Know Yourself: Stand Up Comedy Tips

Video Transcript

"Interviewer: What if you have material for one demographic and when you get to your set it's a completely different demographic out in the audience. And that's why they're not laughing at you? Grace: Well that's and I know I'm going to go on a tangent but, (Interviewer: Because I'm sure that happens.) yes it happens, well that's why I do believe in caricature stand up comedy. Interviewer: Which means? Grace: Which means you come from a character point of view. Meaning it's you, only exaggerated, and you talk about how things affect you and how you are. And I think if they get you and they see who you are, anything you say will be funny to them. Interviewer: So give us examples of some famous comedians that are good at that. That have a good character. Grace: George Carlin. He's like, 'Ok, this is the next room of people we're going to kill.' You know who he is. 'This is the next group if people I hate.' Interviewer: You know his brand. Grace: You know his brand, exactly. Well it's a character based, call it brand, that's marketing wise. It's a character; he comes from who he is. It's an exaggerated point of view. Interview: And how does one define their persona or their character or their brand when doing comedy? That must take years. Grace: It takes years and years and years. Let's see, I'm such a stand up, I'm just talking with this mic and I don't even need it. Interviewer: Now I'm getting ADD because I'm mixing up the questions. Grace: Oh totally, it's contagious trust me. By the end of this show you are going to be not making any sense at all. What was the question again? You see what I'm saying? Interviewer: The question is. How do you work on your persona, on your character, or your brand? Grace: Yes, well it's very simple. Interviewer: And that must be really difficult, unless you totally really know yourself."