Location, location, location. Memorize the names of cities like Intercourse PA, Metuchen NJ and most importantly Sheboygan WI and incorporate these cities into your act to help sell the jokes you know in your heart just aren’t that funny.
It’s all about how you word it. Use hard K’s and funny sounding words as much as possible. The more descriptive sounding the better. If you end a joke by saying, “I was in my underwear vomiting,” it may be considered crass and immature. But reworded to, “Except for my underpants I was stark naked and puking up Jagermister,†the joke becomes pure gold.
Awkward is the new funny. Remember the nerdy kid in high school who would say and do things that made everyone in the room feel uncomfortable? Turns out that kid won an Emmy for writing the Office. These days the boob tube (funny word) and the silver screen are littered with content that promotes the idea that awkward is a real hoot. Turns out it’s still just awkward.
Jokes can die. Pratfalls and laugh tracks have not yet slipped into that good night and gone the way of the dodo (funny bird), but they are certainly beginning to stagnate in their senior years. This is not to say that physical comedy is dying, just vaudevillian acts like the pratfall. Anyone who has ever seen Ideocracy and witnessed a man take a wrecking ball to the groin knows that physical comedy is still alive and well.
The bigger you are the harder you suck. Nine times out of ten if you go to a comedy club the one name on the list you recognize will be the worst act of the night. Remember, notoriety is a fickle mistress and fame and fortune tend to stymie comedians and leach them of all their creative juices.
The Aristocrats joke is more fun to tell then to listen to. Please just trust me on this one.
The three greatest comedy clubs in the world are: The Comedy Cellar in NY, Second City in Chicago, and the Comedy Store in LA. If you are ever in the LA, NY or Chicago make a point of visiting.
