Intro
Are you one of those folks who are struggling with “writing” your stand-up comedy material and would like a pro “joke writer” do it for you?
Then there is a very good chance that you are among the masses who believe that stand-up comedy material is “written” in the literal sense.
This is a serious misconception whether you are developing your own stand-up comedy material or want to have a professional comedy writer do it for you.
Please check out this article before you venture down this page:
Are You Using A One Dimensional Approach In A Three Dimensional Performing Art?
If you understand the information provided in that article and the rest of the information on this page, then you should have a pretty good clue as to why it is very FOOLISH to buy “generic”, paper written “jokes” from anyone.
My Take On The Whole “Buying Jokes” Approach
Usually, I won’t even read a comedian’s material on paper without a video of the comedian performing the material because most of the elements that cause laughter to happen with a live audience are missing:
Want A Comedy Coach To Read Your Stand-up Material? Read This First
Individuals who send me inquiries wanting to pay me to “write” comedy material for them usually (but not always) fall into one or more of these categories:
1. They don’t have real comedy talent to start with and are under the impression that they can simply learn to “write” their way to being hilarious on stage (which is a joke all by itself) or pay someone to “write” comedy material for them out of thin air or…
2. They are clueless like so many (including so-called comedy “experts”) about comedy mechanics, as well as developing and structuring comedy material that’s focused on an individual’s unique sense of humor, perspectives, points of view and most importantly — an individual’s already developed expressive comedy traits and/or…
3. They don’t realize that professional “joke writers” must study a comedian’s demeanor, delivery style, body language, overall attitude, comedy timing, perspectives, points of view etc. before they can effectively “write” material (or more appropriately stated — develop comedy material) that will actually work for that comedian on stage.
Even then, it’s the comedian who many times provides the topics, subjects or premises to the pro “joke writer” when it comes to third party comedy material development (late night comedians on TV excluded – they have teams of “writers” that already know the items listed in number 3 above about the late night comedian they “write” for).
FYI — Pro comedians do use pro “joke writers”. But certain conditions must exist for that comedy material to work effectively on stage.
And for the record — I personally couldn’t “write” a funny joke out of “thin air” for myself (or anyone else for that matter) if my mom was being held hostage.
But I know exactly how to identify and structure what I want to say and express on the stage to generate headliner level laughter from an audience.
That’s what the Killer Stand-up Comedy System is all about, as opposed to trying to “write jokes” the hardest way possible (out of thin air) — which is much like trying to dig a swimming pool with spoon.
It can be done, it just takes forever — as well as experiencing a lot of bombing in the process.
Will I Develop Comedy Material For A Comedian? It Depends…
If someone has an online video of their stand-up comedy that I can review and study, I charge $100 per page of developed (and/or edited) stand-up comedy material in my system format with the understanding that most, if not all of the material won’t “read” funny on paper.
Hint: Go to YouTube and find a short video of your favorite comedian killing on stage. Transcribe word for word what they say in the video.
Then print out that transcribed routine and show it to some friends or people at work and see if they laugh at ANYTHING as it is “written” on paper. The chances are great that they won’t even giggle at all.
Shortcut: I have actually done this for you in the first lesson in Training Module One of the Killer Stand-up Online Course.
The Bottom Line
Even if you have real comedy talent to start with…
You will have a very hard and unnecessarily difficult road ahead of you if you expect paper “written” jokes to generate substantial laughs on stage from a live audience.
The same is true if you simply buy “off the shelf jokes” from someone who claims to be a pro joke writer or is ready to write and sell you “jokes”, but has never even seen you perform. Genuine pro comedy writers simply do not work that way.
So when it comes to buying “jokes” — buyer beware.
