What stand-up is, and what it isn't
What stand-up is, and what it isn't
But also ranting, so much ranting
If you have any acting experience, you may have heard of the concept of “the fourth wall”. This is an invisible wall that divides the audience from the actors on stage. Think of it as one-way glass with the audience being able to see the actors but not the other way around. In plays, the fourth wall is rarely broken; after all it’s usually hard to explain why there’s a room full of people all sitting in rows staring at you. In television, it’s sometimes broken where an actor will communicate with the viewing audience, even if it’s just a sideways glance. Of course the audience can never communicate back, at least not directly.
Stand-up is not acting
In stand-up there is no fourth wall. You are mostly speaking directly to the audience, when you’re not you’re talking to yourself or another character. You’re always talking to someone. Now that’s not to say acting isn’t a useful skill to have when performing stand-up. It’s super useful to be able to “act-out” your stories, and the characters in them. The more you comedy paints a visual scene in the audience's mind the better. You are not acting the part of a stand-up comedian, you are very much you. There are people that perform their stand-up as a character, but that is not something I would advise any beginner to do. You want to get really good at being a heightened version of yourself on stage, and the only time you act is to personify another person.
Take notice of your own stand-up. Is this how you talk to your friends? if not you could be doing a character, or an impression of a stand-up comedy. This might help you get over nerves, because if it goes badly, it’s not the real you they hate - right? But it’s an easy trap to fall in to, and a difficult trap to get out of - Like a pit, with slippery walls.
Sometimes beginners come on stage with their scripts so tightly prepared it’s as if they’re doing a one person play. There’s no awareness of the audience in front of them. Even if the script is very good, there is this 4th wall between them and the audience and they don’t feel included in the performance, therefore they can’t relate as well. This often comes from nerves, and sometimes comes from too much acting. Often actor types do their best work in class before they take to the stage. The part of the class when we’re all just sat in chairs and chatting shit. Then as soon as they grab the microphone and feel the glow of the lights, the elevation of the stage, the applause, the music, did I say the lights? This creepy vaudevillian amalgam of every stand-up comedian they have ever seen comes out “Offices, they’re crazy aren’t they?” who talks like that?? Do the thing you were dong when you were sat in a chair shuffling a clutch of unhinged late night notes. That’s my guy! This guy needs to be chloroformed “shh, shh, it’ll be over soon” “but did you hear the one about… zzz”
Stand-up is happening in the present moment
In stand-up, people often tell anecdotes that happened in the past: “My girlfriend just dumped me”, “Did you see this in the news?”, “On the way here…”. It’s not a well kept secret that when a comedian says a thing happened recently, the actual event probably happened several years ago. Even when you are talking about historical events, you need to bring them into the present by saying how you feel now, and who you are now.
Even though the events themselves might be set in the past, you are talking about them in the present moment. You do this by showing, not telling. Don’t tell people about what happened, but show them what happened. Your audience has to feel a part of what’s happening, or they won’t care. Imagine telling your favorite personal anecdote at a party to a group of people who have amazingly never heard it before. Your partner swiftly exits seeing a pretend long lost friend in the distance as they’d rather eat spoons than hear your “did a little poo during my A-levels” story again. You don’t just “read out” the anecdote “I remember it well, it was 1996, I was about to take my A-level in English Literature…”. No! People would slowly walk backwards away from you. You thrill people! You dance and do voices, you paint a vivid picture. Your A-Level poo story has probably changed 10 fold since 1996, but the point is the picture is vivid and fun and funny. Stand-up should be just like really feeling yourself at a party, and entertaining a group of people.
Most stand-ups word a past event as a present moment, just so it feels more like a conversation than an anecdote. “I first came out in Berlin in 2013, and it’s a terrible place to come out - because nobody gives a shit!” can easily be “Berlin is a terrible place to come out, because nobody gives a shit”
My mum is always complaining, she still complains about how I apparently ruined her vagina! I’m like, get over it! It was 4 years ago, I was drunk!
Caroline Clifford
Stand-up is not storytelling or a Ted Talk
Comedic storytelling is a thing, and it can be fantastic. Any fans of “The Moth” or similar can attest to the power of a well told story, and how humour can really make it pop. Many students come to my class from a storytelling, lecturing or business speech background are looking to “punch up” their existing texts. Aside from being comfortable in front of an audience, I find the skills a little non-transferable.
In some storytelling and speeches, you are the narrator, you act as a discombobulated person that is describing events and situations. Stand-up has no narrator, because it’s a conversation you are having with the audience. If you were gossiping with a friend, it would be weird if you were to suddenly start narrating the events. “It was a cold and sunny morning in late July, I hadn’t had much sleep - and suddenly my daughter Wendy came running in screaming…” your friend would get a little freaked out! You’d say it more like “My daughter was FREAKING OUT the other morning!”, that way the person you are talking to is also experiencing your emotions.
