Creating a Comic

My friend and fellow comedian Devin Badoo says that stand-up comedy shows are basically “damaged male beauty pageants.” It’s a clever joke, and he’s absolutely right—if by beauty he means inner beauty. And if by inner beauty he means hateful misanthropes.

My point is, comedians are a lot like rock stars, minus all the groupie sex and general awesomeness. Like rock stars, comics assemble a set list before our shows. It’s basically a list of jokes and bits¹ to remind us which ones we want to do and when we want to do them. Here’s one of my set lists, which I put together after being told I would have ten minutes of stage time:

The graphic novels bit was cut for time.
No big blue penis jokes.²

There are a few general guidelines I follow when putting together a set list. These are far from ironclad rules; I’ve found that they work for me, and seem to work for a lot of other comics, but some of the best comedians routinely ignore them:

1. Close with a big laugh. Due to the vagaries of human memory, our lasting impression of a performer is overwhelmingly based on the last thing we saw them do. It’s important to always close big with a proven joke.
2. Open with a proven bit, preferably a self-deprecating one. The opener (usually) isn’t the time for new material or long, involved stories. Getting to a laugh quickly—within 30 seconds or so—gets the audience on your side. Making fun of yourself is another good way to get them to sympathize with you.
3. Sandwich new material between proven jokes. Discussed in a previous entry on working new material into your set.

Working out transitions between bits can help make a set seem a lot more polished and professional. While a seamless transition between material can help determine the order of the jokes, the key barometer when deciding whether or not to include something is always “how funny is this?” The funniest stuff will always be included, whether or not I have a graceful transition for it.

Related entries in Creating a Comic:

• Working new material into a stand-up set
• Crowd Work: Playing with the Audience
• Writing For the Stage
• Open Mic: First Timer Primer
• Stand-up Comedy Glossary

1. A bit can be just one joke, but it can also refer to longer stories or a related series of jokes with multiple punchlines. For more comedian lingo, check out the Stand-Up Comedy Glossary. [↩]
2. This is also, obviously, a pretty dirty set. Topics like “AIDS,” “condoms,” and “bestiality” tend to be blue, even if they don’t technically contain any swears. [↩]

 — Posted by CJ under Creating a Comic. Please comment or trackback!