5 Writing Exercises to Help Stand Up

​When I was a wrestler and wrestling coach, there were three styles of wrestling to try. Folkstyle, freestyle, and Greco-Roman. Folkstyle was the primary one. It was the high school sanctioned one. But in the off season we would try freestyle and greco. While all three had similarities, the off season styles broke Folkstyle rules. You could throw harder, lock your hands around your opponent, and points were awarded differently. Some coaches forbid their athletes from doing the off season style, afraid they'd develop bad habits for when high school season started, but one coach told me that by trying different styles he learned how to accomplish more in the high school season. He taught his body to move more freely, and he taught his mind to treat different positioning as feeling less vulnerable. While I'm not encouraging you to join an MMA sports club to improve your stand up (though it wouldn't hurt), the philosophy of trying other forms of "funny" to help stand up still applies. Too often we limit ourselves to just talking on stage, confining ourselves to only one artform. But if you are willing to get out of your comfort zone and find time in your day, today's ideas can really help your overall comedy game. So let's look at five other types of writing that can help your stand up become a better experience for you and the crowd. 

Journaling Random Thoughts 
Ever watch a comic make weird side remarks while on stage? Ever wonder why a comic feels the need to talk about things that feel out of place? Ever just think, "This comic needs therapy," not stand up. Well, you're not wrong. What you are witnessing is a suppressed individual. They are getting on stage and trauma dumping their lives on an undeserved crowd. Instead of writing well-crafted jokes or funny ideas, they are basically journaling on stage. So instead of wasting the crowd's time, just journal at home. Buy a notebook and write your frustrations, your fears, your sexual desires, etc. By doing this, you get it out of your system. You found a forum to platform the darker parts of your soul, and it will allow you to go on stage to focus on the funny and not the therapeutic. By purging your conscious and subconscious, you free your mind to be in the moment and not in your head.    
Later, go back and read your journal and see if there are ways to craft your thoughts into jokes.     

Writing a Sketch 
Sometimes your funny story or idea isn't really a stand up bit. It requires too many moving pieces, characters, and back story. That's why there are sketches. That story about visiting the doctor still not funny until the second half? Convert it into a five page sketch. For one thing, the sketch doesn't have to have a laugh every twenty seconds. You can create characters that allow different freedoms in response. You also learn to turn ideas and form them into structured jokes by reflecting on the story and not just the jokes. 

This works even if you just have a funny idea you are afraid to try on stage. Let's say you came up with a funny thought that your dog is trying to communicate with you. On stage, it might bomb because it feels forced, but in the format of a sketch, you can shape the story to fit the idea. Maybe you went on the date from hell. You find the crowd doesn't agree. It might be they need the visual, so you write a sketch to show how awful it was, as opposed to telling how awful it was. By doing this, you open your mind to unlimited jokes, and then you can look back on the sketch and find the funniest lines and see if you can adapt it back into stand up.     

Writing a Pilot or Screenplay 
Every comic should have a 22-30 page TV show pilot ready to show someone. In all reality, the real money in comedy is writing. Writing for a late night show, a TV show, a reality show, or even a web series. But you have to have examples and samples. Pilots are the first episode of a TV show. This show should platform your brand of comedy. Even if it's a dramedy like Ted Lasso or The Bear, it should be a way to express yourself and give yourself a break from daily life. If you don't know where to start, think about your life and give it a twist. Then when you pitch it, combine two similar shows so show producers or showrunners get the vibe.
Examples: 

• A school teacher finds out a beloved principal is wrongfully accused of murder and they have to solve the case. (Abbott Elementary meets Only Murderers in the Building)  
• A single mom challenges her kid's football coach and gets handed the whistle to coach the team. (Gilmore Girls meets Ted Lasso)  
• A marketing director is given a promotion to work with a influencer from hell. (Technically, everyone in marketing now)

Writing a feature length script is the next step. This is a 90-120 page monster, but you will have the opportunity to world build like never before. You also get to showcase your comedic talents through fully fleshed out stories and characters. The trick: Write what you know. Either from personal experience or general expertise. Anything from a small town love story to a big science fiction epic. Either way, a writing sample of this magnitude can turn you into a serious contender for other projects. In fact, Harry Potter director Chris Columbus wrote Gremlins as a spec script and it changed his life forever.       

Just for the record, Final Draft has a $10 app that can be the best way to start writing and saving scripts.   

Write a Joke on Facebook or X Daily       
I know you're busy. I get you might not have the time or energy to spend an hour or two a day writing. But you can write one joke a day on the platform you get the most traction on. Just one simple joke. The test is to see what jokes get the most likes and comments. On X I love following Drew Landry @MrDrewLandry and on Facebook I have 5,000 friends cracking jokes all the time.

Writing a joke a day does three things:
1. Forces you to write 
2. Helps you see what people like from you 
3. Proves you're still alive and not dead

If you cannot find time 5-7 days a week to write one joke about your day or something in the news, then are you really trying to be a comic? Because if you got a job writing for John Oliver's show, you'd be expected to write 50 jokes a day. So start the practice now. 

​Final Thoughts 
Writing is painful and tiresome sometimes. I've been writing professionally since 2008, and as an English major, I've written more papers on Hamlet and John Updike than I'd like to remember. But writing is therapeutic. I've had short correspondences with many famous writers. In the mid-2000's I used to write emails back and forth with Roger Ebert. George Will once told me to never stop writing. And I've written with some of television's biggest writers back in my Nickelodeon days. Taking on one of these writing exercises above will help expand your comedy mindset, and most importantly, once done, even if just a joke a day, will give you a feeling of accomplishment - and that's something no one can take away from you.