Stand-Up Comedy: The Book by Judy Carter (English) Paperback Book

Description: Stand-Up Comedy: The Book by Judy Carter All the world loves a clown and whether you want to clown around at parties or make a living as a standup comic, comedian Judy Carter can show you how to 'do' comedy. FORMAT Paperback LANGUAGE English CONDITION Brand New Publisher Description All the world loves a clown and whether you want to clown around at parties or make a living as a standup comic, comedian Judy Carter can show you how to "do" comedy. Author Biography Nicholson Baker was born in 1957 and attended the Eastman School of Music and Haverford College. He has received widespread review coverage for all of his books. He is recognised as one of the most dexterous and skilled writers in America today and commands equal attention for his fiction and nonfiction. His novels "Vox" and "The Fermata" each sold over 100,000 copies. He lives in Maine. Excerpt from Book What Makes People Laugh? Words with K in it are funny. Cupcake is funny ... Tomato is not funny. Cleveland is funny. Maryland is not funny ... --Neil Simon, The Sunshine Boys What is funny? Im constantly amazed at what people think is funny and not funny. Some people will laugh at a guy slipping on a banana peel. Some people will only laugh at Hitler slipping on a banana peel. So, what is funny? If someone laughs, thats funny. An audience will laugh at anything, everything, and nothing at all. Trying to figure out an audience is like trying to figure out what to cook your family for dinner. No matter what you make, someone will hate it. Ive seen so many comics come offstage after a killer set depressed because all they saw was the one guy in the third row who didnt laugh at the fourth joke. All the laughter in the room was drowned out by one mans silence. And it doesnt matter that this guy wasnt in the mood to laugh because he just lost his entire family in a fire and stopped in for a drink before killing himself. We still blame ourselves for not pleasing everyone, every time. Believe in Yourself Manager Buddy Morra, who discovered David Letterman and also handles Robin Williams and Billy Crystal, among others, says that: "you shouldnt give an audience what they want. Give them what you want. Most comics will go down to the audience level to make it work, when in fact what you should be doing is bringing the audience to your level." The first time Morra saw David Letterman, he instantly knew that David would go on to doing his own show, because he had his own identity. Morra feels thats what sets apart comics who are special from those who just try to please. Youve got to believe in yourself. Its hard to swallow the idea that you cant make everyone love you. This ones worth repeating: You cant and wont be able to make everyone love you. You must go onstage with a passionate desire and the intent to communicate your thoughts and feelings, not just to make people laugh. Five Big Secrets to Making People Laugh Secret #1: Dont Tell Jokes People confuse stand-up with telling jokes. When I go to a party and tell people that I am a stand-up, they inevitably say, "Really ... tell me a joke." When I tell them that I dont know any jokes, they dont get it. "But youre a stand-up comic, right?" Now when I go to parties I tell people that Im a Kelly Girl. Joke-telling is the old Catskill school of comedy. "Two Jews walked into a bar ..." The new school of comedy is personal comedy. Your act is about you: your gut issues, your body, your marriage, your divorce, your drug habit ... Try to find the jokes in Sam Kinisons act. There arent any. "If you ever think about getting married, sir, just remember this face--ahhhhhhh!" Sam goes nose to nose with the customer and screams. Kinisons humor comes from having an extreme attitude about women, Vietnam, and starving kids. His consistent, angry attitude is the driving force of his success. My students who pick topics that are truthful and even painful for them are much more successful than those who pick topics they think are jokey or weird. As a matter of fact, the more candid the material, the better it is. People love to laugh at another persons heartache. Im not sure why. Maybe because theyre so happy that its not happening to them. Paula Poundstone, the Sylvia Plath of comedy, does a chunk of her fumbled suicide attempt. "I tried using carbon monoxide, but my building has a big underground parking garage so it was taking a really long time. I had to bring along a stack of books and some snacks. People would go by and tap at the window and say, "Hows that suicide coming? And Id say, Pretty good, thank you, I felt drowsy earlier today." Garry Shandlings grief over his rejections by women have made him a comedy millionaire. "I broke up with my girlfriend. She moved in with another guy, and I draw the line at that." One of the main misconceptions about being funny is that you have to be a real together "up" kind of person. Not true. It is far more interesting to watch someone struggling with his or her problems than some spiritual, flawless know-it-all. Have you noticed that there are not too many monks who are stand-up comics? Remember ... the more miserable your life, the better your act. The trick