I did a little deep Google diving this morning and uncovered some interesting Louis CK-related stuff that was posted online about a decade ago and you’ve probably never seen before. Here’s some of the highlights…

Louis CK & Doug Stanhope Discuss The Merits Of Being A “Healthy” Comedian In 2005

One of the best things I found was this Alt Standup Comedy Google Group which featured conversations amongst a variety of comedians including such notable names as Louis CK and Doug Stanhope. One particular discussion thread that caught my eye was actually started by CK with the subject, “Are you a healthy comedian?” Here was his opening post:

“I know a lot of you out there have a diet that consists of Hardees and Taco Bell with the occasional frozen buffalo wings heated up in the condo microwave, and that your exercize regimen… doesn’t exist. Personally, one of the reasons I chose standup as a life is because it allowed me to lie on a floor for several hours eating lard and crying, only having to pull myself together for an hour a day or so. But if you want to have any longevity as a comedian, or if you want
 your brain and body to provide you with any consistent creative flow, 
you have to eat somewhat right and do some excercize of some kind.

I started running years ago and though I often fuck up and stop for a
long time, it keeps me alive.  Especially when I’m on the road, I like 
to run every day and explore the towns I’m working in. I try to eat
 shitloads of fruit too. Recently I started jumping rope which feels gay 
and wonderful at the same time.

Does anyone else work out/excercize/take care of themselves?  Or are
you all hoping to die a quick, american junkfood non-movement death?

just curious.

LCK”

This led Stanhope to reply:

“I try to do coke a couple times a month to get my heart rate up though Viagra can really get the ticker running at high speed especially if you are trying to come while you’re extraordinarily drunk. Cialis to a lesser extent but for a longer duration.

Often times on the road I will take very long walks when I wake up and
 don’t know where I am and need to get back to my hotel. Terror can at times be a great replacement for a sauna to help you 
sweat out the toxins. Sushi is very healthy I’ve heard and will help clean out your system 
the longer you leave it sitting around before consumption. Dry heaves
 help keep the abs tight. Carrying a lot of merchandise to a gig is a good workout and doing 
terribly on stage will insure you have to carry them all back home as
well. I also sometimes play darts in between shows.”

Later on in the discussion thread, CK expanded on his thoughts.

“For me, it’s not really about weight loss. Training just makes me sharper and mostly increases my endurance. let me put it to you all this way: Trying to be a standup comedian for 
a living, or beyond that, trying to pursue a life in comedy that has
 longevity and bredth, is crazily hard.

Lots of folks say it takes 15, maybe 20 years to make a great comic.
 Lots of people start out with a lot of talent but by the time they hit
 that many years they’ve given up, become bitter and crusty or have died 
from ill health and depression. Outside of all that, it seems to me that if  you’re trying to do
 something extraordinary, which succeeding as a comedian is, if only by 
virtue of the fact that almost no one pulls it off, then you should get 
yourself into the best possible shape.  

I don’t mean looks, I don’t
 mean weight.  I maintain a pretty good belly.   I just mean getting
 yourself ready, steeling yourself, improving your abilities and 
strengths as a person. Given the odds of making it as a comedian, I am amazed at how little 
effort so many comedians make, while complaining bitterly about their 
lack of breaks.  I mean, you should be thinking like an olympic athlete 
but you think like dorito-eating high school brats, doing nothing and
 expecting everything.  

Of course I’m not talking about YOU, whoever is
 reading this.  I’m talking about YOU, over there.  Yeah.

Every time I run, I reach about fifty points in my run where I want to
 quit.  I reach about 100 points where I am SURE I’m going to quit.  But
 I keep going and when I finish, I’ve just proven to myself that I can
 survive self doubt and exhaustion.  This is an invaluable tool for me 
as a comedian, writer and producer.  Everything I do is  helped by 
exercize.  Even if I can’t spell it right.

