Comedic pauses are an essential part of stand-up comedy. They can help make your material easier for the audience to understand, create comedic tension before the punchline, and give the audience time to solve your joke and begin laughing. Let’s start off with an example of amazing comedic timing. Notice how the pause directly in …
A short comedy sketch by Jared & Luke Lacoy (from The Clean Comedy Podcast) Today, I want to share with you my first comedy sketch written for TikTok and YouTube #Shorts. The unique challenge I faced writing this sketch was that I only had 1 minute to setup and complete the sketch. Everything had to …
You Have To Market Yourself! – Comedy Sketch & Walkthrough Of My Writing Process Read More »
Here’s a YouTube video of my recent interview with the Clean Comedy Podcast. Luke and James do great work putting on this show every week. You can find The Clean Comedy Podcast on Youtube or you can listen on your favorite podcasting app. You can also check out my earlier interview with them from Dec. …
Pixar has a formula that works… but what is their formula? In this video, I’ll show you how Pixar structures a typical short film to quickly tell the audience everything they need to know to “get the jokes.” This is the same storytelling structure that you’ll find in almost every comedic sketch (i.e., Key & …
How Pixar Uses Comedic Tension to Tell Funny Stories Read More »
What makes for the best punchline isn’t as straightforward as people thought. The Surprise Hypothesis, which posits that jokes become funnier as the punchline becomes more surprising or unpredictable, has largely failed empirical research. Even weirder, results suggest that less-surprising punchlines are often funnier. While counter-intuitive, it makes sense once you dig a little deeper. …
First, quietly and respectfully ask other comedians if they agree with you. It’s not about accusing anyone. It’s about making sure that you’re justified in calling it a “theft.” If others feel reasonably certain that another comedian is using your material, then you can try talking to the accused thief. If you believe that …
Q&A – What Do I Do When Someone is Stealing My Jokes? Read More »
How Jokes Work (From the Audience’s Perspective) As you’ll see, comedic conflict and joke-telling are not completely inseparable. A joke is simply a setup/punchline structure that is designed to create a comedic conflict. All jokes create comedic conflict, but not all comedic conflict is created from jokes. Understanding comedic conflict greatly increases your repertoire as …
How Jokes Work (From The Audience’s Perspective) Read More »
In this lesson, I’ll introduce you to various styles of comedy and give you a few examples of each style in action. Here’s what you need to know before we dive in: You do not have to choose only one of these styles… especially early on. If you still consider yourself a beginner then …
Joke Structures: How To Write Stand-Up Comedy Jokes Get Instant Access To20+ Hours of Comedy Training! Click here to get started! Joke Structures, also known as “joke formats” or “joke types” is a way for comedians to organize a setup and punchline to create a comedic conflict. A “Joke Formula” is a conventional joke-writing strategy …
Joke Writing: The Ultimate Free Guide to Joke Structures Read More »
