How to Structure a Stand-up Comedy Routine
Stand-up comedy acts require quite a bit of thought, planning and consideration. There are so many pitfalls to avoid: telling the wrong types of jokes, spitting out all of your best jokes too early in the act, misunderstanding crowd reaction and forgetting key punch lines. The best way to structure a comedy routine is to slide your best jokes in at the beginning, middle and end to keep the crowd intrigued.
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Instructions
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Determine the audience type. If you are a raunchy comedian, but the audience is full of religious women, you aren't going to have much success with your jokes. The jokes you tell during your stand-up act should match the crowd to which you are telling them.
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Make a physical list of your jokes. Even though you may go off of memory or note cards on the floor of the stage, depending on the setup of the venue, you need a visualization of how your routine will go. Insert some of your best jokes at the beginning, in the middle (when audience reaction may begin to wane a bit) and towards the end so you can go out with a bang. If you draft it on paper, it is easier to see in your mind if you get stuck.
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Generate backup jokes. You may take one direction and find that a set of jokes in your routine is not being well-received. This means you must be able to change direction fairly quickly, which is when you would incorporate your backup jokes. They should be as effective as your more popular routines and appeal to a diverse audience.
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Play to the audience. You may structure your comedy routine one way and feel settled about your direction. However, audience reaction is what's most important, so you may have to improvise or do something different on the spur of the moment. Because of this, you must be ready to tell your jokes in any order at any time in your routine to assure you are as prepared as possible.
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