Hilarious jokes are all set –
you’ve got some samples of jokes you’ve written and some real live people – radio, TV, comedians, etc. . who will vouch for you that you’re, or at least the jokes you write, are funny! So where do you now go to actually write jokes for money? Here’s a few ideas:
All the radio people, TV people, media people that you
haven’t promoted to for free. . .turn around and contact them to sell them jokes. You can sell to them individually, and there are also things called radio prep services that supply radio people with news stories and jokes for their daily shows. Yes I’ve written for them, and no I won’t tell you who I’ve written for. Do some research, but make sure you’re good at topical (i.e. news) jokes because that’s mostly what they look for. . . and make sure you’re good in general because there’s a lot of competition to submitting your material. You may want to hold off on contacting these services until you’ve got lots of experience. You only get one shot at them and if you’re not good enough, they’ll ignore your future requests.
comedy is all over the place and people pay for you to find it
Famous comedians.
Yes, as I mentioned, do not sell material to up and coming or just your average joe comedian. . .I feel strongly that comedians need to write their own material and “buying” their way to the top by paying for material is not cool. BUT famous comedians burn up tons of material all the time. . and I’m not opposed to them buying material.
Other entertainers.
Yes, other entertainers like jokes too! AND since they aren’t comedians, they may have a harder time coming up with material. . . . magicians are good at magic, ventriloquists are good at throwing their voices and clowns are good at scaring small children. I’ve for them all – okay, no clowns but some people who I considered clowns.. .enough said. So look to other entertainers for your material. . .they don’t have to be famous. . . since jokes aren’t their main thing, just an addition to their true talent, I feel you can write for them without feeling like you’re helping them buy their way to the top. Face it, if you’re a crappy magician, but have a few great jokes, you’ll still never make it as a magician. . .unless you’re the Amazing Jonathan – he’s fantastic and in another category.
There are many other places to sell your jokes
that comedy writers usually don’t think about. . .I’ll be focusing on those in next week’s blog!
Have a great weekend!
Jan