My Comedy Evolution

When I first started doing stand up I remember a very experienced comic telling me that I was writing the "typical" newcomer jokes. At the time I was insulted and thought he just didn't understand how brilliant I wad but now that I have been doing it longer I'm starting to see what he meant. When you go to an open mic and see new comics you see them talking about the same topics we all did and they all have that delivery of, "nobody else has ever thought of this."

1. There are a lot of jokes that include dialogue back and forth between the comic and someone who isn't there: "so the stripper says 'let me dance for you' and I say 'only if you don't talk' and she says 'what's wrong with my voice' and I say 'you're talking' and she says 'oh sorry'." A lot of people start doing stand up because they're the "funny friend" so instead of writing jokes they just repeat stories that were funny at the time.

2. Jokes about Jesus and God. Everybody has a Jesus joke. Everybody.

3. Really personal stories that you shouldn't be sharing. These usually include weird sexual acts, revealing something about your spouse that they probably wouldn't want discussed, or admitting you're a virgin. These are all extremely common and make the audience feel awkward for you.

It's not a bad thing and I'm not saying the jokes aren't funny, but the evolution of a comic is clearer to me now.

Here's my evolution as I see it:

When I first started doing stand up I wanted to be a clean comic. I wanted to be just like Jerry Seinfeld. If I could be clean and accessible like him then I would be famous and rich in no time.

Then one day I was thinking about how much I hate period jokes and how many people had told me not to tell period jokes and it made me mad. Who are they to tell me what I can and can't talk about? So I wrote the most disgusting period joke I could think of and it killed. Thus began my "shock and awe" stage. I can look pretty sweet and innocent so I can get laughs by telling really dirty jokes that other comics might not get away with. I was pretty sure that I was revolutionizing comedy. I'm sure nobody else had ever talked about not liking children, brazilian waxing, and relationships from a female perspective?!

I've been stuck in this stage for a long time now because it gets me laughs, but recently have come to a realization: it's not getting me anywhere. With the type of humour I have been doing I can't perform on tv or at festivals and I can't sustain the laughter for more than 25 mintues. An hour of dirty jokes is too much. It's draining and starts to get repetitive.

So now I'm trying to clean up my act, literally.

The newest evolution involves finding topics that I find interesting while holding back on the sex and swearing. It sucks. It bores me and it's hard. Everytime I try to write a joke I find myself thinking, "how will I end this joke about painting...I know! Blow job! No!" I can't keep falling back on the easy laughs. I need to write a clever "cleaned up" set for festivals and a squeaky clean set for corporate gigs. And I need to hurry up and do it.

It's here in writing so now I have to do it. Cross your fingers for me and if you see me on the street please feel free to tell me something really dirty, it will help relax me.