Stephen Donovan Celebrity Guru

Hi. Steve Donovan, standup comedian at your service. I have been a standup comic for the last eight years and counting. I got my start in the comedy clubs of New York City - the world-famous Comic Strip and Gotham Comedy Club, to name two. I have performed at college campuses around the country, and have warmed up television audiences at NBC. About three years ago, I got the opportunity to join the morning show of 104.5 WXLO (Worcester, MA). I'm very proud to say that, much to the chagrin of Sister Michaela at the Cheverus Middle School in Malden, MA: "Yes, as a matter of fact, I am making a living at goofing around. Thank you, Sister."

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Writing a Good Joke

We all have stories.
We all have made someone laugh at some point.

Now, how do you do it professionally?
Three words - trim the fat.

When you're writing your joke, get rid of any and all unnecessary words. Anything you put in the set-up of the joke should be directly related to your punchline. The longer you make the audience wait (be they 500 people at the Comedy Connection, or the three waitresses at Johnny's Chuckleshack on a Monday night), the bigger the laugh has to be. And if it's not, that's bad.

You're not building a case; you're not explaining exactly why something has to be funny.

You're telling a joke.

So, get to it, already.

You're Not Done, Yet

Once, you've written your joke.
Rewrite it.
Then...
revise it again.

Now, that you mention it,
rewrite it some more.

(see a pattern forming yet?)

The most famous comedians you know - the funniest people on the planet - are deceptive. They're so good because they make it look like their act is coming from the top of their head. Don't be fooled. It takes an awful lot of work to make something look easy.

The Quicker You Develop a Thick Skin, The Better

The comedy world has a lot of violence in its vocabulary.
If you're doing really well, they'll say "You killed!"
If not, they'll say, "You died up there!"
The first comic to go up is said to "Bite the bullet", or "fall on the grenade".

You're not going to know if a joke works until you tell it.
So, you've got to muster up some courage to tell it to a roomful of strangers. And more likely than not, it won't be funny the first time out.

That's okay.

Just get up on that horse again. Now, some comics differ on how long you give a joke - how many times you tell it - before you give up on it. Some say 3, some say 5, some say love... Sorry.

Anyways, you've got to accept that failure is the only way you're going to improve. Some nights, you'll only hear the crickets, and some nights, even the crickets will heckle. That's all right. That is something that happens to every single comedian. Ever.

What Does the Audience Want You to Be, More Than Anything Else?

Funny?
Not exactly.

For however long you're on that stage, the audience wants to know that you're in control.

In charge.

That whatever's going on up there is exactly what you wanted to be happening.

There are few feelings more uncomfortable than seeing someone absolutely tanking on stage. It's one thing for an audience to think your jokes aren't funny. But as soon as it appears that you're losing your composure - either by letting a heckler win (by saying something funnier than you) or by letting your nervousness show and losing your train of thought - you're all done. At that point, the audience will want nothing more than to see you leave. So, just buck up little camper, and remember your mom still loves you, and finish up your set.

Contradiction #1

Audiences are not the most important people in the room.

You are.

So, sometimes, they're reaction doesn't matter.

As you progress, you will find that there will be crowds that won't laugh at your funniest stuff. Does that mean that, all of a sudden, your stuff isn't funny? That you have to give up on what used to be your best joke?

Of course not.

In those instances, stick to your guns (see Tip #4), pity these poor humor-starved souls, and move along.

(Be sure, though, before you start badmouthing the audience, that it was, in fact, told exactly the same way as those other times, when it got big laughs. You'd be amazed the wreckage that can result from just a few words different here or there.)