In other words, why would I listen to what you have to say if you have nothing to do with the subject?
This is why your CHARACTER is important. It is the core from which your MATERIAL stems. It is the glue that holds each BIT together into one cohesive ACT.
My friend (and excellent Comic) Kriss Bross is 6 foot 7 inches tall. The first thing you notice about him is that... you guessed it, he's very tall! It only makes sense then that Kriss' gripes about the world should be viewed through a tall man's lens. Suddenly, the cramped seating on an airplane makes a lot more sense and is funnier because the audience can see exactly Kriss' frustration.
When your MATERIAL matches your CHARACTER... BINGO!
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| "Hickory Dickory Dock..." |
Surely misogynist MATERIAL had been done before this leather-clad-Fonzie-on-steroids hit the scene. But when spoken through the CHARACTER of "The Diceman", the result was uproarious.
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| "When I played in the sandbox the cat kept covering me up!" |
His one-liners about "getting no respect" are funny because of his bug-eyed lovable loser CHARACTER.
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| "Mom loves me more!" |
The Smothers Brothers have made a long and successful career out of playing the CHARACTERS of older and younger brother.
So who is your CHARACTER?
How do you set yourself apart from the countless other Comics out there who make funny quips about today's current events?
To develop your CHARACTER you can look to your obvious physical attributes: tall; short; fat; thin. The genes your parents cursed you with could be a blessing in disguise! But it doesn't have to be just about what you look like.
EXAMPLE: My friend (and excellent Comic)Therese Comor is a Middle-School Teacher. Her take on students of today, dating, and life itself are very unique and identifiable. I can already picture her sitcom on NBC's Thursday Night line-up!
EXAMPLE: My friend (and WRITING BUDDY) Matt Roberts made a name for himself as an excellent Comic in Los Angeles as "The Average Guy." And while there was nothing "Average" about his MATERIAL, his everyday CHARACTER was a play on the stereotypical white male between the ages of 18-45.
ADVICE: Your CHARACTER can be completely made up, but the closer it is to who you actually are, the more BELIEVABLE it will be.
After Performance Night has ended and audience members are back at work regaling their trip to the Comedy Club, they may not remember Kriss Bross' name. But they will remember "that Tall Guy was funny". And after some time of plugging away at it, people will get to know (and more importantly seek out) that Tall Guy.
