Tag Archives: standup

Gig Reports: First five open mic slots

By Andrew | Published: March 29, 2010
I completed my fifth open mic stand up spot last night here in San Diego. I’ve been trying to keep up the momentum up after my initial performance and am gradually honing my jokes into material that gets consistent laughs. I’ve written a brief description of each of these gigs. I probably won’t continue to [...]
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My first (proper) stand up comedy set

By Andrew | Published: March 18, 2010
Last night I performed my very first open mic stand up comedy set. This was a big personal milestone for me and is my first completed resolution of 2010. I performed a five minute set that I have been working on in my stand up comedy class. It’s essentially a cut down version of the [...]
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Writing for stand up part 1: What is a joke?

By Andrew | Published: March 12, 2010
Jokes subvert assumptions. Consider this joke from Jimmy Carr: My girlfriend said she wanted me to tease her. I said “alright, fatty”. Carr creates an assumption (that his girlfriend wants to be teased playfully) then subverts it (by teasing her maliciously). It’s a classic setup/punch joke; the first sentence (setup) leads us in one direction, [...]
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