One other thing, I NEVER listen to music when I run.  This is my 
reason:  When I get to those points, going up a horrible hill, running straight into a cold wind, I have to reach somewhere inside myself to 
get through it.  If I have an ipod suplying me with “Eye of the Tiger”
or some wonderful Cher song, then that gets me through.  That’s no good 
to me because next time I’m on a stage getting tired, or next time I’m
 shooting number 9 of 20 shows or next time I just want to fucking eat a
 bag of poison because I get sick of my life, I’d rather have whatever 
tool I built inside myself on that hill, then have to listen to cher 
every time.
Does that make any sense?

Now, I’m sure a lot of you young folks are thinking, “Fuck you, CK ,
Doug Stanhope does drugs and he is cool.”  Well, you’re right.  you
 should do drugs.  But this works for me.

thanks

LCK”

And finally, Stanhope’s response:

“Louis,

I concur that poor health leads to sloth and effects your creativity.
Repeating any behavior continually will effect your writing as it gives 
you nothing new to say. I do drugs, yes I do but I only do them socially. Its the fact that I
 talk openly about it that gives the impression that there is a
 frequency. I’ve probably done mushrooms 6 times this year, acid once
 (poor quality), coke maybe 5 or 6 times, and about three xanax a week
to sleep. I dont smoke pot.

So smokes and drink are about my only habits and the cigarettes 
certainly need to go.

I started drinking and smoking the night before Thanksgiving in 1980.
 So this year on my 25th anniversary I plan on doing a 30 full rehab of
 nicotine, alocohol, caffiene as well as good food and exercise. Just 
for the fun of not having fun. I hope to keep the smokes out completely 
afterward.

I’m tired of always being tired.

Thanks for your words.

stanhope”

Again, these are just some fun excerpts from the thread – you can check out more of it here.

Louis CK Explains Why He Stopped Doing College Shows In A 2004 Interview

In a lengthy (and really interesting) interview with a website dedicated to the Vancouver comedy scene called The Comedy Couch, CK explains why he stopped doing college shows.

“Years ago I did a show at UNH in New Hampshire. I don’t do college shows anymore, and this is why. I’m doing a show and I did an old joke of mine where I said, “I read that 80 percent of the people in New York are minorities. Which is funny, because shouldn’t
you not call them minorities when they get to 80 percent? Like you could take a white guy to Africa and he’d be going, ‘Look at all the minorities. I’m the only majority.'” Whatever. So that was the joke.

And I was at UNH, the University of New Hampshire, and when I got to the part where I said 80 percent of the people in New York are minorities, people booed me. Hissed. And I said, “What’s the problem?” And someone just said, “You’re a racist.” And I said, “Why am I racist?” “Because you said minorities.” And I asked the whole audience, “Do you all agree that that makes me a racist because I just mentioned minorities?” And they all said yes.”

Elsewhere in the interview, he’s asked whether he views himself primarily as a comic or a writer and his answer forecasts a bit of his future…

“I don’t really ever choose one over the other. I’ve been doing standup longer, though. I’ve been doing it for almost 20 years now. And I’ve never stopped doing it. TV writing is something I’ve been more visible at because of the shows I’ve worked on and getting an Emmy and stuff. I guess the two things I really want to do more than anything are films and standup.

[Directing or acting?]

Writing and directing. And that’s a harder gig to get. I’ve only done two of those. And standup I can do a lot of, but it doesn’t pay the bills as well because I’ve got a family. So TV’s always been right down the middle. But not I also want to combine standup with television and do my own show, so that’s sort of where I’m headed.”

The Chicago Tribune Describes Louis CK’s Premises As “Over-The-Edge Weird”

In this 1999 profile of CK prior to a standup show he was doing in Chicago, the Chicago Tribune calls him “one of the more bizarre acts around.” Meanwhile, CK explains his approach to comedy at the time in the article:

“If you ask yourself, `Is there anything I can do to get a laugh?’ you can find a lot of things,” he explains. “And usually they’re things that other people have found. “But if you take something that’s never going to work and you go, `Wow, I wonder if there’s any way I can get somebody to laugh at this?’ it’s a great challenge.”

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On a recent episode of the Writer’s Bloc podcast, host (and Daily Show writer) J. R. Havlan interviews Colbert Report head writer Opus Moreschi about how his career has evolved and how he approaches writing for Colbert.

