The Complete Guide To Hack Stand-Up Comedy

Frequently Asked Questions about

The Complete Guide To Hack Stand-Up Comedy was written by Steven Rosenthal with numerous contributions by others. Maintained by Steve Silberberg (stevebo@onramp.net).

HACK (from the British word Hack-neyed) adj. Over used and thus cheapened, trite. (From THE AMERICAN COLLEGE DICTIONARY)

Note (1): This list is written mostly for the benefit of new comics - not for the condemnation of seasoned acts. Just because you see an older comic doing some of these is no reason to start hurling tomatoes. A lot of this material became cliche' because of overexposure in the '80s, and any comic you see may have written it well before it became hack.

Note (2): These guidelines may not apply in Britain. From what I understand, Europe is just now getting a stand-up boom like we Yanks had ten years ago. It is entirely possible that English audiences have not seen these topics a million times.

This FAQ is Copyright 1995-8 by Steven Rosenthal, and is made available as a service to the Internet community. It may not be sold in any medium, including electronic, CD-ROM, or database, packaged with any commercial product, or published in print, without the explicit, written permission of the author, Steven Rosenthal, and the FAQ maintainer, Steven J. Silberberg