The First Seven Steps

To learn stand-up comedy techniques and methodologies is one thing. I like telling jokes the way I think they're funny, and if I didn't think that I was a better judge of that than anyone, I probably wouldn't have the balls to go on stage in the first place. A great stand up comic always leaves the audience wanting more. 1) Prepare yourself—write some jokes, locate an open mic, and tell your friends to come enjoy some laughs.

If a joke consistently elicits a huge guffaw from the audience, a comedian knows it works and will continue to do it and write more jokes like it. If the joke results in silence, it's clear something needs to change. A great example is found in the memoirs of Stephen Fry, who writes at length of how inadequate and uncertain of himself he feels, even after a hugely successful career in television, movies, and stage.

Also like comedians, your audience might be constantly changing, and you need to be able to change your messaging accordingly. The Comedy Spot offers a Stand-up 101 Class every month. Almost all of this content is free to the public, offering a no-cost stand-up comedy course.

When most people start they don't know what there point of view is onstage. Here are my very best picks - the books I return to over and over again, and the books that helped me understand everything I know about jokes and joking. More often than not, our jokes would ‘bomb' (ie no one laughed).

I marveled at the way comedians weaved complex jokes together, and effortlessly glided from one bit to the next. I have no idea how to advise anyone to write comedy today, as I started 25 years ago when the economic climate and the way arts were valued was funny videos American entirely different.

Let's start off with a book that's extremely great for beginner joke writers and that's also filled with lots of good exercises that you can do even when you have a much bigger tool box and much more experience: The Serious Guide To Joke Writing by Sally Holloway Holloway doesn't just have experience as a stand-up, she has also taught comedy in a classroom for years, which sets her book apart from a lot of the other instructional texts.