Anyone write sketch comedy, or do stand up? I’ve taken a few classes, but coming up with decent standup material feels like an existential crisis of whether my life is interesting enough. Tips/advice?

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Watch the Garry Schandling documentary on HBO. It’s incredible. Judd Apatow did it.

likehelpful

I have been doing a bit of sketch and a bit of stand up for a while. I learned early on how important it is to stay away from the autobiographical when you’re staring out. I listened to an interview with John Mulaney who stressed the importance of looking for outward inspiration when you’re new to stand up even if it ends up being somewhat observational. This helps expand your vocabulary and ability to explain situations.

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It can be observational, it can be an anecdote, it can be topical, it can be real, it can be made up, play with joke structure or wordplay, have an unpopular opinion, if you want to talk about your life go out and put yourself in strange situations for the hell of it

likehelpful

Good stand up might be the hardest thing to write.

likeuplifting

He was on fresh air I think. The point I took from it was mostly “do stuff that isn’t just complaining about your life” which is easy to do and too many people are doing it

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@SAD1 gotcha, I was thinking more along the lines of personal anecdotes and putting/finding myself in funny/self-deprecating situations than complaining about my life.

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Sure. I don’t think I’m standup there is one way to do it, when you’re starting out I think it’s a volume game

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I do stand-up regularly and 90% of my material is autobiographical lol. You gotta bomb hard and bomb often to find your voice. Classes help, but in order to get confident in your shit you have to go to those awful open mics until you're good enough to avoid that scene altogether. Stand-up is tough but nothing compares to the feeling of killing it onstage in a room full of strangers. That natural high can last for days... Or until you go back to work on Monday.

uplifting

@op most cities have open mic listings, very few require auditions. Just get there early and put in your 6 dollars

helpful

@SAD1: thanks! do you remember what interview or have the link to it by chance

@AP1: where do you find awful open mics to start at? do you invite your friends to the first ones or no because you don’t want to reply on them for easy laughs (and potentially some shame if you bomb hard)? Do you have to audition for the awful ones too?

and how long does it usually take for you to write 5 mins of material. is it hard to memorize your bits? do you practice in front of mirror/friends/family before each gig?

Find a funny situation, write to it

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