One of the things that every comedian simply cannot have enough of is confidence.
But where does that confidence come from — especially in the beginning?
I would be so bold as to say that in stand-up comedy, having confidence on stage originates from having confidence in the material development process that a comedian uses — specifically one that works with a measure of success to generate noteworthy audience laughs.
And I say that whether a comedian chooses to “write” their stand-up comedy act in the “conventional” way or they use the system provided in my online course.
Here’s why I say that the foundation for having confidence on stage lies firmly in the process used by the comedian to develop their stand-up comedy act…
1. If a comedian can only guess at what may or may not be funny to an audience, they are left with blind trial and error when they deliver that stand-up comedy material on stage.
Having to guess at anything that requires skill and knowledge, no matter what the endeavor may be, will always foster doubt (which is the opposite of confidence).
Here’s a question — are you able to use the sense of humor you have right now in everyday conversations with a measure of confidence?
If so…
How did you come up with the idea that it wouldn’t work on stage or that you had to develop some sort of “special” talent or sense of humor to make audiences laugh?
Huge hint: What you do, say and how you express yourself in everyday life that causes people to laugh is what you absolutely want to do on the stand-up comedy stage — only in a more tightly structured “package” designed for audiences.
2. If a comedian doesn’t know why their stand-up comedy material worked to get laughs or didn’t work, not only are they left with blind trial and error, but…
They really have no idea how to duplicate the laughter generation that occurred in their stand-up comedy material that worked in the development of new material.
It also makes it very difficult to make intelligent decisions when it comes to adjusting, tightening or getting rid of stand-up comedy material in order progress quickly and develop a core stand-up comedy act that generates big laughs on a consistent basis.
But if you are just trying to “talk out” paper written jokes that were produced from thin air…
Well, I wouldn’t have much confidence in that either, given that talking and expressing oneself is an entirely different form of communication than writing (which only uses words — many more words than you can afford to use on stage and get the laughs you need).
3. If a comedian doesn’t have a good grasp on the combination of elements that make them funny in the first place, they are going to have a difficult time incorporating those elements into their stand-up comedy material.
Another question — if you are self aware enough to know that you have the ability to cause others to laugh when you engage in everyday conversations, are you self aware enough to know that it’s NOT just the words you say but how you express those words you use?
Because if the answer to that question is NO, your quest for confidence when you step on stage will be fleeting at best.
Hint: If you believe that it is merely words and the structure of those words that give you the laughs you get when you interact with others, there are PLENTY of stand-up comedy books (#ad) that take that very approach.
The end result?
It ends up taking a comedian an unnecessarily long time to not only have confidence in one’s ability to develop a decent stand-up comedy act, but to also deliver that material with confidence as well (which combined will ultimately generate the most laughter).
And that’s assuming that a comedian is willing to deal with a tremendous amount of unneeded bombing on stage in order to finally “figure out” how to “write” a stand-up comedy act or develop stand-up comedy material that actually works.
So here’s the most important question – do you have confidence in the process that you are using to develop your stand-up comedy material or write your stand-up comedy act?
Because if you don’t and you have real comedy talent to bring to the table, you may want to investigate an alternative approach when it comes to developing your stand-up comedy act – one that you DO have confidence in BEFORE you ever hit the stage.
Stand-up comedy is a highly deceptive performing art in that professional comedians make it look easy and spontaneous during their performances when in reality…
There is much more involved with developing and delivering a high level stand-up comedy act than meets the eye.
But it DOES NOT have to be difficult at all provided you have an effective process that guides you to use the comedy talent that you have already developed — right from the start.
One of the best ways to spend a dollar, whether in business or school or in pursuit of putting together a great book of material is to ALWAYS keep post- its on you. They’re the perfect size to just jot down a punchline or a few keywords. In the past two years I would say roughly forty post – its translated into approximately twenty solid minutes of material. That’s enough for an opening act,just because I jotted something down and expanded on it later, all for about two bucks!
I have confidence in my process of developing material. I am using your system. One of the things I am doing is found in Module Six. Not only do I pastor a church, I work at a pizza place. This past month I’ve been joking with some my customers, when I forget something, about my lack of short-term memory. On a very regular basis, people are laughing. I know I have found a topic people like and they like the way my sense of humor is interacting with the topic. It builds up my confidence. Guess what one of my topics will be for February’s Island Grind? I’d tell ya, but I forgot!
I hope you have a note pad handy — you are exposed to a ton of comedy gold in these interactions!
Not as often as I should. You’re right about the comedy gold. They don’t know I’m trying a few seconds of my material out so they treat it like a conversation. So we get to explore the comedy aspect of the topic together. I just need to remember the pad of paper. (Though I have written some notes on a napkin and transferred it to my note pad!) Carrying the pad everywhere I go needs to become a long-term habit.
This was a pretty good article to help motivate confidence in your material. In order to have confidence on stage you have to study your craft. This article has helped to point me into the right direction on being confident on stage.
Thanks