You can listen to the full episode here, or read up on some of the highlights below.

1. Sometimes Writing Jobs Start Out As Receptionist Jobs

At about the 11-minute mark, Moreschi explains how he got his start as a comedy writer. He compares job interviews to first dates, and goes on to note that the first real job he landed wasn’t as a writer – it was as a receptionist on the The Late Show With Craig Kilborn.

But that job wound up leading to bigger opportunities – he found himself getting incorporated into sketches on the show and befriending one of the show’s writers, who then asked Moreschi to join him as a writer on The Tom Green Show.

Interestingly, Moreschi’s story of hanging around in the right place – even if it meant needing to be a receptionist – was very reminiscent of Adam Carolla’s recent riff about the importance of being “the guy they know.”

2. Do Whatever You Can Do

At about the 20-minute mark, Moreschi answers the question he gets asked most often – “How do you do it?” He says that he is asked all the time by wannabe comedy writers how they can have a career like his and that his answer is always the same – “Do whatever you can do.”

He explains that a comedy career isn’t like becoming a doctor where you study pre-med, go to medical school and follow a clear path. Because there is no clear path to it, he suggests that you have to be willing to work hard and try everything you can to put yourself into a position where you can get opportunities.

3. Keep Trying

At about the 24-minute mark, Moreschi talks about how he first landed his job writing for The Colbert Report. People tend to assume that successful comedy writers succeed easily, but that’s certainly not the case.

In this case, Moreschi read a press release initially announcing the launch of The Colbert Report and wrote a writing packet to submit for the show immediately – without even really having any idea of what the show would actually be! He just guessed based on what he had read in the press release.

His submission wound up getting rejected, but he didn’t give up on it. He kept submitting and wound up getting hired eventually – only after he had been rejected five times.

4. It’s Tough To Criticize A Character

At about the 29-minute mark, Moreschi talks about why he thinks The Colbert Report gets so little criticism (relatively speaking) despite the political nature of the show’s content. He explains that the show is “hard to criticize because of the character,” and says that he thinks sometimes it’s tough for people to sort through what the character means, but then also take into account what the writers really mean.

He points out that it’s much harder to deconstruct and criticize a character than it is a person who is essentially being themselves on air – the difference between Colbert and Jon Stewart, who gets much more criticism from people who disagree with his political views.

5. The Real Difference Between The Comedy Of The Daily Show And The Colbert Report

At about the 40-minute mark, Moreschi offers a great description of the difference in the way The Daily Show and Colbert Report approach comedy. He says that The Daily Show is at its best when it’s a reflection of what’s going on in the world, while Colbert is at its best when it puts itself in the middle of what’s going on and embodies it.

Two very different approaches, both done pretty damn well.

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I’ve been a huge proponent of Facebook fan pages over the past few years and believe the Connected Comedy Facebook page was a key to the growth of this site and community.

But recent changes to how Facebook treats fan pages has made a lot of comics – including me – start to question their value moving forward.

If you’re not familiar with what’s been happening with fan pages, here’s a crash course – basically, Facebook has changed their algorithms in a way that means barely any of the fans of your page will actually see your updates in their news feed unless you’re willing to pay to promote those posts through Facebook ads.

You can read more about the backstory of what’s happened, but I want to share with you some of my still-evolving thoughts about what this may mean for comedians.

It’s A Reminder You Need An Email List

Any time a social network changes its rules and/or you see its users start to flee, it’s a reminder that you need to build connections to your fans that you 100% control. That’s a long-winded way of saying that nothing is more important than getting people to join your email list.

Too many comics believe email is outdated and that getting people to follow them on Facebook or Twitter is good enough. It’s not.

If your main connection to fans depends on somebody else’s social network you risk losing that connection to your own audience whenever that platform fades away (see: MySpace) or when that platform decides to change the rules and force you to pay to reach your own fans (see: Facebook’s recent fan page changes).

Social networks are great, but they’re not a replacement for an email list and/or a website that you 100% control. And when it comes to an building your email list, I suggest you start here.

