I get several emails asking how to become a stand up comic so here are a few suggestions:

In order to be a stand up comic you need to have material or jokes.  I suggest that you start by writing  five minutes worth of material.  You can write about anything.  Just have a twist to it.

Once you have the 5 minutes of material. Find an open mic night in your area.  Comedy clubs and bars usually have at least one open mic night. It is usually not a lot of people in the audience but that is a great place to try out your 5 minutes.

Keep adding material to your 5 minutes…I suggest, that you start with a joke that describes yourself, then you can joke about anything you want to.  Just make it interesting and funny.

Work on getting 20 minutes of funny material.  If you have stage fright, the only way to get over the fright is to keep getting on stage.  Also have a couple  of jokes for hecklers ready to shut them up. Don’t let a heckler scare you. You always keep control of your show.  If all you do is say, shut the hell up. You keep control.

Once you have a good twenty minutes, start taping and videoing yourself.  Watch yourself and learn about how you sound and look.  Make improvements on your showmanship.  

Once you get a funny 20 minutes start looking at getting into comedy contests and festivals.  Search on the internet and try to get in them.

Also, start  looking for agents and managers to help you but most of all keep writing and performing.

Study other comics not for their jokes, but look at their style…youtube is great for this.  Also there are some great books on comic writing that are worth reading so check those out.

The most important thing is to be you. What you present may not be funny now but if you believe in it, keep doing it… There is a video of  Richard Pryor called “Up In Smoke”.  It was taped at the Improv in the 70′s.  On that video, Richard is bombing!!  But that material is seen on later tapes and the material is great. Richard worked on the jokes and they are now classics!    Joan Rivers once told me to try a joke at least 12 times before throwing it away…It was the best advice for me!

Good Luck…people want to laugh and you can make them!!!