10 Good Things: How being a comedian is like being a bullfighter and more
On voice-finding, comedy movies, screenwriting, long buildups, and more.
💥 Check out BOLO! Rave reviews pouring in and almost 28K views in three weeks.
My daughter once said to me, "Being a comedian is like being a bullfighter," and I said, "What are you talking about?" And she said, "Well, you get such immediate feedback on your performance."
You can go out there on Monday and do a joke you like, and the audience doesn't laugh, and you say, "What a load of ignorant rednecks." Then Tuesday, they don't laugh, and you can still blame the audience. By Wednesday, you've decided it may not be as funny as you thought. So you're always checking it against the audience reaction, because if it doesn't make them laugh and it's intended to, you are getting something wrong, not them.
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: How the heck do I “find my voice” anyway?When you are on stage, look out for the moments people laugh but there wasn’t a punchline. This should point you in the direction of the moments where you are being peak “you”.
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💥 Big Tech platforms can make or break performer careers now. Yet they make up arbitrary rules re: allowable content on the fly and ban people based on AI hunches. Sucks. It's like if they made the entire police department out of those robot dogs.
💥 Has anyone stopped to consider what will happen to an artform monetized largely by selling drinks as alcoholic consumption drops precipitously in society?
💥 How many comedy movies were released in 2024?
:I found 303 feature-length comedies that were released over the past 12 months. That’s 196 more than I found in 2022 and 105 more than in 2023.
💥 Aaron Sorkin was asked how he writes stories. He calls Intention and Obstacle the “drive shaft of drama.”
“You know, everybody writes different. But for me I have to stick — really closely, like it's a life raft — to Intention and Obstacle. Just the basics of somebody wants something, something is standing in their way of getting it.”
💥 Totally underrated screenplay writing advice: Write stuff you can actually shoot. Like, I'm sure your 27 diff location montage is killer and all, but it ain't ever gonna happen.
💥 Zinoman strikes again in the NYT: Ronny Chieng, Gary Gulman and other comics are experimenting with long buildups that can be audacious … when they work.
There comes a moment where the comedy stems from disbelief that the setup is going on this long. You expect it to end but it doesn’t, and that makes it only more ridiculous. What each bit also shares is the comedy of not just subverting expectations but also unsettling the entire enterprise.
The jokes change genres, moods and the sense of what’s possible, juxtaposing punchlines with wildly incongruous elements from politics and religion. At their core, these long jokes are attempts to destabilize the audience and make us wonder how much longer will this go on and what could possibly happen next.
The biggest laughs erupt when comics take the conventions we know and blow them up or just distort them.
Reminds me of this Patton Oswalt story from Werewolves and Lollipops: “I love the guy who’s terrified at any kind of silence. F*ck me for building a moment. I’d hate to see you at a funeral.”
💥 Wanna tell a funny story on PBS? A message from comedian/storyteller Jeff Simmermon:
I'm curating and coaching an episode of PBS's "Stories From the Stage."
WGBH in Boston produces a storytelling TV show called "Stories From the Stage" that airs on PBS stations across the US. The stories are true (enough), told from the heart and based on a particular theme. While this is a storytelling show and *not* a standup show, funny stories are definitely welcome!
You can see episodes here and here <-- I'm in this one
Right now, I'm gathering pitches for stories. The submission deadline for my episode is February 8th, show tapes on April 4th in Boston, MA.
If your story makes it, we'll work together over the next few months to tighten, streamline, edit, revise, maybe come up with jokes together, and rehearse rehearse rehearse, all so you can CRUSH KILL DESTROY while taping! The show tapes on Friday, April 4th in Boston, MA, USA. Unfortunately there's no travel budget, so you are responsible for getting yourself to the taping.
The show's theme is "On the Road Again." Here’s the description on the submission page:
Travel: It can mean a family reunion, a work perk or going to a bucket list destination. It can also conjure up fear of flying, a dreaded meeting or sadness for a dearly departed. What was the real journey for you – getting or arriving there? Regale us with tales from the road.
**All submissions need to come through the submission page.** Anyone who wants to be considered needs to go through this process.
Here's the page.
Most people send a written submission, but if you prefer, you're welcome to send a video. Just paste a link to a DropBox or YouTube link in the submission field along with a brief description/your written pitch.
I myself prefer a video - I can sense tone of voice, screen presence, energy, etc much better that way. All you have to do is self-tape one on your iPhone, upload it to YouTube as a private link and send it to us via the submission page.
Dude, I love this newsletter. Thank you so much for letting me be a part of it!