How to be a working comic by Dave Schwensen

• The hardest part of stand-up is realizing that nobody’s funny when first starting out.
• Nothing is better for business than to be good. Your only business decision when starting out is to do your act as often as you can.
• The more time you spend performing on a stage, the closer you come to being a more seasoned, skillful, and successful comedian.
• A major point of this book is that to make it as a stand-up comic, you must be an original.
• A comedy routine is something that is developed through experience and hard work.
• Having a successful career in stand-up comedy means doing everything except playing it safe.
• Being original, creative, and individual is what puts certain performers in demand over the others.
• When you think of something funny that could work in your act, write it down. Too often a good premise or punch line can be lost when you rely on your memory.
• Writing is a skill that develops the more it’s done. Stay with it, keep jotting in that notebook, and then heighten that raw material at your desk.
• What you need to do first is to develop a five-minute comedy act. Five minutes is usually all the time a new performer will be allowed during a cliub’s amateru night. Depending on the club’s situation and location it could be more or less, but it's a good idea to have five well-prepared minutes, or remarkably good improvisational skills, before you walk onto a stage that first time.
• The truth can sometimes be very humorous, but when it’s not, you do what you gotta do to make it funny.
• The structure of your act will become more defined as you gain experience, but one idea that’s important to remember as a performer--and as a business person--is to always try to grab your audience’s attention right from the start and end in a way that leaves them wanting more.
• A skillful delivery means that you must know your act.
• Improvisational ability is a rare talent and a skill, and the best way to develop it is by doing it.
• Whenever you perform, tape your act. This allows you to hear exactly what you said and how the audience responded. You should always be looking for improvement, and there’s no better way to do it then through a review of your performance.
• The best performing space you can find is the one that will become your “home club”, as many comedians like to call the comedy club where they first started, took their knocks, and got their experience.
• Once you’ve begun performing, if you’re serious about a career in comedy, the most important thing to remember is to never stop performing. You must do it frequently to develop a rhythm. Like exercise, it gets easier the more you do it and harder to begin after you’ve stopped.
• In the world of entertainment, headshots are indispensable tools for the marketing of acts; your promotional 8 x 10 glossy photo is your calling card.
• Professional preparation. That’s the whole key to becoming a working comic. Be professional and be prepared.
• Start locally. If you’re starting at the amateur level, try to be a regular performer or visitor.
• Personal references can cut through a lot of the red tape you’ll encounter in pursuing your stand-up career.
• A good way to get work on the road is to be a regular performer in a club that is part of a network.
• The idea behind having a manager and/or agent is to make the business aspects of performing easier and more prosperous for the talent.
• Don’t let others stifle what you want to do. Their taste in entertainment most likely doesn’t match yours, and you’ll discover what is best for you, and the audience, through your experiences onstage.