Intermediate Writing--Theory
and Practice with Group-Written Scripts,
Lesson block 13-16
13) ****Simple
Premise Routine—the "holy grail" for writing classical stand-up comedy routines, 3
hours
How to use all the joke forms and joke formats learned through Lessons 1-12 to:
•Write longer bits that drive home a single point
•Premises Bits vs. One-Liner Jokes:
Until you get in the habit of thinking
in terms of premises,
the jokes you come up with inspirationally will tend to
be one- liners; i.e., a premise that will only sustain one joke.
Playwrights and
screenwriters strive to come up with a single premise that will sustain half-hour
to two-hour comedies.
The stand-up comic wants premises which will sustain bits that will ideally
last 2-5 minutes.
His 20 minute to 90 minute act will be made up of many such
bits, plus one-liners between the bits.
•Why One-Liner Acts Should Ideally Last
Only 8 Minutes.
•Why Professional Speakers Must Work By Premises.
•Necessary Background Study.
•Increasing Your Joke-Writing Speed Fivefold!
Ideal Premise Bit:
•What Your First and Last Joke Must Do
•Concluding the Bit
by Proving the Premise
How to Work Off
Premises in Performance:
•Feeling Out the House
•Encore Material
•The Danger of Linking Jokes Thematically vs. Under Premises When Being
Heckled:
How to make all your bits heckle-proof while still staying on premise
•Performance Energy
•Deadpan vs. Smiling
List of books relevant to doing Simple Premise Routines;
plus, helpful: Audio tapes & Video tapes, CDs & DVDs
14) ****Classical
Tirade Routine,3
hours:
•Finding Your Premise
•Character
•False Lead
•What Your Second Joke Must Do
Write Your First Draft in One Sitting
•Using the Seven Basic Joke Forms to Write Your Second Draft
First Performances: Be Smart — Use Cue Cards!
•When to Begin Staging & Memorizing
a New Premise Bit
Using Premises to Salvage Your Old Bits
Class-written
classic tirade routine
15) ****Selling Yourself during interviews by newspapers, radio and TV, 3
hours
•Part I: theory, examples
•How to distill your anecdotes into powerful sound bites.
16) ****Selling Yourself during interviews by newspapers, radio and TV, 3
hours
•Part II: drills
•Field trip: to plug a gig, class will be interviewed by a professional
newspaper reporter and/or radio DJ or TV host
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Each 4-5 Lesson
block has its own section on this web page:
Find the eight (8)
Lesson block titles at the top
of this web page.
•After
reading a Lesson block's title, for a fuller description of each Lesson within
that Lesson block, please click the Lesson's blue "Lessons
1-4, Lessons 5-8," etc. link.
For a fuller description of an individual lesson that includes the course outline
and often a video preview, please click the blue ".
. . more info." link.
•That link will take you to the exact line within the 4-5 Lesson bock's
web page having information specific to that particular Lesson.
•To read
more about the other Lessons within that block, just scroll up and
down that 4-5 Lesson bock's web page.
Note: this web page is still being updated as I bring more information over
from my JimRichardson.com web site.
For details about where to find all my information posted online between the
workshop and JimRichardson.com web sites, read the description under Site
Map: more tips.
•As of 2-14-2014, on this workshop web site you can find course outlines
for Lessons 1-8 and 26-29.
•For more information on Lessons 9-25, check out the link to Home Study
Program on my Tip-of-the-Day video jukebox.
This is a Rich Internet Application (RIA) requiring Flash Player which is on
98% of both Apple and Windows desktop & laptop computers:
http://www.jimrichardson.com/ria/v/sm_loadMovie_content.html
However, Flash Player is not allowed on Apple mobile devices using iOS: iPhone,
iPodTouch and iPad.
Thus, a couple of years ago, I started developing on this alternative workshop
web site so folks on iOS devices could:
•access my basic information and
•view
video clips for both Flash Player and iOS devices.
Also, I post most of my new information on the workshop web site instead of JimRichardson.com
At this point, there is still some information only found on the older web site.
Note: if you are still unclear about your eligibility for any of the
above Lessons briefly described on this workshop web page:
•Please
feel free to ask me directly, e-mail: jim@jimrichardson.com,
phone: 415-877-4424
What the asterisks (*, **, *** and ****)
seen before each title on this workshop web page mean:
*No pre-requisites: these Lessons can be
taken stand-alone, even if you are yet to take Lessons 1-4 or any preceding
Lessons.
**Pre-requisites include both:
•Lesson 2, "How
to Write a Joke: the 7 basic joke forms"
and
•Lesson 4, "Editing Your Comedy or Serious Speech into an Act"
Another way to satisfy the Lesson 2 and 4 pre-requisites:
•These joke forms are also described
Jim's audio/workbook package, "How to Write a Joke: the 7 basic joke
forms
"
•Another version of editing which is less targeted to those pursuing
a stand-up comedy career is described in Jim's audio/workbook package, "Editing
Your Comedy or Serious Speech into an Act"
Details upon request.
*** Pre-requisites: Lesson 1, "How to
Tell a Joke on a Stand-Up Comedy Stage, During a Speech and in the Work Place"
Another way to satisfy the Lesson 1 pre-requisite:
•These joke-telling techniques are also described in my audio/workbook
package of the same title which also includes an annotated bibliography of
recommended joke books.
**** Pre-requisites: all preceding
Lessons and all their pre-requisites from
Lesson One inclusive; i.e., completing only a Lesson that has no pre-requisites
does not get you into subsequent Lessons if those Lessons have other pre-requisites
from earlier Lessons.
Note: students who enroll in my "Fundamentals of Stand-Up Comedy Workshop"
•taught every six weeks locally
•and over the Internet via video web conferencing
•or at your city
already have satisfied the prequisites since you will have Lessons
One-Four in the workbook that comes with your investment.
The above Lessons 1-35 is a suggested ideal Lesson order.
•But you can join "Fundamentals" at any time.
•And the same is true of "Intermediate
Stand-Up Comedy Workshop."
Questions?
Ask away!
8-)
jim@Stand-UpComedyWorkshop.com
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