Attributes of successful comedian.
I enjoy reading about professional athletes. A common thing I found with professional athletes is they would break down what made a great player into attributes. To be truly great at what you do one must rank all these attributes and find the weakest ones. Then take steps and make a plan to turn the weakest into the strongest. I believe if an Olympic level athlete can do this, why not apply this to my field of standup comedy?
“It’s easy to kill your darlings when you make new ones every day” Bjorn R-G
In no particular order the attributes of a successful comedian are:
· Content.
· Performance.
· Promotion.
· Professional.
· Frequency.
· Confidence/Mindset.
Content.
This is the meat of the jokes I tell. The words I say. (see “How to make Jokes Great” article for more detail on this.) This is also about living your life. A beautiful thing about comedy is it’s a dual activity. You have to live a life worth commenting on. The danger of immersing oneself in comedy is then that is all you have to talk about. To be successful you also have to go out and have experiences, then come back and report on those experiences.
Ideas to improve this attribute:
1. Write every day.
2. Say no to what is not working and yes to what is. Ex. kill your darlings.
3. Try new angles all the time. Try new tags on old jokes.
4. Listen or watch clips and give tags as if it's someone else.
5. Reading books, magazines, and documentaries.
6. Living your life.
7. Go do something you have never done before. Do something that scares you, makes you uncomfortable, makes you feel something. Get out of your comfort zone.
Performance.
This is How the jokes are performed. So anything to do with the performance. (see “How to make Jokes great” article for more detail on this.) I have seen many different non comedy things help this like improv or even learning to bowl. Anything that is practicing performing with any kind of stakes can help this attribute.
Ideas to improve this attribute:
1. Perform in front of different audiences.
2. Watch clips say no to things not working and yes to things that are working.
3. Practice in front of a mirror. I find it helpful to just run my jokes like I am performing for an audience, I am not allowed to start over I just have to keep going.
4. How can I show things in my jokes physically?
5. Are there places where I can do an act out?
6. Where in this joke can I change my voice in volume or tone?
7. Take a class that involves performance. For example improv, acting, dance, or even a sport.
Promotion.
This is anything to do with how I promote my shows. It’s social media, website, putting up posters, email list. Headshots. Having a good tape. All fall under this category. This is an aspect that many comedians do not pay a lot of attention to. The ones that do excel.
Ideas to improve this attribute:
1. Send out emails to bookers for 10 minutes every day.
2. Improve my website or make a website.
3. Work on social media of shows.
4. Build an email list.
5. Go to more shows.
Professional.
I strongly believe that professionalism goes a long way in this business. So how am I when I interact with people? All the opportunities I have ever gotten in comedy have come from other comedians and people that I meet. I make sure and always act in a professional manner, no matter how unprofessional the situation is. I know that showing respect and professionalism goes a long way with me when booking or rebooking people on my shows.
Ideas to improve this attribute:
1. Do I shake the host's hand after every show?
2. Do I follow up the next day?
3. How are my emails to bookers?
4. Do I come off as a professional and treat bookers with respect?
Frequency.
This is how often I am performing, writing, and promoting shows. How often I am practicing is usually a direct reflection of my improvement. At the end of the day stage time is the best way to get better and be seen, and get booked. I know as a booker of shows I tend to book the people I see out, it’s just that they are top of mind. I have read that bookers do not like to be bothered too much, but I also have seen those same comics getting booked more often that are constantly out and constantly asking for things they want.
Ideas to improve this attribute:
1. Schedule out open mics I plan to attend.
2. Start my own show, or start another show.
3. Send emails to bookers and fill my calendar with dates. Send avails to bookers.
4. Write for 10 minutes a day. (see small bites article.)
5. Practice asking for things I want.
Confidence/Mindset.
I believe that it is important to have a good mindset and work on being confident. Confidence in my material and in my performance.
Ideas to improve this attribute:
1. Daily Meditation.
2. Practice confidence mantras like:
a. “I am funny”
b. “Think it say it”
c. “I trust myself”
d. “I am confident”
3. How can I own my material more?
4. Power posing.
Standup is such a personal journey and I have so often felt lost. Like what should I be working on? This attribute system has helped me to know what aspects to focus on to continue to improve. What I do is I rank each of these attributes and just focus on the one that is the worst. I think “how can I make this my strength?” What is great about his system is after I improve my weakest attribute, then I have a new weakest attribute. I then begin working on that one until that is no longer a weakness. The goal being to turn my weaknesses into my strength moving them up the list to keep on improving. What I love about this is then I can really just focus on the bottom line of my attributes. I would not recommend trying to improve them all at once because this has caused me to burn out. I just keep it simple and focus on one or two at most. Then switch to the new worst after those are improved.
This article is my personal opinion and a reflection of the tools I use to progress. It is also just what I have tried, there are many more ways one can improve each attribute. This system, like me, is constantly evolving and growing.
If you liked this article please subscribe to my weekly blog here and please share it with someone who would appreciate it.
Thank you for reading, You’re doing great.
Bjorn RG.