Raising the Bar

Ever since I was a weird little kid, my dad has been telling me to do my homework. Only now do I understand why.

He wasn't just talking about schoolwork. He was talking in general about preparing for everything in life. Whether it's moving to a new house, giving a speech, or cooking a Christmas turkey for Karl Malone, you should always know exactly what you're doing.

I was doing a live show at local bar. This was a while back, one of the first stand-up acts of my adult life. I don't remember what I said, but I know I did impersonations. After my set, a fellow comedian beckoned me to the back of the club. He looked remarkably like Rodney Dangerfield (which could be why I remember him so well). Our conversation was brief.

"How long you been doing comedy?" He asked.

"This is my fourth or fifth time doing stand-up." I replied.

"Lemme tell you this... You're already funny, kid, but you gotta have structure."

This was one of the most solid pieces of advice I'd ever gotten. I knew my act wasn't perfect. But this guy highlighted what was probably the biggest factor as to why. At the time, I was practicing my jokes by writing key words on a piece of paper, practicing the gist of the joke, but never preparing it like a monologue. I still write my ideas on pieces of paper, but I've since been creating proper set-ups and punchlines.

I recently read about what makes screenplays powerful. The article described it something like this: Say you're pulling back the string of an bow, about to release an arrow into the heart of your foe. Ideally, you'd want the string to be as taut as can be before releasing the arrow. Bad screenplays tend to pull back the string, and diffuse the tension little by little, until the arrow is finally launched, but weakly and without the assertion it deserves, resulting in a series of dull cinematic would-have-been climaxes.

I'm paraphrasing, but that's how I started seeing comedy. I realized that when it comes to jokes, it's not enough to talk about something funny, but to build a good set-up and have a punchline that stings like a well-aimed arrow. Knowing this obviously doesn't make me an expert, but every bit of insight helps.

I tell ya.