Shayne-Michael.COMedy

Defining Success In Comedy - by Shayne Michael

Many comics will never succeed because they never define success. That's why this essay appears at the lowest rung of the stand-up comedy step ladder. Simply put, you're starting out with nothing so decide early where do you want to end up. There are so many definitions for success in comedy, you need to know early what success is and what it's not.

Here's the biggest problem, the answer is not the same for everyone.

Decide early if success for you is a movie deal. If you want a movie start getting associated with SAG and AFTRA now. You might want to try extra work on the weekend. Watch comedy movies. Which ones do you like? Which ones do you hate? Which role do you want? Do you want to be the actor, the producer or the writer. If you clearly can focus on one long-term goal, you have a responsibility to know how your short term goals will bring you there.

If modeling is what you really want you might want to try a gym membership. I'm not calling anyone fat but reality is, LA is survival of the fittest in every way.

If you want a sitcom start assigning your jokes to characters within your life. Why bother working on the jokes that won't bring you there? If you want a best selling book use your stage time to help you write every last chapter. Get that valuable feedback before you submit to publishers.

What Success Isn't

Success in stand-up comedy is not playing open mic after open mic for ten years. Okay, to some people it is. However, bear in mind at least 50% of those comics are homeless at 40. Open mics serve one purpose alone, to develop new material before you test it on an audience, publish it in a book or pitch in for a sitcom. Do not use the number of open mics as a gauge to your success or failure as a comic. First off, they take open mics take everyone. Would you call your book a success if the only person who published it never said "no" to a single manuscript.

If your idea of success is open mic after open mic, please get out of the business.

Similarly success is not playing one bringer room after another. Your talents need to make you a living, not pay off some third party that did nothing but rent out a rehearsal space. If this were truly a measure of success, you might as well just set up a stage in your home, invite five friends over, and call yourself the next legend in comedy.

You must combine being well known with financial success. Any long-term goal that doesn't include both is a formula for disaster. There are people who will call you a sell-out for hoping to make money through art. These people are almost always broke. And here's the bottom line that exists in all businesses, if nobody is willing to pay to see your art, your art isn't good enough.

For those of you who would be happy with simple roadwork I have great news. That requires the least amount of work. Of course I'm talking about simple one-niters. If you want to play major venues or sell out amphitheaters, you'll need to become a part of the TV industry like it or not. And that's mostly because TV personalities are the only people clubs trust to sell out the club.

Different Paths Exist

Not everyone who goes on the road returns to Los Angeles or New York. Some of those people use their comic talents to land jobs in radio. Others write best selling books. Some settle in Branson, Missouri and do their acts at Las Vegas lite for the rest of their lives. A few get sitcoms. Some people will be happy to stay on the "road" forever. If you knew that was your destination while on the road, you would use your nights on the road a little differently. Knowing your going to Branson in the end, you would focus on small town jokes. If you were writing a book you would use your stage time to develop the characters. Either way the result is the same, once you get off the road, your product is developed.

You need to ask yourself "What would mean success to you?" If you're working in the comedy field, do you want to headline clubs? Would you settle for writing a best-selling humor novel? Or, would it have to be a multi-million dollar series? Would you like to be a comic actor in movies? Are you ready to join the cast of SNL? Would you settle for being a writer? Is there a sitcom you can envision about your life?

Does it blow away all the other sitcoms that take up far too much time from quality public access? The sooner you ask yourself these questions, the sooner you can answer them. The sooner you answer them, the more likely you will be to answer them correctly. Then ask yourself how can every single open mic and road gig I play help bring me there.

Create Your Own Map

Remember, you can change your answer to these questions later, but they need to be answered before you start moving. Would you ever start a cross-country drive without a road map? And incidentally, if you're doing the joke "of course I would men never ask for directions", I strongly recommend reading the FAQ about hack stand-up comedy.

If you've chosen a goal, such as writing books, the path you need to take should lead you there. You should be studying comics like Cosby, Reiser, and Carlin who have done so successfully. Studying Steven Wright will help you write. However, it will not help you write a book. Steven does almost nothing with characters. Any novel needs interesting characters to be compelling.