Facebook Fan Pages Might Not Be Free, But That Doesn’t Mean They’re Not Valuable

Every comic’s initial reaction to the Facebook fan page changes is pretty much anger that you now have to pay to reach your own fans. I understand that, but if you take a step back you might realize that just because you might have to pay to reach people that doesn’t mean that it’s not worth it.

The truth is that Facebook ads – particularly ads targeting fans of your own page – are pretty cheap. Prices vary, but you can reach thousands of people for as little as $5 in some cases. And at least for the moment, most people are still spending a whole lot of time on Facebook, so there’s a whole lot of people you can reach there.

It’s interesting how some comedians will be aghast at the thought of spending money to reach people on Facebook, but won’t think twice about paying money to print up flyers or take out advertisements in newspapers. The honest answer is Facebook ads are still a cost-effective method of promotion to reach fans or potential fans – even if it used to be something you didn’t have to pay for.

Fan Pages Are Still More Powerful Than Personal Profiles

The biggest reason I tell you to have a fan page in addition to (or instead of) a personal Facebook profile is because fan pages are  the only ones that you can promote with Facebook ads. That rule is still in effect, which means that if you want to take advantage of Facebook’s biggest strength (more on that in a moment), you’re going to need to have a fan page to do so.

Facebook Is Still The Best Way To Discover And Reach New Potential Fans

If you know who your potential audience is (and especially if you know your niche), there is no better tool than Facebook to find people likely to enjoy what you do. Thanks to the insane amount of demographic information Facebook has about its users and your ability to hyper-target ads or content to those people, Facebook ads are still the best way to introduce yourself or your content to new potential fans.

And since you can only run those ads through a Facebook fan page, that means that abandoning your fan page is the equivalent to abandoning the most powerful tool that exists to find new targeted potential fans or to promote your projects to your existing fans in a cost-effective way.

By the way, Facebook realizes how powerful the ad system is that they’ve created and that’s (one of) the reasons why they’ve decided to essentially make fan pages a pay-for-play experience. They think it’s worth it – and they’re probably right.

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This is a guest post from Connected Comedian Travis Denley. If you’d like to contribute a summary of a podcast episode of value to my readers, please email me.

The Consilience with Pete and Charlie podcast is about the intersection of science and the humanities, hosted by a couple of employees of Georgia Tech.

On a recent episode they interviewed comedian Steve Hofstetter who has made several television appearances, hosted “Four Quotas” on Sirius radio, was an original columnist for CollegeHumor.com, and whose YouTube channel has generated more than 18 million views. You can listen to the full episode here, or read up on some of the highlights below.

1. You Have To Do More Than Just Get A Laugh

At around  the 3-minute mark, Pete asks Hofstetter if he thinks standup comedy contributes to the discourse in the humanities world. Hofstetter responds, “Comedy is the discourse…[it’s] responsible for lifting our consciousness about a lot of important issues. Obviously there’s some silliness too, but that’s not my taste. My taste is comedy that contributes to the discourse, and pulls it further.”

He goes on to break down his vision of a comedian’s role.

“I try to find sacred cows, and flay them. My job is to question the status quo, and to do it in a funny way,” he says. “A lot of comics say, ‘Oh, you just have to get the laugh.’ NO! The laugh is the minimum. A comic who only goes for the laugh is the teacher who teaches to standardized testing. It’s the minimum of your job…I think the idea is that, as a comic, you have the opportunity to do so many other things. You have the opportunity to teach, or to make someone feel good about themselves, or to sell merchandise…I mean, there are a million things you can do with your hour, or your seven minutes, or whatever it is. But some people are just like, ‘Oh I just gotta go up there and get a laugh.’ No. That’s step one. Now that you did that, what else can you do?”

2. Selling Doesn’t Make You A Sell-Out

At around the 21-minute mark, the conversation turns to the business of comedy. Hofstetter owns multiple comedy clubs and books hundreds of college performances each year.