Stand-up is a one-sided conversation
Stand-up should feel like a (very funny?) conversation you are having with close friends. The difference is you need to build up the same level of trust you have with close friends in just a few minutes on stage, seconds really. You do that by staying in the moment. This can come by simply regarding the entire audience as one entity, and that entity is your best friend. The stage is just like life, if you’re creepy (hiding things), people won’t like you, then won’t trust you. If you’re open, vulnerable and fun they will instantly warm to you. This might make it seem like I’m saying you’ll only thrive if you’re the life and soul of the party, absolutely not. Most comedians I know are anxious losers (don’t @ me). But even anxious losers have friends, or at least people you go bouldering with. You just have to be yourself, sorry.
I say one-sided conversation because in general it’s not good to ask the audience a lot of questions that you don’t care about the answer to, such as “how’s everyone doing!?” “Does anyone have pets?” “Who wears hats??” “Give me a cheer if..!” This kind of meaningless cheer-leading might seem like a good way to inject life into a lackluster crowd, but it’s cheap and can irritate an audience who didn’t come to a show to perform. Bare in mind you might be the 9th comic on that night that’s asked “How’s everyone doing” “Yeah jeez we’re fine, why do you keep asking - are you my mom!?”
Some comedians are skilled at crowd work and that’s a different thing, where you have a deep interest in your audience and are creating material with them. It’s incredible to see a gifted crowd-worker, usually the host of the evening, weave an intricate tapestry of connections between the entire audience. Then can really make the audience feel like they’re alive in the room and as much a part of the evening as the comedians, while making sure they don’t get too involved when the actual comedians are on stage!
Stand-up is uncensored
Uh oh! trigger warning cancel culture red pill whaaaat? I’ve mentioned before that I am a tight-arsed liberal, but I do believe stand-up should be uncensored. That is to say you should write from the overlapping venn circles of things that are meaningful to you, and things that are funny to you and things that are funny to other people.
You shouldn't censor your true thoughts and feelings because of what you think an audience might think of you. At the same time you shouldn’t deliberately pick heavy and dark topics because you think it’ll make you seem more interesting, or that’ll be funny by its own merit. TALK ABOUT WHAT IS MEANINGFUL TO YOU. The audience are the only people that can tell you what they think. However please read the next section 👇
Stand-up is funny!
If you have chosen to be a stand-up comedian, you have chosen a performance art-form where the entire point is to make the entire audience laugh as deeply and as much as possible. None of this “I just want to offend people” or “I’m an anti-comic”, these are the rallying cries of failed comedians. If your comedy fails to make people laugh then vow to get better, or realise that comedy is not for you and stop. Don’t pretend that that was the whole point all along and carry on. Now you’re taking stage-time away from comedians that truly deserve it, and wearing down a perfectly nice audience for the rest of the comedians who actually give a fuck.
I had a student who had some very offensive things to say about women, and I have no problem calling that out. I can sense a person is just trying to be funny and probably isn’t a sexist monster? But I don’t really know them and neither do the audience. Audiences and strangers in general will tend to think the worst of you if your position on an uncomfortable topic is unclear.
I’ve gotten pretty good at nipping this stuff in the bud without causing too many hurt butts.
Tell them how it made you feel: That made me feel uncomfortable
Tell them why it made you feel that way without assigning blame: I’m not sure if you meant to, but it sounded like you like to abuse women.
Give the “icky” speech: Some things just cause an “icky” feeling, and if there isn’t a great joke or point coming - the icky will just hang in the air like a wet fart. And everyone knows it was you that farted.
However, I really do believe you can joke about anything. I have heard sexist jokes that I thought were really funny because they were oddly specific and totally unhinged. I was lucky enough to see Patrice O'Neal shortly before he died, and boy was he a sexist monster but my oh my was he one of the funniest comedians I’ve ever seen! So I’m not saying don’t be sexist or any other “ist” but if you’re going to do it, make sure you’re bloody funny.
Stand-up should move with the times
Comedy can get dated very quickly. By being dated it means that it was probably funny at the time, but it isn’t funny in the present day because society evolved in such a way that we don’t say things like that any more. For example, it wasn’t that long ago that being gay was funny in itself. The very idea of same-sex attraction was a knee-slapping rib-tickler. I myself used to use the term “gay” pejoratively all the time, so much so in fact that I became gay :-( I know that in many parts of the world being gay is still some kind of insult/joke, but in most modern forward thinking situations there just isn’t anything funny about being gay. Sure there are funny gay people, and funny gay anecdotes, and funny little gay hats! But same-sex attraction in itself is neither funny, or an insult.
Again, I am never saying don’t say dated things or censor yourself, but at least have some awareness about the society you exist in. Your jokes will be so much richer if you perform them to and for everyone. If you investigate any topic hard enough, you will usually discover that the biggest joke of all is yourself.