Open yourself to an audience and work hard to refine material that’s uniquely yours.

A friend liked reading this and I did, too!

I’m working up the courage to go try an open mic, and there was a lot of motivation and practical advice in this book. Early on there were descriptions of comedy I found deeply satisfying:

By taking the things we struggle with and worry about, and by ridiculing these things, comedy transforms them from overwhelming to laughable. (…) For a glorious moment the comedian lifts our worries off our shoulders and unites us in laughter. The underlying message of comedy is this: You have problems; I have problems. But we’re OK. You are not alone. We’re in this damn thing together.

The spirit of the comedian is vulnerable but indestructible. The comedian looks unblinkingly at his or her shortcomings and utilizes them not to create sympathy or pity, but to create laughter.

The book started extolling the virtues of the medium, for example the fact that standup and improv require nothing but a stage and imagination and how that’s different from most other forms of entertainment. Later, it got into more structured and practical device for developing material, practicing, performing and hosting at clubs, etc.

I most loved this concept of “joyous communication” that was new to me here:

Joyous communication is the single most important technique in performing stand-up comedy. Joyous communication does not mean you’re communicating how joyous you feel. Happiness is a wonderful thing to experience in life, but it is not funny. It’s hard to get a laugh on how great things are going for you. What joyous communication means is that you take joy in communicating to the audience your emotions, be they anger, confusion, outrage, excitement, frustration, love, or whatever else you’re feeling.

This isn’t limited to standup. I’ve been around people that I never tire of because they’re so engaging and connected—the tone and topic don’t even matter. They seem to simply enjoy storytelling and conversation in a way that’s easy to feel and stay with. It would make sense that this is a vital part of relating to an audience and performing good standup. (Or possibly anything.)

The book seemed to repeat itself more toward the end and it re-used a few examples enough that I wished it pulled from a broader pool of them, but I liked the casual tone and apparent authoritativeness of what Rosenfield covered.

I’d recommend reading this if you’re even remotely interested in standup!