“If you do something you wouldn’t have done, because of the money, you’re a sellout. If you take money for doing what you love already, you’re just selling. You’re not selling out,” he says.

In terms of actually selling, many comedians will promote, promote, promote. Hofstetter suggests that you “don’t promote a product, until you have a product,” and stresses that you should “sell to the right people, sell the right way. You don’t want to trick someone into joining your mailing list, because all that will do is give you one more person to email before they unsubscribe.”

3. Don’t Be A Hack – On Stage Or Off

At around the 25-minute mark, Hofstetter talks about how important it is to be creative in your promotional material.  He points out that comedians are creative all the time – except when it comes to promotion.

“When it comes to promo, people just fall into what has come before them, and they say, ‘This is how it’s done.’ No, that’s how it was done. It can be done however you do it,” he says.

Hofstetter points out that many comics are not funny in their bio – typically leading with something like “Such and Such is from Cleveland, Ohio.” If that’s not important to the act, why would it be the first sentence of your bio?

Instead, he recommends that you lead with your lead.

“We’re problem solvers, we’re creative, and we strive not to be hacks – on stage,” he says. “So many of us are such hacks offstage. So many of us just look at other people’s promo and go, ‘Ok, I’ll do that.’ Aren’t you supposed to be inventive, and pushing the envelope, and new, and different? Why does that stop the moment you put the microphone back in the stand?”

4. Make Mistakes

At around the 31-minute mark Hofstetter talks about the importance of comics being willing to make mistakes. Someone once said of him that he had 1,000 ideas a day, and 999 of them are terrible.

But he realized it’s about finding that one good idea and using it. So what does Hofstetter do when an idea doesn’t turn out well? He just comes up with another one. He said loves making mistakes, because they help him ultimately make fewer of them.

5. The Data Matters – And So Does The Follow Up

At around the 55-minute mark, Hofstetter talks about his process of booking shows – specifically at many non-traditional comedy venues. He built his own box office system because he realized that if he went through other ticketing agents, they got all his fans’ information.

“I do all the work, I promote the show, and then THEY can sell my customers on going to some country music concert the next week,” he said, explaining why he preferred to control that valuable data on who was coming to his shows.

So he built a box office system that is automatic. He’ll use a tablet to check people in, and if they’re checked in they will get an email saying thanks for coming, links to his various social media accounts, and offer a free download of one of his albums. If someone doesn’t check in, they will get an email saying sorry we missed you, with a discount for the next time he’s in town.

In addition, audience members are told through email who was on the lineup the night of the show, which lets someone who forgot the name of a comic they liked go learn more about them. Audience members are also asked to rate the comedians. If the rating is high, that information is saved in their profile, and they will get an invite the next time that comedian is coming through town.

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This is a guest post from Connected Comedian Kevin Jones. If you’d like to contribute a summary of a podcast episode of value to my readers, please email me.

On a recent episode of comedian Ari Shaffir’s Skeptic Tank podcast, Comedy Central’s Senior Vice President of Talent and Specials Jonas Larsen stopped by to discuss his perspective on the business.  While the majority of the two-hour podcast was filled with valuable information, here’s a few of the most relevant pieces of information for Connected Comedy readers.

You might never make it on to Comedy Central, but Larsen’s advice can still help you become a better/more successful comedian in general. You can listen to the full episode here.

1. Be Ready To Deliver New Material – And Don’t Make It Controversial

At about the 45-minute mark, Larsen explains that advertising sales are ultimately what runs a TV network and that “controversy is not a good thing to sell advertising.” This means if you want to get on TV, being unnecessarily blue or racy will hurt your chances.

He also discusses the importance of continuing to create new things even after you get a break or some exposure. He hates having an opportunity spring up for a person, only to have them not prepared to go with new material from the last time they got their shot.

He also added that standup in particular is truly the life blood of Comedy Central, and that they feel it properly grooms a lot of the talent they currently have on the network for them to develop – citing Daniel Tosh, Jon Stewart, Amy Schumer, and Anthony Jeselnik as examples of standup comics who have evolved into having their own non-standup shows on the network.