is to be willing to expose yourself as much as you can without getting arrested. Secret #2: Dont Tell Stories Funny stories usually dont work. The most common mistake my students make when starting out with ideas for their act is telling stories about something "funny" that "really" happened to them: "No, no, listen ... this is really true." Stories might be true, but they are rarely funny and inevitably end with "Well ... I guess you had to be there." Another reason stories dont work is because nightclub audiences most often are drunk and have short attention spans. Any piece that goes longer than five lines without a punch is going to be in trouble. Bob Fisher, owner of L.A.s Ice House and booker of seven comedy clubs, will not book storytellers who go three to five minutes without a punchline. "I look for the setup/punch kind of comic as opposed to a storyteller, because I need a comic who will give the audience a certain number of laughs per minute." Stories also dont work because they are frequently told in the past tense: "So there I was in a department store. And this lady walked up to me and asked me if I worked there. So I told her Yes, and All the televisions are free today." Here is the same material delivered by comic Bob Dubac, in present tense, not in story form: "To have some grins and loosen up, I recommend going to a department store and pretending youre an employee. When someone comes up and asks you, Do you work here? tell them yes and that all the televisions are free today. Sit back and watch the fun." Keep away from telling stories. Whats funny is simply the way you look at even the most mundane events, such as Larry Millers observations about phone cords: "How does that phone cord always get so tangled? How? All I ever do is pick it up, talk, and hang it up. I dont pick it up, do a cartwheel and then a somersault, and then hang it up." Secret #3: Dont Try to Be Funny "You dont have to act like an asshole to get laughs. --Anonymous" If I told you right now "Be funny," what would you do? A lot of people might start making stupid faces, jump up and down, and do something that would get them committed to a mental hospital. Being funny has nothing to do with acting weird or outrageous. The weirder you are, the less people will understand you, and no one laughs when confused. As eccentric as comics like Howie Mandel and Sam Kinison are, they make enormous efforts to communicate their ideas clearly. Acting stupid might be funny if youre performing for five-year-olds, but kindergarten gigs dont come along too often and the pay is lousy. Novice comics tend to "try to be funny." Go to an amateur night and watch comics. A guy comes onstage pretending to be cool. He does his first line and no one laughs. So he tries harder to be funny. Hes talking louder, hes waving his hands around, hes become a desperate man. Suddenly you feel that if you dont laugh, this guy will go home and kill himself and it will be your fault. Its no surprise that from this point on nothing he does is funny. The harder he tries to be funny the more you pray, "Please God, make him stop!" If you go onstage desperately wanting a guffaw, a chortle, or a tee hee, youre liable not to get it. Nothing turns people off more than when they think someone wants something from them. Whether its love or laughs, it needs to be given freely. Just as people who are the most desperate for love end up living alone in Winnebagos, comics who are the most desperate for laughs end up keeping their day jobs. Secret #4: Be Serious Comedy is a serious business. The perfect act is funny to the audience and serious to you. Imagine you are a paid whore ... a comedy prostitute. In other words, the only one whos got to like it is the one paying. If its funny for you and not for the customers, then you didnt do your job. A comic who has made a dedicated commitment to his or her act can make an audience laugh just on the strength of confidence alone. It doesnt really matter whats being talked about. Whether discussing the pope or polyps, or even the popes polyps, it is the commitment of the comic to his or her material that carries the act. The commitment to communicate, to get ideas across, will provide all the fuel you need. The desire to communicate is the only sane reason to ever get on any stage--ever. Why? If you dont believe in what youre talking about, neither will the audience. The topic you pick doesnt have to be serious, but your attitude about it does. Whether talk Details ISBN0440502438 Author Judy Carter Short Title STAND-UP COMEDY Pages 240 Language English ISBN-10 0440502438 ISBN-13 9780440502432 Media Book Format Paperback DEWEY 792.702 Year 1989 Publication Date 1989-08-31 Imprint Bantam Doubleday Dell Publishing Group Subtitle The Book Place of Publication New York Country of Publication United States Residence Venice, CA, US Publisher Dell DOI 10.1604/9780440502432 Audience General/Trade UK Release Date 1989-08-05 We've got this At The Nile, if you're looking for it, we've got it. With fast shipping, low prices, friendly service and well over a million items - you're bound to find what you want, at a price you'll love! TheNile_Item_ID:137589343;

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