How To Do Standup Comedy - Writing Jokes Part 1

Hi, my name is Drew Behm and I am a professional standup comedian.

I’m not famous by any means, but I’ve made a few television appearances, and standup comedy has been my only job for over 8 years.

I did Just For Laughs New Faces in 2021!

I can only teach you things that I have done myself, but these tips are all generally agreed upon to be good advice within the comedy Community.

Ok, so, let’s go:

STEP 1:

WRITE DOWN ANY FUNNY IDEAS YOU HAVE DURING THE DAY IN A CELL PHONE NOTE OR PHYSICAL NOTEBOOK YOU KEEP WITH YOU AT ALL TIMES.

Chances are you are reading this blog because you are a pretty funny person. Being funny in the moment is a great skill for any comedian, but you can’t rely on that alone. Comedians must have MATERIAL.

My first time performing at the Comic Strip in WEM. I was just starting to learn the lessons I'm sharing with you.

And that comes from WRITING down all the funny things you say, do, think, see or hear throughout the day.

Step one is the foundation for every other aspect of standup comedy; Without material, you have nothing.

I like to keep all my joke ideas in a note called “JOKES” In my cell phone. Make sure you write down ANYTHING that strikes you as even remotely funny. It’s up to the audience to decide whether it’s funny, not you, so write it down!

I write down all my joke ideas using my notes app in iPhone

So, You’ve been writing down anything you thought was funny, now what?

In the next blog, How To Do Standup Comedy - Writing Jokes Part 2, we will go through the technique of turning those raw ideas into actual jokes that you can tell on stage !

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