jokes – thecomedybook

Hi Dave – At what point do you drop a bit? Is there a magic number or amount of time that you spend refining before you shelf a joke or bit? Thanks! W.K.

The Rule of Three!

Hey W.K. – I enjoy this type of question because it will always start a debate. In fact, it’s already started one – with me. In other words, I have two answers…

The first falls back on my dedicated opinion that comedians are creative artists. Writing and performing original material is an ongoing process. You create something and continue to develop it and make improvements.

Will it ever be perfect? Not really… at least for a creative artist.

Here’s what I mean. A lot of comics I’ve worked with have had killer sets. They come off stage knowing they’ve nailed it – the crowd laughed all the way through and both the performer and audience feel pretty good.

But then the performer (artist) can usually find some fault. It could be delivering one line a different way or even using another facial expression that could’ve taken everything over the top.

Take it on stage!

Could it be called a perfect set? Maybe for the audience, but a creative artist will probably always feel there’s some room for improvement. It’s the curse of being creative.

Here’s another example…

I’ve heard too many interviews with recording artists who’ve had No. 1 songs but can pick out moments (that listeners wouldn’t notice) where – if they could record the song again – they would do something different (in their mind, something better). The song may have hit No. 1, but they can see room for improvement.

The artist doesn’t stop selling the music – because it’s still good. It’s just not perfect. They might continue to change and develop the songs in live performances, which is something that has driven fans of Bob Dylan crazy for decades. He never seems to play his songs the same as the recordings.

Okay – now back to your question about comedy bits.

Just because a bit doesn’t work, that’s no reason to think it will never work. If you think it has promise and you’re dedicated to working on it… well, there’s always the chance.

In that case you would keep working on a bit for as long as you believe it can be made funnier. It will never be perfect, because in the back of your creative mind you always think it can be better.

Okay – that was answer No. 1. Now I’ll share with you a different opinion that I’ve also heard from so many comedians that I can’t ignore it.

I also share this in my workshops as a method for putting together a comedy set that might someday get you hired. It doesn’t take away from your creativity, but it saves the audience – and also importantly the club booker – the agony of paying for performances where the comedian is continually working on improving the same not-yet-working bit.

By the way, that’s great for open-mics and what open-mics are for. But when customers are paying upwards of $20 for a ticket, a two-drink minimum and parking it makes good business sense to give them a show with proven material.

This different opinion also shares the name of another comedy writing theory:

The Rule of Three

The best-known example of this in writing comedy concerns the actual structure of a joke or bit. For an explanation I saved you time and looked it up in Wikipedia. Here’s the scoop:

One of the best examples of the power of rule of three is in comedy, where it is also called a comic triple. Two is the smallest number of points needed to establish a pattern, and comedians exploit the way people’s minds perceive expected patterns to throw the audience off track (and make them laugh) with the third element. Example: “How do you get to my place? Go down to the corner, turn left, and get lost.”

Okay, okay… That sounds too much like textbook theory, which is something creative artists don’t worry about (at least too much). It also doesn’t pertain to your question, but it leads me to a different Rule of Three…

I remember conversations about this at the NYC Improv. As I like to say, I don’t make this stuff up and this idea seemed to be a general opinion with a lot of the comics hanging around the bar waiting to go on stage.

The idea is to try a bit or a joke three times in front of three different audiences.

Three things can happen:

The audience will laugh
Some of the audience will laugh, but not all
The audience won’t laugh

After doing this three times, you add up the score:

If they laugh all three times, you keep the bit or joke in the act
If you get some laughs, but not a lot – rework it and repeat the process
If they don’t laugh, cut the bit from you act

Of course, the first result is the goal, while the last one is pretty much a death sentence for the material.

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The second should spark the creative mind to continue improving the bit or joke. But eventually you’ll need to decide. If it’s only going to be a mediocre piece of material no matter how many changes you make, file it for later or dump it for something new and funnier.

If you want to work in this business, you need material that works in front of an audience.

The creative artist will always continue to develop new material. The working comic will have material that has already been proven to work in front of an audience – and that’s what they will be paid to deliver. So, if the bit or the joke is not working, then follow a similar Rule of Three from the game of baseball theory:

Three strikes and you’re out.

Thanks for reading and as always – keep laughing!!

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Hey Dave – I was reading your newsletter today and I’m wondering… What’s the difference between a Headliner vs. a Feature Act? Thanks – DS

Only west of Manhattan!

