by James Washington
Picture this: a dark stage with one light on, a quiet audience waiting for the next stand up comedian to provide them with at least 5 minutes of good time. You are the person that walks to the microphone; the light is on you and it blinds you so you don’t really see the crowd. You start with your opening line, as the people in front of you want a comedy stand up routine that makes them laugh.
After you deliver your opening line you instantly know if you act is a success or not. If the people start laughing, then it’s a good one. If not, it sucks. So you want to make them laugh, or else, you’re done.
Being on stage for the first time is never easy. Most stand-up comics will honestly say that their first time was hard, and stand up comedy isn’t as easy as it seems. Luckily for you, there are some tips and tricks that can aid you improve your act and make performing easy as pie. So, if stand up comedy is your piece of pie and you dream of having an introductio n that goes ” From New York City, Comedy Central presents” and your name, or you want to be on Saturday Night Live and give your audience a good time, then you need to be funny, to have good material and live talent.
The question on your mind is “okay, so what can I do?” Well, the first thing you need to do is to come up with some good humor. Before you manage to get into the comedy circuit and perform in comedy clubs, you will want to do as all stand-up comedians do. Stand up in front of your home mirror and build your act, come up with fresh and funny material that will help you build your fan base.
If you have trouble coming with new material, then take a good look at you. You can make fun about the way you look, about your ethnicity, about your family – your mother, father, uncle, sister, et cetera. You will want to come up with your own style and comic act. Students, actors and regular people want to be stand up comedians. However, before you or any of the m make it into a comedy festival or are on national television and have a huge stand up comedy career, you along with everybody else will need to train and brush off your act, always aiming to bring your audience closer to you. This is why you will want to go to as many open microphone nights as possible and learn from those experiences.
Another very important thing is to always have with you something to write or record. Inspiration can hit you when you least expect it: while you’re on the toilet, in the bus, while you’re wowing a woman or a man, depending on your sex and orientation, et cetera.