Think about things you love, things you dislike, and things that annoy you. For example, if you have a love of Renaissance festivals, think about whether you always wear a costume that gets you funny looks in public or if there are certain “types” of people who attend the festivals that you could describe in a funny way. If you dislike subway rides, describe how annoying the subway is – people sitting too close, a couple making out in the corner, the one guy who always has his music playing without headphones.
For example, if you have a really funny story about going to a theme park, use that as your base story. Then write other jokes related to theme parks – they could be about the food, waiting in line, or dealing with kids.
Not everything that comes out of this exercise will be funny, but you’ll occasionally get some good stuff! For example, if you see a news story about politicians behaving badly, you could use that. You could start the joke by saying something like: “Senator Smith just spent $100,000 on a private plane for his wife. If I spent $100,000 on a private plane I’d have a plane but no wife. "
For example, if you see someone pushing a grocery cart into a store and almost trip and it makes you laugh, pull out your notebook and write down everything about the scene that made it funny, such as how the person looked and how they reacted to almost tripping. You can also record yourself saying jokes into your smartphone’s voice recorder. Review everything you record at least once a week to retrieve your ideas.
For example, choose the topic of travelling and write down as many funny thoughts, feelings, and stories you have about trips you’ve been on or travelling in general.
For example, if you wrote down a bunch of funny thoughts about travelling, pick 1-2 of the funniest ideas and expand them into full length jokes with a beginning, a middle, and an end. Make sure the jokes have obvious punchlines to get people laughing. You might start a joke by saying something like: “So I was on a plane to Mexico last week, and the lady next to me fell asleep and started to…”
Comedian Jerry Seinfeld recommends compressing shorter jokes together because it helps the laughter build up. When people don’t have time to stop laughing between jokes, the laughter in the room just keeps getting bigger and bigger.
For example, if you already have a couple of jokes about waiting in the lobby of the dentist’s office, try to imagine what it looks like there and how it makes you feel to come up with a few more jokes that fit into your set. You could say something like: “By the way, what’s with every dentist’s office having a fish tank? How did that get started? Fish don’t even have teeth!”
For example if you have 4-5 jokes about portable toilets, say those one after another, then lead into your story about a weird experience you had in an airport bathroom by saying something like: “Speaking of toilets, this one time I was in an airport bathroom and…” From there, you can move onto some more airport jokes or jokes about other public places.
The more laughs you can get at the beginning of your set, the better your set can turn out. It’s also a chance to establish your tone – are your jokes sarcastic, or self-deprecating? Do you deliver in a monotone or with a lot of energy? Let your audience get to know you as soon as possible.
The most important thing for the middle part of your set is that it flows. This is where having jokes in a logical order with good transitions between them is really helpful.
When you’re actually delivering your set in real life, don’t forget to repeat your name and thank the audience before you walk off stage. You can also end by bringing back a punchline from earlier. For example, if you had a joke at the beginning of your set about spending Christmas with your mother-in-law, you can say something like: “And that’s why I’ll never go to my mother-in-law’s for Christmas again!”
A good thing about practicing in front of people you know before you move onto comedy events is that you can ask them for feedback, too.
As you perform your comedy more, you start to learn when a joke isn’t going to work in real time by watching your audience’s reactions. Then, you can cut the joke short or modify it to try and get a laugh. This is called “editing on the fly. ”
For instance, maybe you’re a shy, self-deprecating type of guy, or perhaps you’re a self-confident girl who doesn’t take you-know-what from anyone. If you decide your persona is going to be making fun of yourself, you can start jokes with things like: “So the other day I confirmed what I’ve known for a while now – I’m really bad at sports. ”