Hey DS – Money. Next question?!

Okay… okay… sorry for trying to be funny. That’s actually a good question for comics starting out AND in certain areas of the comedy scene. And the above is only part of the answer. There’s more to it, so let me explain with a true confession.

When I worked in the comedy biz in NYC I didn’t know the difference either. In fact, there was never a reason to bring up the term feature act. The comics worked their way through the open-mics and auditioned for the major clubs in the city. You can Google for a list – but off the top of my head from those days we’re talking about The Original Improv, Comedy Cellar, Catch A Rising Star, The Comic Strip, Caroline’s, Dangerfield’s, The New York Comedy Club and Stand-Up NY.

I’m sorry if I forgot anyone…

I was manager of The Improv, which in NYC (like the others) was a showcase club.

Yes, most of our audiences were made up of locals and tourists (like the others) but comics knew it was an important place to be seen. On any given night there could be industry people such as agents, managers, producers, and casting directors watching. We also scheduled showcases (auditions) for The Tonight Show, Late Night with Letterman, HBO, MTV, The Today Show – and plenty of others.

As I said – it was a good place for comedians to be seen on stage.

Non-industry nights were Fridays and Saturdays. This means the audiences (two shows Friday and three on Saturday) were pretty much local comedy fans and tourists (we’ll call them out of town guests from now on). Instead of going to a movie, they could see a live show – without paying high prices for Broadway show tickets. So, the comics were booked in advance and mostly “A-Acts.” In other words, they were our headliners, some already famous from television and movies, and the industry people already knew who they were. These comedians already had agents, television credits and were not “new faces” waiting to be discovered.

Not a feature act

Let’s put it this way. You, me, and everyone on the planet knew who George Carlin was, so there was no reason for him to showcase for industry people. If you wanted to hire him, all you needed to do was call his agent and pitch the project you had in mind.

Make sense? Okay…

Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays were the usual showcase nights. There would be several A-Acts doing 20 minute sets to guarantee good shows. But this is also when industry people and audiences would see the up-and-coming comics. They would be given anywhere from 5 to 10 minute sets and we could have as many as 10 to 15 comics go on stage in one night. Since we could stay open until 4 am the length of the show depended on how many people were still in the audience.

So, what I’m trying to say is in NYC (at that time anyway) we didn’t deal with or use the term feature acts. They were either A-Acts or newer comedians working their way toward becoming an A-Act.

The difference in terms happened when comics worked on the road – clubs outside of New York and Los Angeles. And since that wasn’t on my personal radar at the time, I never dealt with it.

It wasn’t until I got to Los Angeles and started working for Budd Friedman that I learned about bookings in the other Improv comedy clubs. The venue on Melrose Avenue was a showcase club like New York, but the other Improv clubs across the country did shows with only three comedians.

Only THREE comics?

Yeah – I was surprised too! My mindset was like the old New Yorker Magazine cover from 1976 – that is still a popular poster around Manhattan decades later. Basically, Manhattan residents could look west from 9th Avenue (BTW – The Improv was located just east of 9th Ave) and not really acknowledge anything until the Pacific Ocean.

Stuck up? Well, when everything you need is on one island it just becomes a way of life. But I regress…

Outside of NYC and LA, the clubs in other cities scheduled three comics – an opener (MC or host), feature (middle) and headliner (closer).

Every club I’ve ever managed or booked – including showcase clubs – has an MC (Master of Ceremonies is the proper showbiz term). That’s the comic who opens the show and warms up the audience. They’re also the ones required to make the announcements. You know – tell the audience about drink specials, future shows, and other “from the stage” advertisements.

Don’t forget – the “proper” term for showbiz is show BUSINESS.

The headliner closes the show. That’s the star act – the comic the club is advertising and the one most of the audience is paying to see.

So, who would be considered a feature act? You can guess – right? That’s the comic in the middle – between the opener and headliner. They do more time on stage than the opener – and less than the headliner.

And that takes us back to my first answer – money.

The feature act is paid more than the opener and less than the headliner. And there’s never a mix-up over that because it’s in the contracts, which is another matter I don’t remember dealing with in showcase clubs. In NYC you showed up, did your set, got cab fare and a sandwich – and thanked the club when you taped a special for Comedy Central.

Thanks for reading and as always – keep laughing!!

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Category Archives: jokes

Three Strikes and You’re Out: When to Drop a Bit

Opener vs. Feature vs. Headliner