Tips For Structuring Your Comedy Routine

By Laura S James

What kind of routine you have during your comedy act will depend somewhat on the type of comedy you do. Naturally, you want to grab attention at the start, but then you also want to keep the attention through the body of your performance.



While you want to keep your audience interested, you don't want them to be laughing non-stop (not quite) because (a) while they are laughing they can't hear what you are saying, and (b) constant laughter tends to wear the audience out. So while you come on with a big splash to grab attention, you can sort of fade in and out a bit.



What this means is that once you have attention and laughter, then let the audience calm down a bit while you start to spin the next joke. This gives them a bit of breathing space - not too long mind, or you might lose them. Make sure that once you've delivered the punch line and everybody laughing that you give them time to get over that before you begin the next one. Otherwise they are going to miss the set up and miss the next punch line.



But you can't just stand there grinning like an idiot until they finish laughing. Instead, watch how some of the pros do it. Some give a little grin and cough discreetly. Others begin the next introduction and then stop, pause and repeat it. Yet other comedians might pull a face, or walk around the stage a bit, or pat their face with a handkerchief. It only takes a few moments to pull the attention back, but that time is vital to the success of the ensuing routine.



Create balance in your routine by doing jokes of different lengths alternately, such as short, long, short or long, short, long, etc. This also helps the audience. If you have all short jokes, it tends to wear the audience out more quickly. To go from a short to a long and back to a short evens it out and helps the audience to concentrate.



It's a bit like asking a person to read one long length of manuscript with no breaks in it. They'll get bored easily and skip half. You don't want your audience to start getting bored if you do three or four long jokes one after the other.



Once you've come to the end of your routine you should go out with a bang, That is, keep the best joke till last. It has to be the strongest line and the funniest-of-all joke. Never try out something for the end that you are not sure is funny.



Benefits of Reviewing and Editing Your Work



Every writer must review and edit their work and it is no different for a comedian who writes his own material. Reviewing your work will take out flaws, tighten it up and prevent your audience falling asleep from boredom. Editing will catch any mistakes before you go to air, as it were.



There should be two parts to your reviewing/editing process. Firstly, edit the written words, making sure the grammar is correct and the sequences logical. If your jokes are one-liners, ask yourself if they are too long or not clear enough. Will everyone know what you are talking about? What about the punch line? Can it be shorter? Is the major word right at the end?



If they are longer, story-type jokes, look at the introduction, the plot and the body, then at the ending. Does it all go in logical sequence? Can you tighten it up anywhere? Read it out loud to get the flow right. When you are satisfied that everything is as good as you can get it, act it out as if you were on stage. Sometimes when you need to match words to movements, either one could be too long for too short for the other.



Sometimes when you write your funny stuff, the best way is to just write it as it comes and pay no attention to quality. Forget spelling, grammar and everything else but just getting that stuff onto the page. Let it sit for a week without looking at it, then go back and reread it; if it still makes you laugh (or grin) then start editing it for the quality. Tighten it up, rearrange the sequence if you need to and generally make it more readable. Work on the punch lines to see if you can shorten them or make them stronger.



There are many things you can do to improve your writing. Take out adjectives and adverbs. Replace works ending 'ly' with something stronger. Go through it all with a fine-tooth comb until it shines.



For reviewing, you could get others to listen or read it and see if they think it's funny. If they don't, ask them why not and get specific reasons. It could be a wrong use of language; wording, concept or length - or maybe they just never see the funny side of life. Ask someone else. If they say the same thing, throw it out and start again. Some things are just not funny.



About the Author: Learn how to become a writer today. Visit Laura's website, http://www.FastCashFreelance.com and learn about writing from home to earn money working online from home.



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