How rehearsing jokes out loud creates punchlines
"Just performing your jokes out loud helps you to create more organic punchlines in your voice."
“Rehearsing alone in your room can feel uncomfortable, but not as uncomfortable as bombing alone on stage,” writes Joel Byars.
An unexpected benefit of rehearsing is that you will actually think of new punchlines.
Just performing your jokes out loud helps you to create more organic punchlines in your voice.
This is one of my favorite ways to break writer’s block when I’m feeling uninspired.
It’s a great note for comics who focus on writing and think typing is the way to create new bits. Sometimes you gotta talk it out. When your mouth gets rolling, it can get ahead of your brain and that can be a good thing. That leads to surprise and unexpected twists.
It can also be a way to dip into your subconcious mind. I’m constantly surprised at how much speaking bits out loud can lead to interesting tags and punchlines even I didn’t see coming.
It’s weird to talk to yourself at home like this, but hey, it’s better than rambling incoherently in front of a crowd hoping a punchline magically appears. Though even that can be worthwhile too (if you can get away with it)…the need to please an audience can create a desperation in your mind that forces you to leap to something funny in a way that might not have happened otherwise.
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dear matt,
i like it! this resonates in particular:
"It’s weird to talk to yourself at home like this, but hey, it’s better than rambling incoherently in front of a crowd hoping a punchline magically appears. Though even that can be worthwhile too..."
thanks for sharing!
love
myq