10 Wait A Second... I'M A Hack!
Description
This article is from the The Complete Guide To Hack Stand-Up Comedy, by Steven Rosenthal and Steve Silberberg (stevebo@onramp.net) with numerous contributions by others.
10 Wait A Second... I'M A Hack!
Don't panic! There's hope for you yet. All the inventive comics I know
started out doing hack material (I myself began with a Brady Bunch song, an
inner child joke and a dream). When you start you don't know any better.
Learn what you're doing wrong and keep writing until you find your voice.
And don't fret if you have a really great joke about a topic that's a
little shaky. Mike Welch (welch@ix.netcom.com) writes:
"I feel that an accomplished writer can take on ANY subject, even a HACK
one and do something brilliant with it...at least in theory." I agree. But
the rule should be, if everybody's going to be talking about the same
subject, you'd better make sure that your joke is brilliant.
And that's what it's about, isn't it? I'm sure that most of you got into
this business because you love the art (and if you're getting into it now
for the money, then you've got another thing coming). Art is always
reinventing itself and comedy is no exception ("Good Evening, Ladies and
Germs!" used to be funny!)
It's the next generation's responsibility to determine comedy's direction
and I wish you all good luck in that endeavor. You've been a wonderful
audience. Good night!
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