Comedy burnout?

Does that really happen? Kind of! When I started out, I think I was performing in a comedy club or sitting in the audience of a comedy show just about every night for the first 2 years. And then I quit my job and kept on a steady stream of comedy-watching for many years while I was on the road. Then I moved to Los Angeles, and you guessed it, watched more comedy, though now they were in more 5 minute sound bites.

Baby Boomer Comedy Show provides the clean laughs

So when I was offered some

tickets to a comedy show benefit recently, I almost didn’t take them. I haven’t sat through a lot of comedy in the past few years since I mostly perform at either a conference in which I’m the only comedian in the program or with my partner Kent in the Baby Boomer Comedy Show.

But I decided to

go to this comedy show. . . I figured if it was a bunch of crappy comics, then I’d leave. To my surprise the event was excellent! I actually knew the headliner comedian and got to watch two other comics who were also very funny. And instead of passively watching, because no comedian can passively watch comedy, I started playing a game (in my head) about guessing the punchlines of the 2 comics I didn’t know. . . and I got a few punchlines right. That was not only fun, but productive. . .I think any time you work your comedy muscle, it’s helpful.

So don’t just

listen and laugh to comedy, also do this exercise and try to figure out where the comedian is going with the joke. . . . maybe you’ll even come up with a better punchline!

Jan

Clean Comedy and Humor Keynotes  – click here for my main comedy website
P.S. Of course if you do come up with different punchlines, don’t use the joke – it wasn’t your idea to begin with! Comedy etiquette. And, ya know, bad karma too!