2. Take Social Media Seriously

At around the 66-minute mark, Larsen talks about the importance of social media to comedians and their sometimes conflicted relationship with it. He feels that a lot of young comics don’t want to feel like they’re sell-outs, or selling themselves too hard, but suggests instead that you do a better job of using social media to let people know how they can engage with you, either by shows or by where you’re most socially active.

Larsen says there’s a lot of clutter in comedy, noting that you have to stand out and give people a reason to watch you instead of the other thousands of comics getting on stage.  Even once you get to the point to where you get an hour special, the hard work is only beginning.  Now that people have a clue of who you are, what are you going to do to keep their attention and keep them as fans?

He also stresses the importance of YouTube – pointing out that a lot of people get noticed on there, but it’s up to the comedian to figure out how to use it to their benefit.

Larsen also shares a story about Paul F. Tompkins, who was in a rut and then posted on Facebook, “Hey, if you can get 300 ppl to buy tickets, i’ll come to your town wherever you are.” It worked greatly and he used that momentum to help propel him to where he’s at.

3. You Can Write More Than You Realize

At around the 73-minute mark, Shaffir talks about how he tries to write a new hour every year. He says that while it was scary at first and didn’t think he could do it, it breaks down to about a new 5 minutes a month, and that by the second year it wasn’t as hard to write the new hour.

He said Louis CK told him that if he was all of a sudden not allowed to do any of his old jokes, that he wouldn’t stop being a comedian – he’d just write new stuff.  He used that mindset as motivation to keep his nose to the grindstone and keep working on new material until he came up with 15 minute chunks he was proud of.

4. Don’t Be Afraid To Fail

At around the 78-minute mark, Larsen says sometimes the biggest mistake is being afraid to fail.  He is not a believer in “because something didn’t work, it’ll never work.”  Sometimes your biggest mistakes can become your greatest asset.

He also talks about how young comics shouldn’t limit themselves. Don’t be afraid to try different forms of comedy to see where you feel most comfortable – doing things you’re unfamiliar with can also make you a more well-rounded performer.

5. How To Get Past “No”

At around the 127-minute mark Shaffir talks about hearing “no” so often that it made him work harder, and made him work without standards because he knew he was writing for himself, not TV. Realizing his material would never get him on TV, he focused on becoming a “write a new hour a hour a year and tour, that’s how you’ll get known” guy, he was happier and more effective by writing for himself and not people who were never going to like what he did.

Larsen added that, “We’re wrong sometimes,” and cautioned comics not to let rejection keep you from working to get where you want to be. He said Comedy Central is always looking for fresh talent, and you need to know “your voice” if you are going to be in a position to show you belong.

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You probably know B.J. Novak best from his work as an actor on The Office, but he’s also a writer, comedian, author and Harvard graduate. A couple weeks ago he appeared on The Nerdist podcast and discussed his career, what he learned from writing for the Harvard Lampoon, how he approaches his work and much more.

Check out a few of the highlights of what he had to say below and listen to the full episode here.

1. What You Can Learn From The Harvard Lampoon

At around the 20-minute mark, Novak discusses what he learned from working at the legendary Harvard Lampoon when he was in college. He explains that what he really took from it was some lessons in authenticity and style.

Specifically, he talks about the Lampoon’s ethos of not caring and explains that for the people that worked there it was more about impressing each other than their audience.

That style bled over into shows such as The Simpsons, which were staffed by many former Lampoon writers and carried a similar tone – an attitude that “We don’t care if you get it or not.” As Novak explained, “There’s an aspirational intelligence” to what the Lampoon does.

2. You Have To Want To Be Good And Be Willing To Work At It

Around the 31-minute mark, Novak and host Chris Hardwick discuss their shared experiences on the open mic circuit as younger comics. Hardwick, who found himself doing open mics after his initial success as an MTV host had fizzled out, explains that it only made him work harder and notes that he was willing to do open mics and build up a new career for himself. He didn’t let any ego he may have had based on former success prevent him from putting in the work he needed on the open mic circuit.

