Professional Comedian Job Description

Series Summary

Showbiz is the business of entertainment through the performing arts, including feature films, musical performances, comedy acts, television, radio shows, plays, musicals and the list goes on. Of these performance art forms, comedians offer a special act. Whether performing on television, in plays, in a club or as a stand-up comic, comedians take the audience out of their element and into the world of the performer. Comedy jobs, like most others in showbiz, begin with small acts in clubs or open-mic nights, and can progress to a full-fledged comedian career. In this free video series on career information, a professional stand-up comedian and actor discusses his job. Get an accurate job description that includes the uncertainties inherent to show business, and find out about salary options and qualifications to be a comedian. Learn how this comedian got into the business, and discover the tools necessary to succeed. Through hard days and a million funny moments, comedians bring entertainment to those ready to laugh.

Video Transcript

"It was not an easy childhood, I wasn't spoiled, not like today a lot of parents spoil their kids. My buddy he brags about it. He says yeah, I let my kid cruise around town in a fifty thousand dollar Lexus. I said so what. I let my kid cruise around town in a two hundred thousand dollar metro bus. He sends his kids to karate and Tae Kwon Do, I drop my kids off in Korea town they'll learn to fight. Hey, hey not an easy childhood. But I survived. Hey I'm Larry Omaha a professional stand up comedian. And I'm here to talk about how you can become a professional stand up comedian. What is a comedian? A comedian is an individual man or a woman who every night goes into dark clubs and make strangers laugh. Not an easy job. Takes a lot of years, a lot of determination, a lot of hunger to develop your material to develop your persona to develop the guts to get up on a stage in front of strangers every night. But I'm here to talk about that. Takes a lot of work, it involves writing, it involves editing, rewriting, it involves meeting people who can help your career. And going up and having a lot of hunger and a lot of desire because it does take two, three, four, five years to get to a point where you are really a worthwhile and valuable commodity. I'll describe what a typical day is for a stand up comedian. First of all, there is no typical day. Every morning I wake up wondering who is going to be calling me for what kind of job, where in the world. But if I don't get the call then I'll make some calls, I'll call my booking agents. Find out what they have going on that I could be used in. I spend a lot of time reading, newspapers, watching the news, knowing what current events are. Because I'm the type of comedian who likes to do comedy on current events. So I spend a lot of time writing, writing down ideas for jokes. Working them, re-editing them, getting them prepared so that they are in concise form so that that night I can take those joke ideas and perform them in front of an audience to see if they work. To see if they are funny. In a nutshell that's what my typical day is like. If you want to call that typical."