A simple non-fiction book on Steven Wright's opinions about life might be interesting. But the interest would be fleeting, because as a straight one-liner comic he almost never uses common threads to tie his point of view to the nuances of every day life.

In the case of writing comedic books, divide your long-term goals up into a clear goal. If you want to write nonfiction about life study Cosby, Maher, or Reiser who did well in exactly that. If you want to write a comedy novel, study Douglas D. Adams. If you hate these people, find the people who did the same thing and then learn from them. Then start writing yours from the stage. Get your feedback and your following before you sell to the publishers. It might even make you money. How many publishers will buy a book idea when enough people already want it?

The answer is all of them.

But I Want A Sitcom A Deal A Movie, A Book, A HBO Deal and a Gopher

Okay, so you want to do everything. But be realistic. A car traveling in four separate directions will go nowhere.

Once you finish that project, be it a book, or sitcom pitch, then move onto the next project. There are exceptions. If you wrote a great book and nobody will publish it (which will happen) take your mind off it. Save that asset and work on the next one. In the mean time, you continue to push the book. But that's only when you reach a point where polishing the act, book, movie script, or sitcom pitch does as much damage as it does good.

There Are No Unrealistic Destinations

Unrealistic destinations do not exist except through a lack of determination to get there. It's not hard to develop a good sitcom idea over six years. It's not hard to develop a following at clubs on the road. It's not hard to develop the idea for an amazing movie based on three years of traveling and telling jokes.

Selling your ideas is hard. The biggest problem there is most comics have no idea how to market themselves. And if you believe having the product there will solve the problem think again. Name one product that ever marketed itself.

Marketing classes do exist and can be applied to stand-up comedy. A little exposure to them will give you a tremendous edge over those comedians who haven't been exposed to them. It does take persistence. It also takes patience. And with a true product it takes faith.

You also have to recognize each defeat is an opportunity to learn. If you view becoming a stand-up as a process of moving from point A to B, defeat simply changes the direction your facing so you're more likely to get to your destination. In other words, you were on the wrong path to begin with. Choose another road that will get you there and continue forward. A real life example might be the perfect agent shoots the idea down. Well, turn and face another path. And contact another agent that will truly benefit from the products that you've developed.

Summary Of This Pamphlet

Some comics play open mics from year to year because they don't see comedy as a road with and end point. They have one short-term goal: To get stage time. The better comics set a second short-term goal: To get laughs. However, they set no long-term goals. They are doing comedy for the sake of laughter. They don't see a book, movie or sitcom in their future. They never start building one out of their point of view. They'll tell you they'll eventually develop a sitcom. But when asked what it's about, they reply, "I'll think about that later."

Here's a surprise: agents are lazy. So if you really want to succeed find a product that can only exist within your point of view. That product could be a sitcom, movie, or best selling book. If it already exists, the agent isn't forced to create it. If it's already packaged and marketable you will get interest. You'll get a lot of interest simply because most comics are not this professional. Most comics are not that prepared.

Don't just use your time on stage to make people laugh.

Use your time on stage to devise a product or destination through comedy. Use your stage time to develop products based on your point of view. Use your stage time to make that product better. Make your fictional life so believable you can discuss it with a stranger on the street and they have no clue it's an act.

No matter your product is, refining it through stage time will do nothing but improve your chances for success and give meaning to your stage time. Use that time on stage to market that idea to the agents and industry that may be watching you. You have a better chance of getting someone to produce an idea that you've already brought together in your head.

Not knowing where you're going with your comedy career is something like majoring in undecided all the way through college. Good luck getting a job. The truth is you're not going to market a degree in undecided any more than you're going to market the simple ability to make an audience laugh. They have TV shows that do that without you. Many are in reruns and completely free. Nobody will pay to see a product they already own. To truly win you need to come up with something unique. To truly stand out you need to offer more than laughs from the stage. You need to build your own point of view into something tangible that people will pay to be a part of.