For his part, Novak explains that he also was driven to be good and took it very seriously. He used to write notecards evaluating his performance each night, but hid them because he was self-conscious about what other comics might say about his serious approach to his comedy.

3. The Upside Of The Los Angeles Comedy Scene

Around the 36-minute mark, Novak shares his take on the differences between the Los Angeles and New York comedy scenes. While people often assume that New York is a better pure standup scene and LA is negatively impacted by the industry influence, Novak actually believes the opposite.

He points out that most comedians will ultimately want to entertain everybody and that the LA market is more focused on that than New York, where it’s easy to get distracted and “obsess over the 10 people in the room.”

4. Look For Things That Can Make An Impact

Around the 69-minute mark Novak explains his philosophy on how he chooses what he wants to work on – whether it be writing, acting, or performing. He looks for projects that can make an impact and points out that almost all movies and TV shows have no impact on people – they get produced, they come out, people watch them, and then they get forgotten.

He said his biggest fear is working on things that will have no impact on anybody. Instead, he tries to work on projects that don’t go to waste and that matter. “I want to have an impact,” he said.

5. You Have To Be Personal

Around the 73-minute mark Novak talks about what he thinks comics should strive to do when  they perform – be personal and get noticed. He talks about how you need to be personal so that nobody can forget seeing you.

“That’s what makes the difference,” he said. “One guy after another kills on stage, but with most of them you don’t feel like you need to know who they are.”

It’s a good reminder that just making people laugh usually isn’t enough to make it in this business.

Have you listened to a podcast episode lately that has helpful information for comedians? If you’d like to write up a summary of it to share on this site, please email me.

This is a guest post from Connected Comedian Travis Denley. If you’d like to contribute a summary of a podcast episode of value to my readers, please email me.

The Open Mic Life podcast is an Australian podcast about starting out in standup comedy hosted by open mic’ers Doug Gordon and Dilruk Jayasinha and featuring an interview with a different guest each week.

Sometimes they interview fellow open mic’ers with only a couple years experience, and sometimes they book some actual headliners with 10+ years of experience. In December 2013, they had 20+ year comedy veteran Gerard McCulloch on for a conversation that focused largely on the art of writing comedy. Below are some of the highlights of what McCulloch had to say, and you can also listen to the full episode here.

1. Don’t Throw Anything Away

The first bit of advice comes early. At about the 6-minute mark, the three talk about what to do with jokes that aren’t working. The first thing you can try is asking for advice! Don’t be too proud to take your joke to someone else and see if they can help you unlock the funny. If you find yourself unable to even communicate the thought of the joke to your friend, maybe that joke wasn’t meant to be in your act. Maybe it would make a better YouTube video, or sketch. Maybe it could be a blog post. Explore the possibility of exporting your thought to other mediums.

2. Learn The Mechanics

Around the 22-minute mark comes a specific tool for the crafting of a joke, called the “Pull back, and reveal.” This is where a comedian sets up a situation and then gives away a detail that sheds new light on the scene and flips it in an unexpected way.

McCulloch points out that the first stage a comedian goes through is to get onstage and just say, “Here’s this thing that happened. Isn’t this funny?” But urges you to instead take that same thought and consider how to write it so you come at it from a different direction.

Once you learn several of these mechanics, you can apply them to all your jokes. Which of these cookie cutter techniques will best serve the thought you’re trying to convey? This approach ties in nicely to the episode’s next bit of advice…

3. Analyze Your Sets

At about the 32-minute mark McCulloch shares his method for analyzing his sets. He uses a tick system – after the show he puts one, two, or three marks by each joke depending on how they did. If a joke doesn’t go well, it gets a slash, and eventually gets dropped altogether.

4. Identify Holes In Your Act

At the 38-minute mark, McCulloch discusses how his background in economics leads him to consider his act in an analytical sense. If there are events that happen regularly, say a Super Bowl, or the Olympics, he might write 5-10 minutes on the subject, and just keep it in his back pocket since he knows that event will come around again.

Even though these events may be temporary, they are also recurring. Besides, the more things you have material on, the better you’ll be able to handle anything that comes up.