Top Banana “Writing and Performance” tips

Tip 1 – First things first, purchase a number of note books and pens dot them around your home and on your person. As 1, you will never know when inspiration is going to strike. Write things down as they pop into your head if you think “ooh I’ll make a note of that later” you never will or you’ll forget and 2 writing down your material means you will keep track of your ideas and end up with a rich source of material to feed back into ad you will find that only 10% of what you write will be used the other 90% you should keep as you can dip back into it when stuck for inspiration.

Tip 2 – It will seem obvious but write about what you know, as this will help in your delivery, if you’ve experienced it then you will be able to tell it with conviction.

Tip 3 – All gags whether observational, character, topical and to a certain amount physical rely on a setup followed by a punch line – your setup should be no more that 2 to 3 lines followed by the punch line. Do not over elaborate on the setup audiences have short attention spans and once you’ve lost them it doesn’t matter how funny your punch line is. (e.g. “(setup line 1) I used to live in London, (setup line 2) But I’ve lost that London vibe, the edge. (punch line) What’s it called…Oh yeah no manners”

When you reach genius level you will be able to do a one line setup followed by the punch line. Aka Jimmy Carr, Steve Wright.

Tip 4 - Once you’ve started writing material you need to build a set of at least 3 to 5 minutes plus an additional 1 to 2 minutes if back up material (if your not getting any laughs can dip in to this as an alternative and if you forget part of your act you can borrow material from your back up)

Tip 5 – Put your material in order. Start with a strong gag, this will get you your first laugh and help dissipate nerves, end with your strongest gag so you go out on a high. Your opening line of your set is “Good evening my name is …” and your closing line is “You’ve been a great audience, goodnight”

Tip 6 – Whilst writing your material think about how you would like to perform, look at other comedians and study their delivery, how they stand, listen to their tone and how they set up the gag.

E.g. Jo Brand – laid back and factual, Jenny Éclair – incredulous and pissed off, Gina Yashere- everybody apart from us is mad, Harry Hill – I appear strange but in fact I am rational everything else is mad.

You may or may not end up imitating them but it will teach you about delivery. 50% of your laughs come from the material and 50% from the way you deliver it.

Tip 7 – Write your material out fully and learn it even if you’re an improv comic, firstly your performance will differ each time but you will have the core of your material. There is nothing worse than being on stage, dieing because you’re unable to remember how your gag starts or ends or what material follows next.

Tip 8 – Rehearse, rehearse, rehearse, rehearse….. sorry did you miss that, REHEARSE.
Run through your material to make sure you know it, that doesn’t mean being word perfect it means the order of your material, it will be different each time you perform it.

Rehearse your material as if you have an audience in front of you a good tip is to have a prop mike, so you get used to holding it at chest level between your boobies or pectoral muscles.

Having rehearsed to a point where you stop feeling completely sick and it has eased down to a slight nausea, find a trusted friend and perform in front of them.

If you are felling really nervous consider doing an acting class, this will give you the opportunity to lose some inhibitions and get a bit of practice at delivering material.

Tip 9 – Remember comedy is all about the timing something that can be innate or learnt by rehearsing you can improve and develop these skills. The Komedia offer an excellent 12 Week Standup Course taught by Jill Edwards (past attendees have included Jimmy Carr)

Tip 10 – On your first few performance there are things that you will worry about but can’t do anything about.

Hecklers – Even if you have a clever come back line you will be so nervous that you will not be able to deliver it with the necessary aplomb, so given the situation a “Shut the fuck up” or a sharp “Shush” will suiffice.

Interacting with the audience - You will be feeling pressurized at just getting on stage and performing your act without adding to your stress level by trying to freestyle improve with the audience.

Reading the audience - At your first few open mike performances don’t worry about trying to tailor your performance to the audiences, if your at an open mike the audience are not expecting Peter Kay or Eddie Izzard, and the main thing is to get a feel for being on stage.

Having done all this you your now ready for an open mic night.

I know of an excellent night called Top Banana, at the Cella/Sanctuary Café (51-55 Brunswick Street East) its on the first Monday of every month. The venue is small and intimate with a friendly lively crowd, the only heckling has been a cry of “Brilliant” from an audience member who was later restrained. The really nervous, can come down to the venue early, check it out, get a feel for being on stage, practice mike techniques and have a drink with the promoters.