Often people are overwhelmed by the steps of how to do stand up comedy. We agree, there’s lots to think about. That’s why we focus more on the benefits of doing stand up comedy and how it will improve your life (regardless of what happens on stage).
So, instead of deliberating on how to do stand up comedy, let’s think about are you tired of sending follow-up email after follow-up email and not getting responses? Are you sick of feeling nervous before the smallest of presentations? Well, if you learn how to do stand up comedy, all your future work communications and presentations will be easier.
We believe humor is a skill that anyone can learn and stand up comedy is the same. So, learn however you can how to do stand up comedy and just keep practicing the skill… and then you will experience these 5 magical benefits!
So, How to do Stand Up Comedy? Think More about these 5 Benefits:
1) You will have a more joyful perspective
Doing stand up comedy will require you to see the humor in everyday occurrences and dwell less on the negatives. Comedy will become your silver lining, so whenever something less than stellar happens, your perspective will be, “Alright, how can I make this funny?” You will have a more joyful perspective, you’ll probably laugh more and have lower stress as well.1
2) Your storytelling and public speaking skills will drastically improve
Stand up comedy is like telling a really awesome story to a group of people. So, doing stand up comedy at open mic nights will help narrow down which are your truly amazing stories and master your delivery. It’s also a great way to test your jokes on strangers before you say them at a dinner party with your boss or in-laws! Your future sales pitch presentations and wedding speeches will be a walk in the park.
3) You will have a creative outlet
Were you passionate about writing, poetry, theatre, drama, and/or movies when you were younger and just ran out of time as a ‘responsible’ adult? Stand up comedy will get you writing more often (as opposed to reactively checking your phone) and this creative writing can spark new connections and ideas. Humor has been proven to increase the acceptance of new ideas.2
4) You will make new funny friends
By going to open mic nights, you will naturally meet new, exciting people who love comedy. I’m not saying you need new friends, but who doesn’t want to meet new, funny people? Who knows, you might even meet some interesting corporate people as well, since a lot of comedians are ex-office folk who just started writing a funny blog on their company intranet. 😉
5) You will explore your great city
Stand up comedy is performed in all different types of venues – libraries, coffee shops, intimate small bars, college campuses, and swanky big theatres. Writing a few jokes and performing them can take you to new places and help you explore the cool, hip underground scene in your city. In NYC, for example, there are over 30 standup comedy open mics every night. You can filter on date, time and location on these 3 great comedy databases: OpenMikes, FreeMics, and Badslava.
So, really, How to do Stand Up Comedy? Go to an Open Mic!
The beauty of stand up comedy is that everyone starts the same way – at their local open mic night. So, to learn how to do stand up comedy, you just have to do that first gig. Then over time, you’ll have the confidence to use more humor at work and there are so many benefits to using humor at work. Corporate leaders who use humor as part of their leadership style are also more likeable and signal to peers that they have high emotional intelligence3.
Ready and excited to start? Here is our detailed article on What to Expect on your First Open Mic night.
Sources
1 Humor, stress, and coping strategies. By Millicent H. Abel. HUMOR. 2002, Vol 15; Part 4
2 ”Why Hewlett-Packard is Hiring Dancers”, Cheryl Strauss Einhorn. CNN Money, April 2013.
3”Humor at Work – Do leaders enjoy using humor as part of their leadership style?”, Vandad Pourbahrami, London School of Economics & Political Science, Aug 2016
Post written by Vandad Pourbahrami
Super inspiring! I might finally try out an open mic night.