Category: Comedy

Secret Comedy Writing Technique – Callbacks

Here’s another post in my on-going series Secret Comedy Writing Techniques. This one deals with Callbacks. What’s a callback you ask? Well, a callback is repeating a joke verbatim, or paraphrasing a joke, that got a laugh earlier in your speech or comedy routine.

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The Joke is Dead, Long Live the Joke!

I came across an old article recently, which was published on The New York Times website. I thought it was very interesting and I wanted to re-publish the odd extract here along with my own comments.

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Public Speaking: A lesson from the late George Carlin

American comedian George Carlin died this past Sunday aged 71. I believe that he was one of the pioneers of comedy in the last century, so much so that I included him on my list of The 33 Most Influential Comedians recently. Carlin saw the role of the stand-up as social critic, rebel and commentator. …

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Public Speaking: Playing a Large Audience, part 2

This is a follow-up to my recent post about my M.C.-ing job. Unfortunately, even though I’d heard that the show was pretty much a sell-out, most of the audience didn’t turn up. However, I still opened the show with the energy and professionalism as if there were 750 people.

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Public Speaking: Playing a Large Audience

I’ve got an M.C.-ing job tomorrow night at the Ashcroft Theatre in the Fairfield Halls in Croydon. It’s for a charity called Living Water Satisfies. The Ashcroft is a 750-seater theatre and is the largest that I recall playing. Even in my days as a theatre actor I think the most I’ve performed to was …

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