Anyone who tries to learn stand-up comedy already knows that…
One of the biggest problems most new comedians face when they’re trying to learn stand-up comedy is that they can’t seem to get to the jokes fast enough in their act.
In other words, the joke montages are too long. Too, too long.
This is a real problem because to be recognized as a comedian of any mention you need to be able to command at least 4 laughs per minute for every minute you are in front of an audience.
And the secret is NOT to talk faster. In fact, you don’t want to be in a hurry at all when you’re standing in front of a comedy audience.
Note that I said a minimum of 4 laughs per minute – top comedians get 6-8 laughs per minute.
Now get ready to learn stand-up comedy from a different perspective.
As long as you have a recording of your stand-up comedy act (audio or video) and transcribe it into your word processor (word for word)…
You can apply the 20 word rule to get the results you want. The 20 word rule isn’t a hard and fast rule – it’s a very flexible editing guide that you can use now to help shorten your setups or identify where to add punchlines.
Here is the simple process:
1. Use your transcribed comedy act and review your recording of that act. Make a visible check mark at each point where you got laughs in your transcript.
2. Now go back and count the number of words that lead up to each laugh. If there are more than 20 words, you will most likely need to do some serious editing to shorten the setting or add a serif.
This concept applies to comedians who employ old-school joke writing techniques, as well as those who use more powerful theme-based stand-up strategies.
For those who really want to learn stand-up comedy, it should be noted that big-name comedians only use 10-15 words (average) before they hit a punchline.
Again, I want to mention that the key is NOT to speak faster on stage. It’s all about easily structuring what you really want to say, the way you speak naturally so that you get the maximum laughs per minute possible every minute you’re on stage.