Comedy Writing gigs part 2 is up next
Welcome to part 2 of comedy writing opportunities. In my last blog
I mentioned that you should network at comedy clubs. Yes, Comedy clubs are great networking avenues, but I also suggest networking to others who are in need of comedy material every, single, day. Namely radio stations. So call local radio station and offer to submit topical jokes for the morning show. DJs and radio personalities don’t have time to come up with material at 4 a.m. when they roll in for their show. And if they do have time to do a quick internet search for news stories. . .great! But chances are they don’t have time to write jokes.
funny looking but it works!
This is a great opportunity for
you if you can write solid topical material about news stories – you’ll be in demand and you’ll get a lot of practice because you’ll be doing it every day. I cut my teeth writing this kind of comedy – it’s hard to build a comedy act on it because stories and news items get old. . .you can’t still be making jokes about Lorena Bobbitt (look her up!). It’s great fun to have fun with news stories. . .they’re practically giving you the set-up lines in the news. USA Today was written with ready-made comedy set up lines. And the beauty of topical jokes is. . if you’re organized, you can re-use them again and again – just switch out names. Because there’s always gonna be a messy celebrity affair, an idiot congressman, etc. . .these stories repeat themselves with only the names changing.
So call a few radio stations, and maybe even local
TV and cable shows. . .don’t call everyone, because you do eventually want to get paid so you don’t want the reputation of being free — once you get a couple “clients,” stop calling. You only need to get a couple of people saying you’re good to build on it
And of course, aside from giving out free material to people you network with, you can also
get joke writing experience by showing people that you’re funny. Yes, get on stage. Go to open mics around town and try you’re hand at comedy. If you’re funny on stage, you’ll be asked to write for other people – guaranteed! That’s where I’ve gotten a lot of my work! Other comedians saw that I was funny, and they had connections to writing gigs.
Another source of building your comedy writing resume is writing for
friends and family. Who needs jokes?? Ask around, you might be surprised. One of my first gigs was writing jokes for my dad’s retirement party – I had to nicely roast him so everyone, including him, would laugh – it worked! I didn’t get paid, but I did establish my comedy writing chops to a huge group, and to myself, that I could do it.
Next week we’ll start looking at
who you can write comedy for, once you have some joke writing samples and some comedy references.
Have a great week!
Jan
Comedy Writers Are in Great Need!
Comedy writers and wanna be comedy writers apply here!
Have you ever seen a job opening for that? I didn’t think so! Because comedy writing jobs are hidden. And while I’ve never been on staff for a sitcom or late night talk show – due to my not pursuing them and them not pursuing me – I do have a few tips for freelance writing. I get asked a lot about how to do it, where to do it, etc. .and so here’s my best advice in a multi-part blog series!
I’ll be starting my comedy writing semi-career advice by
first talking to the people who have not written comedy before, but THINK they can do it! If you’ve already written comedy, then the next blogs will address things you’re more interested in, like where you can write and how to find the gigs. Good luck.
Comedy Writing can happen anywhere!
So How Do I Become a Comedy Writer
This is one of the few jobs that you get to say “I’m a comedy writer” and poof you are a comedy writer . . . since you don’t need a degree. BUT you do need to be able to actually write jokes AND if you want to make any cash at comedy writing, you’ll need credentials! So how do you get these credentials? Well, you most likely will have to get some unpaid comedy writing experience – yeah, I hate that part too, but really unless you have some joke writing samples to show, and you have a couple references that you can point to, then people won’t contract with you to do it. Plumbers apprentice. . comedy writers write free jokes. The good news is, if you’re good at it, hopefully the freebie gigs won’t last too long! And how do you find these people to write for for free? First tip –
Network! My first stop on the comedy writing train would be to go to
comedy clubs and chat with the comedians. There are tons of up and coming comedians who might be interested in collaborating with you. I’m against new comedians buying their act. . .I get a lot of requests for people to just write some jokes because, quote, “I’m good at performing jokes, but not writing jokes.” Well duh, if you don’t have stage freight, then you can learn stage presence and timing. . .but the writing might be the hardest part!!! So I’m not advocating that you give away top-notch jokes to newbie comedians. . .but instead find a comic or two that you can collaborate with. . .many comics write with their colleagues, so you can too. And, they might actually be relieved that someone wants to help them. New comics might be most open to this, but don’t discount comics who have been around either. Do this for a little bit. . . and again, do not write an entire act for an up-and-coming comedian. Helping them develop their act is fine. Writing the whole dang thing for them is, in my opinion, cheating. I feel that the only time comedians should buy material is when they are on TV so much or have so much of a following that they are burning up material a lot, or if they’re doing some special event. I am a Hillary Clinton impersonator, and I don’t have time to write for that character. . .so I’m allowed to buy some jokes. So look for comics that want collaboration and you’ll get some experience and joke samples.
Coming up. . .Comedy Writing gigs part 2 is up next. More ideas for finding writing apprentice comedy writing gigs. . .
Jan
My Main Site – check it out!
My Joke writing site – check it out!
D. Appropriate Humor
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