define your style in a top-down way before writing the material... material dictates style, not the other way around.
Write what you have good ideas for... you can't say "I want to write this kind of comedy." That kind of approach leads to comedy without strong premises.
Ideas are the scarce commodity in stand-up... ideas are what make a set go. And you're going to be a much stronger comedian if you build around the strong ideas that come to you, whether it's a premise or a punchline phrasing or whatever -- rather than if you try to fit them into a predetermined framework, i.e. "this is what I am, so all the jokes need to point at this."
You can fill in the transitions and the set-ups and all the flotsam later... that's what's going to make you a polished comic, and that's what comes with experience, and it's valuable. But the backbone of the act is the inspired stuff, the ideas. And if you're coming up with inspired one-liners, I wouldn't just chuck them over nothing.
Last edited by ErikNielsen; February 3, 2011 at 6:10 PM.
Erik Charles Nielsen is a moderately funny fellow... right?
It's good to experiment with different styles, that's how you'll eventually find your own style. Maybe you are a one-liner guy? You never know until you try.
When I first started I wrote in all sorts of different styles. One-liners, stories, shorter stuff, longer stuff, misdirection, shock stuff, blue, airplane. The more I wrote and performed, the more I realized where my strengths were...so lately I've been writing towards my strengths, and beginning to find my own voice.
The biggest compliment in the world IMO is when a comic says to me, "Oh that was a very Phil Schwarzmann joke".
thanks everyone, esp Erik and Phil, for your responses
See, and I hate when that happens.
pg--Luckily, people telling me that I've written/performed a very Phil Schwarzmann joke is a pretty rare occurrence.--seattle
We'll just take the fact that this was too long and that you didn't read it...as read.
I was going to post the exact same thing yesterday but didn't.
And to think, I could've gotten an emoticon response from Phil.
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