Aug 21, 2018

My 3 Rules of Stand-Up Comedy by Denver Comedian James R. Zingelman

There's a thing in stand up comedy called "The Rule of Three."

It's about joke structure. Like the "Three guys walk into a bar" format.

We're not here to talk about that rule. We're here so I can talk about My 3 rules:

1. Setup: I'm not a story-teller comedian. I like concise setups followed by quick and killer punchlines. As in, "Three guys walk into a bar... "
2. Punchline: Quick, killer and (hopefully) unexpected. "Ouch! Ouch! Ouch!"
3. Engagement: Yep, I've wrote about this before but I truly believe even the best jokes are made even better when the comedian engages the audience. People want to feel a part of the event, and when a comedian's jokes are strong, and when the audience is engaged, magic happens. 

This is also the reason live comedy shows beat the hell out of watching a joke slinger on your television set.

 

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