Hi,

There is a tread with "Magician jokes". Is there similar jokes in mentalism/mind reading? Like when people say their name, you say. "correct". Another funny line is when you have a participant on stage, you say to the audience: "I know what everybody is thinking. I am glad I`m not in her shoes.."

Adam

The best suggestion you will ever get is to completely avoid all canned humor and create your own. It will take a bit more work, but it will be suited specifically to you and your character. Also, watch stand up comedians and notice how they are not "telling jokes" instead, they are "telling stories" that are funny. Trust me on this or you will end up failing in the long run.

Thank you for the reply. I have consider to contact some writers and stand up comedians, to write funny lines and text to some of my routines. My problems is the creativity. I am not creative, but I will definitly follow your tip. Thanks again.

If you're not creative in the funny department, it doesn't matter what someone writes, you'll never be funny.

Let me ask you this: Have you ever been sitting around talking with your friends or family and said or did something that made them laugh? If you answered "yes" then all you have to do is repeat that process in the midst of your performance.

Jokes and one liners have a place, but if you want longevity, take a comedy writing course and learn the basics. You'll be glad you did.

I can absolutely say yes to your question. But I thought the way to get real golden scripting and funny lines I had to get some help. When I see a comedy show, there are usually 5-7 writers. So I was thinking it would be a good thing to invite a comedian writer to my show to see my stage character and routines, and write inn some jokes. But I will work more on my own material, and see what comes out of it. I really appreciate your tip and help here. Thanks again.

The thing about the internet is that everyone has an opinion. Which means that there will be differing voices stating different things. The difficulty then comes in trying to pick out which is most pertinent for and to you.

For instance I have a completely different viewpoint to that of cbguy. (but that's not to say that cbguy's viewpoint is wrong)

cbguy wrote, "Let me ask you this: Have you ever been sitting around talking with your friends or family and said or did something that made them laugh? If you answered "yes" then all you have to do is repeat that process in the midst of your performance."

In my opinion this is a misconception... being able to make your friends and family laugh in a social setting has a zero correlation with being able to stand up, at a specific time, in a specific place and make a bunch of complete strangers laugh.

I'm all for being original and creative. I spend a portion of every year helping write and create a new 1 hour comedy magic show... but I believe that there can still be a place a place for old gags. And there is still a talent in delivering old gags.... I've seen many a comedian tear a place apart with material that is as old as can be..... and I've seen others using similar material crash and burn. If it was just down to the material any copycat would be as good as the person they copied.... but this is evidently not true. (thank goodness!)

Old gags and lines that have been widely published and that are widely used are only old to an audience if they've heard them before. Despite how often we might hear them used an audience often hasn't. What's more, these standard lines often tend to have a lot the comedic content built into their fabric. It's generally why they have survived to become old lines while other possibly equally funny lines (when they were used) have faded away. Perhaps more than other lines these old lines and gags can still deliver something even when delivered by less able performers. The reason why I don't dismiss this sort of material out of hand is because these lines can act as confidence builders as an act develops to the point where they are able to know more about who they are on stage. Of course many performers (or would-be performers) never get past this stage. But for many it's a helpful foot into surviving the stage time needed to discover and develop one's own persona.

Getting to the point were you know who you are on stage, I believe, is key to being able to create your own comedic material.

More so than the material which makes up the content of your act, you are the act. But the two things, material and persona/character, still go hand in hand.

Getting to know who you are on stage will usually only come about from putting in the stage time. During these early days beginners can often benefit from using standard lines. They are like trainer wheels. But the goal is to take the trainer wheels off. Many never get to do the stage where they do this. And in general, they tend to be acts that are not that interesting to watch.

Thanks for your insightful view Niel. It certainly made me rethink the original question.

I really like your thinking about using "old" one-liners as a learning prosess. I am not sure, but I guess cbguy thought if you can be funny around the dinner table, you can also be funny in other situations. But I 100% agree. There is a big difference between private situations and stage.

I second hiring a professional comedy writer - partly because I am one.
A great, funny show is something you will have and can perform for the rest of your career - Its often worth the investment.
Let me know if I can be of help,

Dave
www.procomedywriting.com


PS I am also a performing mentalist.

I think some of the most fun of setting up a routine is the scripting and adding your personality into the show, enjoy it!

Comedy Card Babies is a mentalism routine with a lot of comedy.

Check your local library for books on writing comedy. My suggestion is to read at least three of them. Why? Because the rule of three states that things get funnier as they are repeated.

Check your local library for books on writing comedy. My suggestion is to read at least three of them. Why? Because the rule of three states that things get funnier as they are repeated.

Check your local library for books on writing comedy. My suggestion is to read at least three of them. Why? Because the rule of three states that things get funnier as they are repeated.


OK, you get the point. But my advice is genuine, even if I was obvious about it.

So the thing about old comedy lines is that, the right performer, can still make them work. Take Carl Balentine https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=95MxMHQxhuo his joke were so old but because the act was a mockery of magic, they worked. So to the question, of mindreading/metalism jokes, I would say it depends mostly, on you and your context for the humor.