How to Write a Comedy Act

A comedy act is more than a list of jokes you tell in front of a crowd. The best acts tell an audience why they should laugh. Writing a comedy act should always have a style specific to match your persona.

Things You'll Need

• Tape recorder
• Notepad

Instructions

1. Capture funny ideas or observations immediately. Do not wait until you have time to write ideas down because you will not remember the exact details. You want to communicate to the audience why your idea is funny. Always carry a notepad or tape recorder with you. Record in detail why something is funny. Pretend you are talking to an audience as you do so.

2. Determine which style of comedy act you wish to write. There is a broad range of comedy acts on the market today. On one end of the comedy spectrum there is soft, dry humor and at the other end is obnoxious humor. Study comedy acts that are geared toward your line of writing. Steven Wright is famous for his soft-spoken, monotone humor while Robin Williams is known for his boisterous, over-the-top act.

3. Find the rhythm of your writing. Comedians speak in a rhythm like a musical instrument. Each rhythm is different depending on the style. Are they loud? Does their volume change at all? Do they speak fast or slow? Where are there pauses? Emotions may be the crescendo of the act. Practice the jokes out loud at different rhythms. For example, Dane Cook will tell jokes in a completely different rhythm than Dennis Miller.

4. Write with your emotions. Each topic you write about should convey emotions, otherwise your act will just be jokes for the sake of jokes. Strong emotions let the audience know why you want to talk about this topic and how they can relate.

5. Keep your setups short. Setups are the beginning of your jokes that lead to the punch line. They establish the who, what and where of the joke. Audiences do not have long attention spans for a drawn out setup. They may forget what you are talking about and not laugh at the punch line. For example, Steven Wright says "It's a good thing a lot of people speak foreign languages..." in a setup. It's fast, simple and gets right to the punch line "...otherwise those people would have no one to talk to."

6. Write callbacks in your comedy act. A joke that has the same punch line as an earlier joke is a callback. These are difficult to write because the punch line must be hilarious in the first joke for a callback to work.

Tips & Warnings

• If a joke feels unoriginal, rewrite the punch line with different reactions. Toss out the joke if it does not work.

• Do not steal material from other comedy acts.