Carter - Stand-up comedy: the book

I know I can teach you comedy, but I cant teach anyone how to be funny. You either have a sense of humor or you dont. And just because your wife laughs at you doesnt mean that you are a funny guy. She might be having an affair and figures the least she can do is laugh at your dumb jokes. Or, even worse, you could be like my mother, where the phrase tough audience takes on a whole other meaning. For instance, I would tell my mother a joke, such as Women are bad in math.

How can you be good in math when your whole life youre told this (holding up two fingers a few inches apart) is eight inches. Instead of laughing, my mother would say: But, Judy, thats not true. A lot of women are very good in math. Im good in math. Your grandmother is good in math. Our neighbor Florence is good in math I could never teach my mother to be funny. Then again, she could never teach me how to do the dishes.

How do you know if youre funny? Take the Funny Test and see!

A DELTA BOOK
Published by
Bantam Dell
a division of
Random House, Inc. Copyright 1989 by Judy Carter All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without the written permission of the Publisher, except where permitted by law. The Trademark Dell is registered
in the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office. eISBN: 978-0-307-57520-3 Published simultaneously in Canada v3.1 Dear Reader, Its true.

I can teach anyone with a willingness and a sense of humor the secrets of making people laugh. You dont even need to know how to write jokes, because this book is chock-full of exercises that will teach you how to turn your own life experiences into comic routines. So if you have a lifeyou have an act. Why put together a stand-up comedy routine? Especially if youre not planning a comedy career? Because in the very process of creating an act you can become a funnier, wittier, and more confident person in your professional and social life. Sooner or later youre going to find yourself having to speak in front of people, and if youre like most of us, public speaking isnt at the top of your to-do list. Whether you are speaking to the PTA, the PTL, or the PLO, why not get some laughs? Humor is a powerful tool.

In business, ideas presented with humor gain more support, and after five, the person who gets more laughs gets more dates. And provides special techniques to punch up your business and social life. Humor is therapeutic. Even if you have no intention of ever getting up on a stage, learning how to turn negative, painful life experiences into comedy routines will give you a new perspective on life. Once you can laugh at something, you can stop crying. Student Peggy Lawrence got great material from going through a divorce: My ex-husband and I had a communication problem he wouldnt even tell me who he was dating! Training your mind to focus on the funny, not the fatal, can help you heal even the most open of wounds.

I know, because for the past ten years I have made a living doing stand-up. I have performed on over forty-five major TV shows, three Showtime comedy specials, and have toured the United States playing colleges and nightclubs, opening for everyone from Pat Boone to Prince. I am a regular in Atlantic City, where I was nominated for that citys Entertainer of the Year. I have also performed at the Sahara-Tahoe, Sahara-Las Vegas, and Medora-North Dakota. (Well, some places are better than others.) I have made a lot of money doing what I love to domake people laugh. I may not be famous in Price, Utah, but then again I have never had to get a job at K mart.

Before I was a stand-up, I taught high school, which is great preparation for anyone considering a career in stand-up. If you can make a room of jaded eleventh graders laugh, you can work any room anywhere. I quit teaching and, not having the slightest idea of what I was doing, I put together a comedy act. A pretty bad act at first, which gradually got better. I learned the principles of making people laugh in ten years of trial and error, luck, and a lot of bombing. A lot of bombing.

You, however, wont have to go through that because I am sharing the secrets of how to make people laugh that took me from being an underpaid teacher to making the big bucks in Atlantic City. Okay, I dont get the summer off, and okay, comics dont get tenure, but working twenty minutes a nightas opposed to eight hours a day and supervising detentionisnt too bad. Putting an act together isnt a mystical process. Anyone can learn the basic principles to making people laugh. For the past few years I have taught these principles to hundreds of students in my comedy workshops in Los Angeles. Throughout this book, I will be quoting students who, just like many of you, started out with little or no material.

Many former students tell me that their newfound sense of comedy has helped them get employed, get noticed, and get laid. One student, a lawyer, felt that his trial litigation had improved. (At least he kept the jury awake.) Another student found that after learning how to make an audience laugh, he no longer was tongue-tied on dates. An overweight, shy student found new self-acceptance and confidence by learning how to laugh at herself. Others, including housewives, accountants, college students, and ex-cons, became working comics and are making money doing stand-up.