The SF Comedy College Blog
Common misconceptions about comedy training and what this is going to be all about!
No one asked me to write a blog. I wish more comedy instructors would be honest and say that. Generally, they start these things with “I’ve had hundreds of requests,” “People ask me everyday,” “Mail has been coming to me from Nova Scotia,” Blah-blah-I’m-kind-of-a-big deal-blah, and so on. It’s as disingenuous as the information some of them provide. The truth is that the stand up world is small and the industry, although alive, is going through a major transformation.
My goal with this blog is to provide a real world assessment of stand up in America and give you some great tips along the way. If you choose to follow along, we’ll be here every week with new information for you to use.
If you are reading this, then you are one of very few. You are a brave soul and a special person that dreams of creating laughter and speaking your opinion to the masses. Pretty narcissistic, eh? Perhaps, but that’s an issue that you should probably bring up with your therapist. Lucky for you, there is generally not a stampede of people who want to get on stage and become professional comedians. However, many people are wise enough to know that they probably need a little help when speaking in front of people to garner laughs and some who just might want help to be funny enough to create better and deeper relationships with any type of audience. Everyone is welcome here and thanks for reading this far.
Here are some common misconceptions by new people entering the world of funny:
1. I have a great sense of humor already and I don’t need assistance!
Unless you are getting laughs from strangers who are paying you to make them laugh, it’s possible you don’t really have a great sense of humor. Frequently, laughter is given to a person out of respect, fear or as a way to show a person’s affinity for you. We all think we have a great sense of humor but until it’s put to the test of a paying audience, we are probably misguided.
2. You can’t teach a person to be funny!
This is a protective form of denial that people use to not better themselves. Becoming funny is something taught and learned in this lifetime and there are techniques that are employed by funny people that are not used by those that are not funny. We’ve been taking people off the streets and teaching them how to be hilarious for the last 12 years. However, you need to be teachable to learn the lessons. If you can’t train with us, please find someone in your town who teaches comedy for a living.
3. Either you have it or you don’t!
This is a ruse mostly employed by professional comedians who are trying to hide the fact that anyone with desire, patience and willingness to be teachable can also be funny. I think we’ve all learned since the comedy crash of the ‘90s that anyone can get on stage and generate as many if not more laughs then the “talent” being jammed down your throat by one particular (Yes, only one!) cable channel and a few producers who want comedy in 2011 to be edgy, insulting and a temporary rush for an audience with no attention span. Let’s face it: If a TV network wants ratings, then they have to come up with a version of stand up that competes with car chases, cop shows and the three (yes, three!) channels devoted solely to food.
4. Comedy training is a scam!
I love this one as our techniques have created funny people for over a decade. This claim is generally made by new talent comedians with less than 5 years of experience or by people who are so insecure that they can’t fathom the fact that they possess no talent that differs from anything that one off the streets could bring to the stage. There are many fine comedy training facilities in the US with proven track records! Feel free to do the research and set your ego aside.
5. Comedy teachers are failed comics!
The call to teach others is a noble field. Few are decent at it and most do not offer technique. Being a great comedian and being a great comedy teacher are two different skill sets. The majority of comedians are so caught up in their own drive for attention that the idea of stepping out of themselves to help others is a leap too big for most of them to make. There are many great comedians who can only give their opinion of what is funny or describe their path to funny but have no technique to develop a sense of humor in others. Just as there are many great athletes who are terrible coaches, there are many great comedians who are terrible teachers. Frankly, I love watching new comedians succeed when they are doing comedy for the right reasons; because it’s great fun and they like creating joy in others. Eddie Brill, the talent coordinator from the “Late Show with David Letterman,” has said that we learn more from teaching then performing and he is so on the money there.
I’m not sure how to define “failed” in this instance, but I still perform and I get laughs every time I get on stage, as all of the staff at the SFCC does. There is a huge difference between being competent on stage and having fame or TV credits. The funniest comedians tend to remain undiscovered, especially in a television comedy world that is driven by train wrecks. There are many comedians who attack comedy training out of fear, judging all comedy teachers to be “failed” comedians. Unfortunately, this judgment only serves to demonstrate their fears and insecurities rather than providing a true basis for criticism.
We’ll be blogging here every week about all things stand up. Please feel free to send questions, comments and poorly thought out rants to comedydoc@aol.com. I’ll be posting the best responses here.
Thanks for reading,
Kurtis Matthews, your friendly comedy instructor!
