AboutTom Expertise I can answer questions about The Capitol Steps, a political (mostly musical) satire group based in Washington, DC which performs in Washington, around the U.S., and four times a year on public radio. I can answer questions about who is performing which role in Capitol Steps sketches and songs on albumns and can help identify a routine (and which albumn or radio show includes it) based on partial lyrics. I can also provide tips and suggestions for those interested in writing and performing spoonerism-based comedy similar to the Steps` "Lirty Dies."
Experience I have been a Capitol Steps fan since about 1995. I own all the albumns and have listened to each dozens of times. I have particularly studied (and particularly admire) the "Lirty Dies" routines and I have written and performed material of this sort. Despite the fact that I live halfway across the U.S. from Washington, I've attended many live Capitol Steps performances, including several at their permanent locations in the DC area.
Question Im like a few other people here who have posted, people from school and work say im pretty funny. I would love to be a Comedian, even if its not like for a job when i get older(im only 17), I just enjoy making people laugh and have a good time. I would love to do stand up, like i said even if its just for fun. Ive been trying to write some stuff down and make it all work, but im having trouble thinking of funny stuff. For me its easy, if im with friends and we are joking around or just talking and someone says something dumb/funny, i can run with that and make it good for a while. But im not good and thinking of stuff ifs its just me.
Ive read a few things that say, figure out what your style is and find commics who have the same style and listen/watch them a lot. I would have to say my favorite is Brian Regan, I have a few of his acts down and can do them just like he does, and for people who have never heard of him think i came up with it, I would never use it in a show though, i just like his style. So im pretty much asking good ways to come up with material and keep it flowing for a while.
If you have anything let me know.
Thanks,
TJ
Answer TJ --
I apologize for the delay in my response -- I must have missed the first notification of your question, but the AllExperts system has now sent me a reminder.
I'm impressed at what you have thought through already. I'll see if I can add some more ideas, but I think you're on the right track with what you have done so far.
Your motivation to make people laugh and to have a good time yourself is a good one. I think this is a more realistic initial goal, and therefore more likely to bring satisfaction, than becoming a "professional" (presumably money-making) comedian. Once you get close to this initial goal, you could then decide if you want to set your sights on something else. This (make people laugh and have a good time) has been my own goal, and I'm quite happy with it. (I make my living as a classroom educator, a job which lets me use many of the same communication and people skills which I have exercised in my amateur comedy life. In fact, I'd say that the classroom is really where I have a chance to do most of my practice, even though my students do not -- I hope -- think of me as a comedian.)
For me, I felt I had a good sense of humor and wanted to see if I could be succesful in the rather demanding setting of "official" comedy. My observation is that if you're having a conversation with friends and see an opportunity to say something funny, you can be really funny fairly often. But if you don't have anything funny to say at a particular moment, your friends don't think of you as having bombed the conversation. However, if you put on a nametag (figuratively speaking) that says "comedian" and then get up in front of an audience, the expectations are much higher. In addition, some of the element of surprise and spontenaiety are taken away because, after all, people are expecting you to say something funny.
All of this means that to do comedy, you have to (I believe) treat it more like a science. You've already started this with trying to write stuff down. I would encourage you to specifically carry note paper (I use 3x5 cards because they're tough) so that when you have an idea, you can write it down right away. The best thing to do is to write down lots of ideas, even if they're not fully formed, with the expectation that 95% of it will be useless but the other 5% may turn out to be something workable. I found that being in the habit of writing down ideas actually seemed to make me think of more ideas than I would otherwise -- or maybe it's just that I become more aware of my ideas if I'm always thinking, "Gee, I should write that down!" Either way, I ended up with more notes than I thought I would have.
The one change I would suggest to what you've written is what I understand to be trying to reproduce somebody else's routine. I should qualify this by saying that I never tried to reproduce another's routine, so I don't really know if that exercise has benefits I may not have thought of. But I believe I learned the most from trying to construct something that was *like* somebody else's routine in terms of structure, but with different content. The trick, I think, is to figure out the patterns that make things funny and then take your funny ideas (content) and put them into that format.
One other suggestion I would make is to start generating ideas for venues for performance. This is highly personal, as I don't know your specific environment and the options available to you. My standard suggestions are speech contests and talent shows (especially for younger people, like you), as well as Toastmasters or some other kind of "communication club" where you get general group-communication practice. I think teaching is also good practice working with and managing groups -- it actually involves a lot of trying to get people to like what you're saying. If you wish to pursue the teaching idea and are located in the U.S., you could check with the Red Cross about training to become an instructor in any of a bunch of different topics. At 17, you meet the age requirements for teaching most types of classes. Teaching relatively short classes over and over gives you a chance to experiment with how slight changes in what you say can make a big difference in how people react, which is a big component of group comedy.
