The Killer Stand-up Comedy System

Edit: 08/21/2015

What is so pleasing to me is the fact that this product actually addresses all of the issues I have had with many other books on stand-up comedy and comedy writing I read prior to buying the Killer Stand-up System. If you wanna know what I found, and learn some stand stand-up comedy secrets to for you comedy act, or to apply to your presentations, then keep reading.

What I’m going to do is write a review about it first, then over a series of future posts track my progress in actually putting the techniques into action and monitoring the results.

This guide represents the first and probably still the best investment I have made towards my career so far online. I have to stipulate online because receiving 3 years of classical acting training does top this product. But only just. I’m kidding, mum.

I previously spoke about how I read a tonne of books about writing and delivering comedy, and how to learn stand-up comedy, but this one leaves them all in the dust.

What’s in it?

In short, everything you ever wanted to know about writing and performing stand-up comedy. But were afraid to ask. (I had to).

I love the way this product is structured. For a start, it provides a context in which the book was written. We get the author’s background and how he struggled as a new comic and then how he eventually went on to become a highly paid comedian in a short space of time. This really resonated with me.

There’s also a bit of a history lesson too telling you where the Killer Stand-up System lives in comedy development and how it differs from all the other guides and books on comedy writing and performing.

Steve also provides many war stories from his own experiences, so you get the feeling that you’re not alone with what you may go through once you’re out there.

At the time of writing, there were interactive audio clips which have interviews with other comics, plus you get to hear extracts from Steve’s own gigs. There’s something like 60 multimedia clips. It really involves you in the process of learning stand-up comedy.

Here’s what you actually get…

Two main guides on comedy writing and comedic performing. These two books alone are worth the investment. They are extremely thorough and quite exhaustive, combined they total 556 pages. That would be enough for me. (Editor’s note, this course has now be broken down further and is all online as opposed to the two large eBooks that I originally bought).

What you also get is a short guide called: “Street Joke Secrets for Professional Comedians”. This talks about the benefits of being able to source and edit street jokes. Not only that but it talks about how and where to use them in your act and in what markets.

And finally, one of my favourite bonuses is a unique piece of software called: “The Comedy Evaluator Pro”. This software shows you exactly and objectively how funny your material is. It provides a minute-by-minute analysis evaluation and guides on what you need to do to improve your act. (Editor’s note, this was featured in the documentary “I Am Comic”).

The main focus of this book is for the up-and-coming professional comedian, it really goes in depth on learning stand-up comedy. And also the comedy veteran too. These techniques can also be readily applied to professional speaking if that’s your thing.

What this guide also does not deal with is the many ways in which an up-and-coming performer can promote and market themselves both on and off-line. Which, upon reflection, is a good thing.

It also doesn’t discuss any of the global comedy festivals either, such as “The Edinburgh Fringe” in Scotland, “Just For Laughs” in Canada or “The Melbourne International Comedy Festival” in Australia.

But the benefit of it not including any of that information is that, ultimately, there are more pages focussed towards the writing and performing of comedy material. Focus is what a lot of books on comedy writing seem to lack.

That is definitely a good thing because, as I said, some of the other comedy books that I’ve read don’t spend nearly enough time on writing and performing and jump right into writing sitcoms, comedy spec scripts and one-man shows.

If somebody asked my advice on the best place to start in learn stand-up comedy, or developing material as a humorous speaker, I would say that they should definitely start with The Killer Stand-up System.

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