Stand Up Comedy Scene Work Series

In Acting Out the Funny Characters, Part 1, you learned the tips of, “Show, don’t tell,” “Find more funny characters,” “Let go of reality,” and “Study the Cunny Characters.”

Next in Act Out Funny Characters – Part 2 goes more deeply into finding the characters “Mind Set” which help the comedian act out funny characters as real people.

Discover the Basic Character

Whan you want to act out funny characters in your stand-up comedy routine, ask yourself:

Who is this person?

Is it he? She? They? Them?

Black? White? Latino? Asian? Some other ethnicity?

• How old are they?
• Do they have an accent?
• What do they wear?
• How do they move?
• Where did they grow up?
• Do they have a job?
• Are they married?

Ask yourself as many specific questions as you can to understand better how to act out the funny characters.  The answers may not be funny, or even particularly interesting, but knowing their answers will help you be more specific when you act out funny characters. Vague choices lead to vague characters.

Explore the Inner Life of the Character

• If your want to act out the funny charaters in as a complete person, you need to get to know how they think. I call this the “Mind Set” so when you act out the funny characters they will think, act, and speak as themselves, not as you. To explore as these questions:
• What kind of a person would say this?
• What are your character’s values?
• What are they trying to achieve?
• Become the Character

Once you figure out who a character is, become that person and go out into the world for a test drive.  You don’t have to tell anyone; just imagine you’re that person while you jog, or stand in line at the grocery store, or speak with a bank teller. Figure out how that person walks, talks and thinks about things. Have fun with it.

Let me tell you a true story: Comedian Terry McGovern in the 70’s was driving home from San Fransico across the Golden Gate Bridge to Marin County. He saw a short, husky, bearded, long haired guy in a hawiian shirt hitchhiking. Terry thought he looked benign, so he pick him up.

They talked for the hour and a half. Terry struggled to understand him throgh his thick accent. He discoverd the guy was from Scottland, had grown up in the highliands, gone to college in Edinburgh, and other charming tidbits about the guy’s life. Terry dropped him off at a Baskin-Robbins where he had a job.

Terry drove toward home thinking he’d never see that guy again. About 3 years later he was astonish to see that same guy starring in the sit-com Mork and Mindy. That Scottish guy wasn’t Scottish as all, he was Robin Williams.

People often wonder how Robin was so good at all those characters. It’s because he went into the real world and became those characters for long periods up time. Had coversations where he had to make up the character’s history. That’s how to act out the funny characters.

Did you know that just like any other trade, comedy has techniques that can be taught and applied to your style and brand of funny?

Greg Dean’s Stand-Up Comedy Classes

Greg teaches his techniques in two classes. Level 1 – How to Build a Stand Up Comedy Routine is the beginning class (also called the “101 class”) that teaches you everything you need to know to build and perform a stand-up comedy routine.

Even though these classes are named a beginning, they are actually classes that stand up comedians of any number of years of experience can take. They are beginning in the Greg Dean system. If you’re interested in faster and better ways to create good jokes and you want to dive deeper on joke writing then you’ll want to take both of these classes.

Free On Demand Webinar: “How to Build a Stand Up Comedy Routine”