So You Think You Wanna Be A Stand Up Comedian?

So you have made the decision that you want to be a Stand Up Comedian. Wow, Congrats!?! It is not everyday that someone decides to step in front of a moving Cross Town Bus on purpose. Yeah, the stand up comedy game is like that. It can be very fast paced and change your life over night, kinda like getting married in Las Vegas and not knowing it until the next day when you wake up and wonder "What have I done?".

Now, a number of people do a number of thing for their own reasons and I am sure you have yours. But, now that you have decided this is what you want to do, you are gonna have to make a decision on what kinda comedy you are going to pursue. Yeah, I know another big decision (your last big decision was do you want the #4 or the #8 or just combine them and make your own #12). Don't worry it's not hard, it's kinda like walking into your favorite fast food joint and looking up at the menu, the only things that are different are, 1) you can take as much time as you want to decide, 2) you can change your order whenever you decide without management approval and 3) you are the only one that can decide.

The reason you need to decide on what kinda comedy you want to do is because comedy is like music, there are so many different kinds of it. You can't play them all. You can try, but is a like putting pearls on a polar bear, you will have a hard time finding your audience. Some people say "funny is funny" and there is a lot of truth to that, but funny is only funny to those that can relate to it. There is a reason you don't see Jeff Foxworthy performing at the Apollo, he is funny, but his comedy is not that kinda of funny. You don't see Lisa Lampanelli performing at an Christian Comedy show, why? Well, if you have to ask why, then you need to just check her out. Now I am not saying that these are not the venues for these extraordinary performers, but they have decided what kinda comedy they wanted to do and stuck with it and it has worked for them.

I mentioned previously, that you can always change the kinda comedy you want to do. For instance Steve Harvey, went from primarily Urban Comedy to Clean Comedy, now he has broaden his comedy horizons, he is now doing church shows and hosting Family Fued(he should know about that easily). The point is, comedy is so broad and so deep, that you have to know what or at least have a general idea of what direction you wanna go. You don't try to swim across the Mississippi River without knowing how deep it is and where it is the deepest.

Sit down, take a long look at what you think your material content is and go from there. Get advice from friends and family that have seen you perform. Use this great resource called the internet and ask other comedians their take on your new adventure. A lot of them will talk to you, if for nothing else the laughs that it can generate. Read, Read and Read some more. There are plenty of books by comedians that will tell you what they have had to go through to get to where they are in their particular arena of comedy.

As for me, I started out thinking that Urban Comedy was the ticket for me. Yet, I set back and I thought about my comedy influences and realized that I, I did not have to focus on just Urban Comedy because I am Black (yeah, I guess you missed the picture), I enjoyed to many other comedians and their material and they were not necessarily Urban. My influences were George Carlin, George Lopez, Franklin Ajaye, Redd Foxx, Damon Wayans, Howie Mandell, Bill Cosby, Richard Pryor, Vic Dunlop, Thea Vidale Jeff Foxworthy, Ron White and the list goes on and on. Yet, I knew that I could not be them, that spot was taken.

After looking back at all of them, I developed my own identity, my own material path and delivery system. I developed Longhorn The Comedian, from a number of things. My background, my heritage, my children, ex-wife, being an Army Brat and a Veteran, being a grandfather, ex-girlfriends, people around me and things that they do that I see is unique and funny to me. It all came into perspective as I grew as a comedian and began making my decision at the "Menu of Comedy".

If you are just starting out in this game, "Congrats To You!!!" You have step out into waters that only will know if you can handle. It is like nothing you have ever seen, it will take you places that you would not even imagine going and it will make you do things that you will one day look back at and laugh or cry about, but it is indeed a very unique experience. I bid your Good Luck and Godspeed and if you need to talk to me about it. I am not hard to find, I am the brother with the Cowboy Hat and his name on his collar, I am Longhorn The Comedian.