Stand-up Comedy Tips For Success

Here are my top 3 stand-up comedy success tips that apply no matter what level you are at in the world of stand-up comedy:

1. Rehearse, rehearse, rehearse! Until you have built up your reputation and your ability to perform frequently enough to try to new material on stage, I strongly recommend that you rehearse your stand-up routine out loud every chance you get.

If you want to know why most new comedians can’t make any headway in the business of stand-up comedy, it’s because the only time that they “rehearse” is when they are at the next open mic gig.

That’s the super long road to stand-up comedy success, I can assure you. Musicians who are masters spend countless hours of practicing and rehearsing to get to the level of proficiency that they command on stage.

It’s no different for comedians who kill on stage.

2. Get in front of audiences at EVERY possible opportunity. Especially at the beginning, you simply cannot get enough stage time in front of audiences.

But the big mistake that many comedians make is that they limit themselves to comedy club performances only.

If a comedian is working blue or uses profanity in their stand-up comedy act, then they have severely limited their ability to get stage time to comedy club type venues right off the bat.

Don’t get me wrong. I love the freedom of expression that comedy clubs offer and very much enjoyed my adult material and using a bit of profanity in my act when I was actively performing.

But comedians need stage time, which includes getting in front of ANY possible audiences they can get in front of. Well, you just can’t do that with an act that's all about private parts.

Your freedom of expression will increase proportional to the impact of your act, your popularity and your ability to promote yourself. Until then…

3. Work on being very self-aware. Many comedians are NOT self-aware. They will develop stand-up comedy material that has personal value to them or that they adore and think is hilarious, but audiences simply don’t care for the material and respond accordingly.

Then, it somehow becomes the audience’s fault for not recognizing how brilliantly funny the material is.

That is not being self-aware. If the audience is not laughing at your stand-up comedy material, then it’s not stand-up comedy material.

The love, respect and laughter response one gets from an audience is the lifeblood of stand-up comedy drive and desire.

There is no magic pill when it comes to stand-up comedy success. Unfortunately, people will spend more time, money and effort looking for that “magic pill” than they will learning and applying the tried and true tips and techniques that I have just described.