Kurtis is one of only two instructors in the United States who offer “process-based” comedy training that anyone can use to be funny. His seminars have been widely applauded by the National Speakers Association of Northern California, The Harvard Club of Silicon Valley, Laugh Lovers of Oakland, The Great American Comedy Festival and the Scottsdale Comedy Festival.
As well as being a great comedy teacher, he can also be seen nationwide as talent in the Comedy Addiction Tour (www.comedyaddictiontour.com) and in the UK as the star of BBC1’s “Find Me the Funny.”
kurtis and the sfcc go to northern ireland to train their newest funny eople
for the edinburgn festival.
Comments
First I’d like to say thanx for putting your experience out there on a public forum, I’ve met a few comics most unwilling to share their knowledge lol. I’ve been interested in/watching stand up for most of my life, and only recently had the courage to go on stage. I’ve done a couple solo shows already, but I live in a small beachside town with no real comedy circuit or other comics to “talk shop” with so I spend loads of time online looking thru countless pages of “advice” but no real direction. My biggest problem is the movement from joke to joke, I have a hard time coming up with filler, any suggestions?
David,
It’s been said that great music happens not only in the lyrics but also between the notes. Great comedy also happens in the moments between the punches. Even if those are moments of silence or honesty or any other activity a performer might fancy.
One of the activities a comedian can engage in while in front of an audience is ‘material’. Bill Hicks once said that ‘material is what we fall back on when our relationship with the audience breaks down’. He understood that audiences predominately turn out to comedy venues to see and meet a personality and not to hear a perfected act. The biggest draws in comedy are the comedians who have a bit of fame and not the comedians with the best ‘act’. Don’t get me wrong, material is important but most important is the person and the relationship he holds with the audience.
YOU are the act, not what you have written or memorized to say.
Your first step as a comedian is to be onstage and get comfortable in front of an audience without hiding behind material. Once you can be naturally conversational with a crowd and calm your mind then you will start to write and develop material that is natural for your speaking voice and your point of view. This is a spoken art form done in front of humans, and the best way that we learn to be funny is in front of humans.
The short answer to your questions is that your cart (material) is in front of your horse (you) and the filler you speak of is most likely the ‘jokes’ you have written. Learn to entertain a crowd first and then drop in your prepared stuff when the mood strikes you.
Luckily, for you, you live in a part of the world that allows you access to the internet, and you can Skype us anytime. We are ready to get to work. Are you?
P.s. Please don’t ‘lol’ in future emails to us. : )
How do you feel about open mike events at coffee houses or bars for a person with a desire to get into comedy to get their feet wet? I have some material based on real life experiences and was wondering if you thought a bar or pub scene might be a better setting over a coffee house? Personally, I’d rather try this out in front of folks who have been consuming alcohol over caffeine.
Hi Patrick.
Any place where there are humans that have paid money to see stand-up comedy is a good place to ‘get your feet wet’. A cover charge guarantees that the audience has something invested in seeing a show. It also solves the problem of hecklers and provides a good read on your material. So, the issue isn’t pub or coffee house the issue is the quality of patrons who are in the establishment. I will point out that the best comedians in the business work, large theatres and their audiences tend to be sober and have money to spend. Then again, if your goals are set to working only the low end club scene, then by all means head to a bar and have at it! : )
Your intro was so great…..and the tips made alot of sense……I can’t wait for class to start.
Love this blog, its rare to find someone willing to help with tips for comedy. My question to you is how can you get started on a stage, where would I be able to go to perform? I live in Los Angeles, i don’t know of place that lets you perform for an audience for free. And i really enjoy making people laugh. Most my sets are based on awkward situations or dates i’ve been on. I’ve performed a couple sets but that was back in high school and i wanted to out grow my audience to strangers, just to see if i actually have potential. (They say people who dont know you, dont know the meaning of pitty.. or at least thats what i like to say) id be willing to do a show for free, even if it ment doing a set with others i just wish i knew where to go
Omar,
Start with Greg Dean. He’s the best teacher in LA and knows everyone – http://www.stand-upcomedy.com
You will be working for free for a while until you get good at this. However, working in front of crowds that get in for free can give you false positives on your act, destroy the viability of getting paid in that venue and is usually run by comedians with little confidence and less talent.
Furthermore, you can start your own show at bar or club nearby and start making cash immediately, or you can look at badslava.com for open mic listings! Good Luck and feel free to work with us via Skype in the future.
Kurtis