Mastering stand-up : the complete guide to becoming a successful comedian / Stephen Rosenfield.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Rosenfield, Stephen, author.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Comedians--Biography.

Comedians.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (272 pages)

Place of Publication:

Chicago, Illinois : Chicago Review Press, 2018.

Summary:

This entertaining and sharply written guide-for both beginners breaking into comedy and professionals seeking to improve their sets and advance their careers-examines the work of great comedians such as Louis C.K., Jerry Seinfeld, Eddie Izzard, Moms Mabley, Hannibal Buress, Sarah Silverman, Richard Pryor, and more as a means of illustrating the most important techniques of performing and writing stand-up. Here, Stephen Rosenfield lays out a clear plan for achieving success, candidly explaining what works, what doesn't, and why. Including a 12-item "Successful Comedian's To-Do List, " Rosenfield states, "Get undeniably good at each of these and you can kiss your day job good-bye. You will be a pro." The New York Times heralded Stephen Rosenfield as "probably the best known comedy teacher in the country." His alumni include some of today's most prominent comedians and comedy writers, such as Lena Dunham, Jim Gaffigan, Eric Slovin, and Jessica Kirson. Rosenfield has directed, coached, and/or written for these and hundreds of other comedians. As a pioneer in the field of teaching comedy, he founded the American Comedy Institute, the premier stand-up comedy school in the United States, in 1989.

Contents:

Things I know about you

The road ahead

No!?

Observational stand-up

Anecdotal stand-up

The stand-up sketch

Act-outs

Humor celebrity put-downs

Put-down humor: people in your life

Put-down humor: hecklers

Put-down humor? Insult comedy

Put-down humor?self-deprecating humor

Crowd work

The comic flaw

Character stand-up comedy

Edgy stand-up comedy

Specialties

Ad-libbing

The handbook for creating stand-up comedy material

Preparing for your first draft

The first draft

Trying out your first draft

Setup and punchline

Working backward

Creating your set list

The handbook for performing stand-up comedy

Nerves and the three gifts they give you

The single most important thing: joyous communication

Coming alive onstage: emotional fullness

Be in the room

Delivery

The things to do before you get to the club

Before the show starts

Showtime

Get undeniably good

Building an all A set

Creating your persona

The six characteristics of a successful persona

The seventh characteristic

The this joke used to kill and now used to kill and now it's bombing, what the hell is going on? Checklist

Hosting

The voice

Everything you need to know about the business of stand-up comedy.

Notes:

Includes index.

Description based on online resource; title from PDF title page (ebrary, viewed October 9, 2017).

ISBN:

9781613736937

1613736932

9781613736951

1613736959