Judy Carter is an author, speaking/comedy coach, and speaker. Her message of using comedy techniques to decrease cubicle stress makes Carter an in-demand speaker for Fortune 500 companies where her keynotes entertain and inspire.

The Comedy Bible

From Stand-up to Sitcom--The Comedy Writer's Ultimate "How To" GuideBy Judy Carter

Fireside

Copyright © 2001 Judy Carter
All right reserved.
ISBN: 0743201256

From Part One: Warm-up -- Is There Any Hope for You?

What Do You Want to Be When You Grow Up?

"When adults ask kids, 'What do you want to be when you grow up?' they're just looking for clues themselves."

-- Paula Poundstone

There are a lot of ways to make a living from comedy. You can perform it, write it, draw it, or manage it. From the list below, check which ones you're interested in or think you know you're good at.

Performing Comedy

• Stand-up comic

  Depending on the quality of your act, you can work at comedy clubs, hotels, concert venues, colleges, or corporate meetings, on cruise ships, at open mikes, or at your aunt Thelma's eightieth birthday party.

  • Improviser

    Sketch TV shows such as Saturday Night Live and Mad TV scout improvisers from improv troupes such as Second City (in Chicago and Toronto) and the Groundlings (in Los Angeles), as well as improv festivals (Austin, Texas, Montreal, Canada). Improvisers are in demand for acting and TV commercials as well as for voice-over work, feature animation, and game shows.

    • Commercial actor

      Funny people who can add sizzle to ad copy are cast in high-paying TV commercials.

      • Voice-over performer

        Comedy timing and technique are required in this field, which needs comics to add funny character voices to cartoons, TV commercials, and feature animation.

        • Warm-up for TV shows

          Most TV shows hire a comic to warm up the live studio audience before and during the taping of TV shows and infomercials.

          • Radio comedy

            Funny song parodies turned unknown "Weird Al" Yankovic into a famous and rich man. Radio stations buy prerecorded song parodies, impersonations, and other comedy bits produced by small production houses that specialize in creating this type of material.

            • Radio talk show host

              As more talk shows fill the AM and FM airwaves, radio producers are turning to comics to keep their listeners laughing and listening.

              • Cruise ship entertainer

                Imagine doing your act for your grandmother -- that's the kind of act you need to work cruise ships. If you've got four different twenty-minute clean sets and don't mind living with your audience for a few weeks, then this could be for you.

                • Corporate humorist

                  If you can make people laugh with clean material, then entertaining at corporate events might be just your thing.

                  Writing Comedy

                  • Customized stand-up material

                    Some stand-up comics who perform supplement their income by writing for other comics. And then there are those funny people who have never done stand-up themselves but who write it for others, such as funnyman Bruce Vilanch, who writes for Bette Midler and the Academy Awards show.

                    • TV sitcoms

                      Comics are hired to staff sitcoms or develop sitcoms for stand-up comics who have development deals. Many of the most successful sitcoms are based on stand-up comedy acts. Stand-up comics Larry David and Jerry Seinfeld became billionaires when they turned their stand-up acts into one of the most successful sitcoms ever -- Seinfeld.

                      • Punch-up

                        TV and film producers hire comics for the important job of punching up, or adding laughs to, a script.

                        • Screenwriting and directing

                          Comedy directors often start their careers with live performances. Betty Thomas started in an improv troupe and went on to direct features such as The Brady Bunch Movie. Tom Shadyac, director of Patch Adams, Liar, Liar, and The Nutty Professor, actually started out in my stand-up workshop. Two years later, he directed his first feature, Ace Ventura.

                          • Literary writing

                            "Funny" can also translate into books, magazine articles, and newspaper columns. George Carlin turned his unused stand-up material into the book Brain Droppings. Comedy director/screenwriter Nora Ephron (You've Got Mail, Sleepless in Seattle) wrote short funny magazine pieces that later became a popular book, Mixed Nuts. Dave Barry expresses his "funny" in a nationally syndicated column and in books.

                            • Development and producing

                              Funny ideas often translate into projects for commercial TV and film. Paul Reubens's character Pee-wee Herman started out as a character in an improv show at the Groundlings. It turned into an HBO special, two feature films, and an award-winning children's TV series.

                              • Animation writing

                                All major studios actively look for funny people to write and punch up their TV and feature animation projects. Irene Mecchi began as a comedy writer, writing comedy material for Lily Tomlin. Now she works for Disney animation and was the screenwriter of The Lion King.

                                • Internet work

                                  Because a good laugh can stop an Internet surfer at a Web site, companies such as Excite, Yahoo!, and AOL hire comics to write catchy copy.

                                  • Speechwriting

                                    Many CEOs and politicians turn to comedy writers to provide sound bites so that they get noticed, win over their audiences, and don't get stuck with their foot in their mouth.

                                    "I know what they say about me -- that I'm so stiff that racks buy their suits off me."

                                    -- Al Gore, 1998, written by Mark Katz

                                    Marketing Comedy

                                    • Merchandising

                                      Funny ideas can turn into funny products, such as Pet Rocks, screen savers, or greeting cards. Skyler Thomas, who started writing jokes in my class, put his jokes on T-shirts. They became major sellers and he now runs a multimillion-dollar T-shirt business called Don't Panic, with stores nationwide.

                                      • Ad copy

                                        Who do you think writes those funny bits in ads that get your attention? Comedy writers.

                                        "Most relationships don't last as long as the L.A. Marathon."

                                        -- L.A. billboard

                                        • Managing and booking
                                          • Many agents and managers started by putting shows together for themselves and ended up booking others.

                                            Right now, of course, you don't need to make a commitment to any specific comedy field. Actually, no matter which field of comedy you are interested in at the start of this book, be open to the possibility of shifting winds. You might be totally committed to performing stand-up until someone offers you a $50,000-a-year job writing funny ads for toilet cleaners. It could happen.

                                            You might start off thinking you want to be a stand-up comic and end up discovering that you have a lot of ideas that can work as sitcoms. Billy Riback started out doing stand-up at the Improv at $25 a night, and now he produces comedy TV shows making millions. Conan O'Brien and Garry Shandling were both sitcom writers before they became comedy stars. In 1978 David Letterman was a joke writer for Jimmie "Dy-No-Mite" Walker. The Zucker brothers and Jim Abrahams, who created and directed the movies Airplane!, Naked Gun, and Ghost, began their careers in a comedy improv troupe in Madison, Wisconsin, called Kentucky Fried Theater. And then there's Gary Coleman, who started off as a comedy actor starring in his own sitcom and ended up as a security guard. Go figure!

                                            The various fields of comedy can morph into one another. Sometimes a comic's act becomes the basis for a sitcom (Roseanne), or a screenplay becomes a sitcom...