Expert: Tom - 7/17/2009

Question
My name is Chris and what I want to know is how I can develop my comedic persona? andIalso want to say is when Iwas a teenager, I use to make people laugh by not giving them straight answers when they asked a question or if they said something to me and I use to do things with my body and do impressions and make faces that were funny sort of like lucy on I love lucy. I like to act like lucy on I love lucy just to make people laugh and years later,I would make stuff up and claim Iwas telling the truth and made people laugh. i am into acting, How does acting and stand-up comedy go together? To me, most comedians look like they just say things and make people laugh just by using all words. When I write jokes, What kinds of questions do I ask myself or ask about myself? What kind of approach would you like me to take when I write my material? Thats what I want to know.

Answer
Chris --

It sounds as if you've already been doing the main thing that I recommend, which is to study the work of other comedians you admire. I would suspect, however, that more than just words are involved for many good comedians. The words are important, but, for example, timing and tone are part of an individual comedian's style as well. There are also some who use postures, gestures, and facial expressions as part of the act (though not everybody). So, I think the best bet would be to listen a lot to what others have done, perhaps paying special attention to these nonverbal aspects.

Your own persona needn't be the same as any other person's, but the underlying principals are probably something you can learn about by studying what others do. It would also be good to make note of any non-verbal habits that you *don't* like -- think about why you dislike them and figure out whether you can safely avoid them or whether you should learn to like them. (For example: I personally dislike mean sarcasm. I can't stand it when others do it, even though I know that some comedians use this effectively in their humor. For me, it would be too much of a stretch to embrace that type of approach -- I just wouldn't be comfortable enough with it to pull it off.)

Good luck!

-- Tom