Tim Young is a stand up comedian based in New York City. You might recognize him from his Jetblue airline commercials, his performances on over 500 college campuses, or his many television appearances, including Comedy Central's "Premium Blend", "Tough Crowd", "Shorties Watching Shorties", as a commentator on the E! Channel, on MTV, or on NBC's "Last Comic Standing".
timyounglive timyounglive.com tim young "tim young" Stand up comedians, stand up, stand-up comedy, UK, live acts, performers, humor, humour, jokes, who's on tour, comedy venues, funny, laughter, gags, comediens, tour dates, audio clips, video, funniest, Yeah, yeah, you're pretty funny. But it's one thing to make some of your slightly buzzed friends laugh at a party. It's a whole other ballgame to get on a stage in front of an audience and do stand-up comedy. To do any kind of live performance, you need to have a strong ego and nerves of steel. To do stand-up comedy, you need to be virtually insane. Almost everybody bombs their first time ("bombing" means that you didn't make 'em laugh . . . in the world of stand-up, that's not good).
There's a common misconception that stand-up comics do nothing all day and tell little stories to drunken audiences at night. It's A LOT tougher than that. Stand-up comics spend hours every day working on and perfecting their routines, and they have to be able to read their audience to know exactly what kind of humor they'll respond to. Before you go stand in front of the infamous brick wall, you will need some guidance.
Before even thinking of a joke, you need to build up your comic vocabulary. Here are a couple of easy ones for starters:
To kill To do really well. The audience loves you.
To bomb To do really badly. This is where there is a danger of tomato peltage.
Dying The process of bombing.
Set Your collection of jokes. A noun. (E.g., "I just memorized my set.")
Setup The explanation part of a joke. It's the part of the joke that you're not supposed to laugh at. The exposition of a situation or story.
Punch line The funny part of a joke. What you're supposed to laugh at.
Heckler Someone in the audience who talks and interrupts a comedian in an insulting way, in attempt to make the comedian bomb.
Blue When a comic is "blue," it means that he/she is using dirty language and/or talking about sexual (or otherwise adult) situations in an explicit way.
For more comedy terms, check out Greg Dean's College of Comedy Knowledge's Glossary of Comedy Terms.
Now that you can talk the talk, follow our advice and you'll be on your way to killing audiences with your stand-up routine in no time. Either that or you'll be pelted with rotten tomatoes. Let's hope it's the former.
1. Study the pros
How bad can this homework be? All you have to do is watch a bunch of comics performing their acts. But don't stop at just watching your favorites. Whether on stage, TV, or videotape, watch as many comics as you can. Study their techniques and get a feel for how they construct their jokes.
Wait, wait, but isn't that . . . copying? Our response: whoever said that imitation is the sincerest form of flattery was obviously not in the stand-up business. True, the biggest sin in comedy is to steal another comic's jokes. However, for learning purposes only, it's OK to take the jokes of a comic you really like and try to rewrite them in a different way. Of course, you would never perform any of the variations you came up with, because that would still be considered stealing. And stealing is naughty.
While studying the pros, try to determine what type of comic each one is. Just a few types to be on the lookout for:
* observational comics
examples: Jerry Seinfeld, Janeane Garofalo
* topical comics
examples: Dennis Miller, Jay Leno
* character comics
examples: Andrew Dice Clay, Tim Allen
* prop comics
examples: Carrot Top, Gallagher
* gimmick comics
examples: Margaret Cho, Lea Delaria
* physical comics
example: Jim Carrey (before he hit it big)
* impressionists
examples: Dana Carvey, Mike Myers
* improvisationalists
examples: Robin Williams, Paula Poundstone
Then determine their emotional attitude. Richard Lewis is a man in perpetual pain. Denis Leary is as hostile as you can get. What is your emotional attitude? Are you zany, cynical, deadpan, na, or a bizarre combination of all these traits? Don't pick the emotional attitude that you think is funniest; pick the one that matches you. You're funniest when you're honest.
After becoming acquainted with veteran personalities you'll get a better sense of how to carve a niche for yourself in the biz. In time you'll naturally gravitate toward the comic persona that works best for your humor. Larry Omaha American Indian Comedian Native American Yaqui Zapotec Indigenous standup stand up larry omaha comedians personal appearances standup comedy agents representation booking agent comedy stand-up comedy stand up comedy standup comedy stand-up comedian stand up comedian standup comedian stand-up comedians stand up comedians standup comedians stand-up comedy stand up comedy standup comedy comedian comedians comedy mp3 comedy mp3s humor humorous humour laugh laughter mp3 comics mp3 jokes funny doug stanhope ralphie may emo phillups craig shoemaker james inman audio audio clips streaming audio multimedia laughter Shows, Comedians, Comic, Videos, Games, Stand-up, Jokes, Blog, Photos, Mobile, Ringtones, MotherLoad funny jokes,funny pictures,joke shopping,humorous quotations,funny quotes,cartoons,weird images,comedians,stand-up comedy,gags,practical jokes,classic comedy,TV comedians,comic relief,famous quotes,humor,humour,fun stuff music booking agent, band booking agent, entertainment booking agent, hip hop booking agency, artist booking agent, hip hop booking agent, band booking agency, celebrity booking agent, musical booking agency, comedian booking agent, rock band booking agent, graduation party ideas, bachelor party ideas, party planning idea, surprise party ideas, corporate event production, booking entertainment, entertainment talent booking, corporate and hospitality event, new york event planning, find a talent agent, company private party, locolobo events, www.locoloboevents.com Booking Agent, Talent Agency, Talent Agent, Talent Agencies,Talent Agents,Booking Agents, Booking Agency,Booking Agencies,corporate event planning, special events, corporate entertainment, entertainment agency, event planner, talent agency, party planning, fund raisers, party ideas, agency, agent, talent, event,Hip Artists, Hip Hop, Contemporary, Latin The booking agent who works for you! stand-up comedians hilarious comedy humor laughter jokes funny corporate comedy corporate entertainment comedian, talent agencies, booking agencies, entertainment agencies, speakers bureaus, talent agency, booking agency, entertainment agency, speakers bureau comedy booking agents contact comedy booking agency, standup comedy, standup comedian, standup, standup comic Comedians of Comedy, Maria Bamford, Zach Galifianakis, Patton Oswalt, Brian Posehn, road trip, stand-up, Videos, Cast, Zach Galifianakis, Maria Bamford, Patton Oswalt, Brian PosehnPhotos Milt Abel
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