Should you take a stand-up class?
Should you take a stand-up class?
If you want to, you should! Otherwise do not.
Full disclosure, I am the co-creator of the Berlin Stand-Up School. My classes sell out several weeks in advance through word of mouth. I’m not just showing off here, this is to illustrate that I don’t have a reason to be bias. Not that I’m not insecure - I fear that some MegaComedyCorp™ will come along and destroy my business, or I’ll get undercut by someone that know how to do TikToks. Or maybe I’ll just get sued for using too many trademarked Simpsons images in my Substack.
I might be insecure, but I’m not stupid. I know that you don’t need to take a stand-up class to do stand-up comedy. Some of the best stand-ups in the world never took a class, they never took my class. And I just have to live with that.
You don’t need a class to do anything. Painting, music, acting - I’m a self-taught computer programmer. I was a computer geek from a young age, I used to code games for my Commodore 64. OK They were called things like “Asterisk Boy In Punctuation Land”, but you try coding a game when you had to prefix every line of code with a number.
Classes are great for a lot of people, some people even have incredible experiences by working with inspiring teachers *points to face*. It’s almost as if life is a rich tapestry and not one thing is suited to everybody.
Why I started a comedy class
You can read more about my early years and the route I took to being a teacher here:
TL:DR is I always wanted to be a teacher, I took a life-changing comedy class in 2006, started dazzling people with my amazing stand-up, got burnt out and quit, moved to Berlin and started again, started a long running open-mic where I observed all the noobs get better (or not) and started teaching in 2016.
Why you should take a stand-up comedy class
Here are things a stand-up class will give you, that raw-dogging the scene will not:
A chance to have intense feedback on your material from a veteran comic
A veteran comic will have no qualms beating bad habits out of you from the get-go. On the scene you’ll have plenty of more experienced comics giving you unsolicited feedback, but they are likely to be bottom-feeders. Even if you find a good mentor, you’ll never get the intensity of feedback you’ll get from a class, it’s the whole point. Take it from me, bad habits can just fester and grow. I’ve observed comedians 5 years or so in, still making rookie mistakes because they’ve just surrounded themselves with other dum-dums.A chance to have intense feedback on your material by your peers
Who gives a crap what they think, right? Wrong. Your peers are your audience and you should care a lot what they think. Sure, you might hear audience laughter from your oh so edgy pronoun joke, but you’d never get to hear that 1/4 of the audience hated it and why.Making fwends
Going it alone on the stand-up scene can be an alienating business. People argue that if you can’t hack the hardships of the scene, then you shouldn’t be a comic. As if the scene is just for grizzled one legged alcoholic comedy pirates. At a comedy class you make friends, and now you have a little gang you can go to open-mics with and workshop material with. This is a huge benefit.A chance to do your first gig in a safe-space
My student shows are usually amazing, I’m not being humble - they are. It’s so nice to have your first gig be a really fun one in front of friends, rather than in some piss stained bar in front of bitter comedians, and 2 differently sized dogs.
More chance of winning the Berlin New Stand-Up Award (or equivalent)
Every year an average of 70-80% of finalists are graduates of my stand-up class, and I’m 100% sure it’s because I teach my students to be authentic, and beat the hack right out of them. As you can imagine, all the bitter people that don’t do so well in the competition & comedy class deniers all think this is because the competition is fixed! Or maybe, just maybe, taking a class in your chosen discipline can make you better at that thing? Nah yeah probably it’s a conspiracy.
Why you shouldn’t take a stand-up comedy class
There are plenty of good free and low-cost alternatives out there
, and probably countless other sources - not to mention just having a go. You don’t need to spend much money to get started in stand-up comedy.
From Logan Murray’s book, to this Substack you are currently reading, to this incredible free 12 week comedy class I saw onA lot of classes are shit
This goes for most things but make sure you get a clear recommendation before forking over your money to a stranger. It’s really easy to make a glitzy website, have strong a sounding resume and cherry-pick testimonials. Even if someone is a good comedian, it doesn’t mean they are a good teacher.You aren’t willing to change
I’d be wary of doing a beginner’s comedy class if you’ve already been doing comedy or performance a while, unless you are fully willing to drop your whole shtick. You have to come to a beginners class with a beginners mindset. That means be open to feedback and the teachings of the class.You don’t need no stinking class!
Some people have the confidence to just go for it, and that’s great. Perhaps you wouldn’t thrive in a class because you’re not a people person, or you think you know better than everyone, or you’re just amazing already. In fact please don’t come to a class if you have some personality disorder, we’re not therapists!
I just recently finished a stand up class. I've always loved comedy and I absolutely adore learning. Pushing myself was almost insurmountable. If someone is on the fence, my vote is to go for it.