The Mirror: Getting Ideas for Comedy Material

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The Mirror Getting Ideasfor Comedy Material

• Roger Fusselman
• Pohang Comedy Group
• April 15, 2007
• fusselman_at_hotmail.comCell 010-6873-7981

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Welcome once again!

• News for today
• Our new location Café ID. Meet here also April
  22.
• Today we discuss what sort of places one can get
  material that can eventually be turned into
  comedy.
• Any homework to share especially
  (semi-)memorized routines.
• The usual housekeeping
• Comedy homework is assigned, but not required.
• Get feedback from each other about what works,
  what doesnt.
• Eventually do a public performance at one of the
  bars in Pohang.

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Stand-Up Comedy The Book by Judy Carter

• Todays material comes largely from the first
  part of Chapter 2 of Judys textbook.
• The PowerPoint handouts lean 99 percent on the
  text, with little added to them from me.
• To recall some points from Chapter 1
• Dont try to be funny.
• Be brave to express the truth in the mirror.
• Dont worry about telling jokes or stories.
• Relax and enjoy these exercises.

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Attitude

• All the material youll ever need is inside of
  you.
• The way to start developing material is to find
• your attitude,
• your issues,
• and the connection between the two.
• Good comedians dont merely have funny,
  well-constructed things to say. They have a very
  specific emotional attitude.
• Attitude is the heartbeat of an act.
• Examples
• Im worried about I love Im angry about

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Persona

• Persona one specific attitude for a comedians
  entire act.
• Bill Cosby child-like enthusiasm.
• I get no respect (Rodney Dangerfield)
• Heres something stupid (Jay Leno)
• Im in pain (Richard Lewis)
• All successful comedians have a persona.
• You cant start with an attitude. It has to come
  to you, bit by bit.
• Attitude and persona are like emotional
  integrators of your insights.
• To be tuned to emotional attitude allows you to
  generate material that is integrated to your
  values and opinions.

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Topics to avoid in choosing material

• Often these are substitutions for ones lack of
  material. They do not constitute actual humor.
• Racist jokes Put-downs of an entire group
  insult the audience.
• Michael Richardss recent tirade alienated much
  of his audience.
• Possible exception if youre from the group you
  put down.
• Jeff Foxworthy You might be a redneck if
• Express your inner fears rather than your
  complaints about others.
• Life-destroying diseases Why depress your
  audience?
• Gross images Avoid topics that involve
  excretions. The club owner would like to sell
  some chili fries.

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One more thing to avoid

• Dirty words using dirty words admits you lack
  comedy material and that you have no real emotion
  for the topics youre discussing.
• Hurt the audience acceptance for Sam Kinison,
  Eddie Murphy.
• Exceptions have been highly seasoned veterans
• Richard Pryor (but the profanity was never in his
  punch lines, according to Dick Gregory)
• George Carlin (who actually did an entire routine
  on dirty words, but did it to make observations
  about human nature)
• Use euphemisms instead.
• If you want to get hired, stay away from this
  kind of material.

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Workshop 3 Negative Personality Traits

• It pays to confess to yourself your innermost
  negatives.
• The more embarrassing, the better.
• Helps to establish your credibility by being
  truthful, authentic, and convincing.
• Write them down, and be honest about them.
• Mine
• Procrastinator.
• Tune out people when theyre talking some times.
• Pretentious show-off at precisely the wrong
  times.
• Poor at planning life, lessons, finances, future.
• Poor at cleaning regularly.

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What about yours? Write five of them down.

• 1.
• 2.
• 3.
• 4.
• 5.

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Workshop 4 Unique Characteristics

• E.g., a handicap, a strange job in your past, an
  uncommon religion, something unusual about your
  upbringing.
• Write down one sentence roughly the length of a
  newspaper lead about what it may be.
• Half-hearted examples in my case
• Im an English teacher whos lived in Korea for
  a while. Im an Objectivist. I play the
  kalimba.
• None of these strike me as unique.
• Dont have a unique characteristic? Judy
  recommends moving on to Workshop 5.

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Write your unique characteristics here.

• _______________________________________
• _______________________________________
• _______________________________________
• _______________________________________
• _______________________________________

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Workshop 5 Outer self characteristics.

• These are things others know about you instantly
  just by looking at you.
• These can be positive traits, negative traits, or
  neutral traits.
• They do not have to be funny.
• Actual examples from Judys workshops Oversized
  hair, wimpy-looking, 200-pound female with a
  fresh knife wound on her face.
• Other examples Japanese, large shoulders, butch,
  middle-aged, tall, Black, etc.
• My examples balding, red hair.

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Write two things people quickly notice about you.

• 1.
• 2.

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Your inner self

• What issues are you struggling with?
• What topics, concerns, or relationships do you
  find yourself constantly thinking about?
• What do you hate? What worries you? What
  frightens you?
• Carry around a small notebook and write down what
  you notice in answer to such questions.
• Dont censor or judge what you write down.
• Best done in the morning before you get out of
  bed, when your writing is less restrained.
• Put a pen and notebook next to your bed.
• Need coffee? Pack an overnight Thermos full of it
  and place it next to your bed.

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Workshop 6 Things you hate

• Write down at least 10 things you hate.
• Be as specific as possible. Hating brussel
  sprouts is better than hating vegetables.
• Dont do all of the list at once. Pace yourself.
• Be genuine.
• Have patience.
• Dont think ahead to any act or any statement you
  want to make.
• Dont censor.
• Looks like this I hate _____________________.
• (Ten or more times, of course.)

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Workshops 7 and 8 Worries and fears

• Follow the workshop 6 directions also on
• Workshop 7 Write down at least 10 things that
  worry you.
• Looks like this I worry about _________________.
• Be as specific as possible.
• Workshop 8 Write down at least 10 things that
  frighten you.
• Looks like this Im frightened about
  _________________.
• Be as specific as possible.
• These must be genuinely frightening
• Stay away from typical frights, such as nuclear
  war.

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Have the raw diamonds before you cut them.

• Next time we will learn how to turn these lists
  into comedy material, but first we need the raw
  material.
• Its much more organic and natural to begin with
  raw observations that are not yet funny than to
  craft artificial humor from comedy formulas.
• This is analogous to writing have something
  worth saying before learning how to say it.
• Do not shoot for comedy just yet.
• Trust yourself to write down things that you
  think others wont feel that way.

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Summary

• Identify attitude and persona in comedians you
  see or hear.
• Stay away from topics that undercut your sense of
  humor.
• Identify your negative personality traits.
• Identify your unique characteristics.
• Identify your outer-self features.
• Identify what you hate.
• Identify what you worry about.
• Identify what frightens you.
• Be patient and do not shoot for humor just yet.

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I hate..

• 1.
• 2.
• 3.
• 4.
• 5.

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I hate..

• 6.
• 7.
• 8.
• 9.
• 10.

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Im worried about..

• 1.
• 2.
• 3.
• 4.
• 5.

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Im worried about..

• 6.
• 7.
• 8.
• 9.
• 10.

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Im frightened of..

• 1.
• 2.
• 3.
• 4.
• 5.

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Im frightened of..

• 6.
• 7.
• 8.
• 9.
• 10.