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Five Things You Must Do To Be A Professional Humorist |
By:
Rick London |
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Five Things You Must Do To Be A Professional Humorist
Rick London
How does one get into comedy or become a cartoonist? Let me count the ways. There are too many to mention and its really one of those trial and error fields. But "funny" is a must.
The first thing I had to do was try on a great many masks to figure out just what my "comedy voice" was and is. I tried acting, stand up-comedy and many other venues. I didn't feel totally comfortable in any of them. I did receive a lot of attention, and occasionally I was even funny on stage, but generally not. I was too nervous and self-conscious about what others were thinking. That left cartooning and humor writing. It was a wise choice.
It doesn't hurt to be in a big city like New York or L.A. when trying to enter stand-up comedy. There are plenty of clubs with open-mic nights every night. This is a great place to hone one's skill, and get better. If one finds they are not getting better, but more frustrated, it might be time to look at other venues for one's talent, or, take classes in what interests you.
One caveat: If you've become an emcee at a nightclub, you are not David Letterman or Jay Leno yet. You will get a lot more attention from the opposite sex (and sometimes your own), a few free meals and drinks if the club owner is generous, but not a lot more perks than that.
One of the hardest working persons in comedy, Leno, spent decades touring the country, toning his stand-up act and tweaking his delivery. That kind of experience is not mandatory, but if one ever wants a chance at such a job as his, it couldn't hurt.
Humorous acting? Classes are a great idea to start There area bundle of them in metropolitan areas I took some in New York during my short stint there. Yes, they helped, but not enough. Oh well
Without a doubt, the best education I ever received for becoming a humor writer, and eventually having my own cartoon, was "associating with funny people". I was a lucky guy in that a childhood friend, Patrick Weathers, had been a regular featured performer on Saturday Night Live. Patrick was my roommate in N.Y. I was privy to his friends who, were for the most part, quite witty. I learned to think like they thought. I still keep those lessons with me in my cartooning. I found, like many of them must have, that a sense of humor can help one cope through all kinds of situations. And I have had many (situations).
I became a cartoonist by accident. I was writing humor and designing cartoon concepts for fun. A concept designer in cartooning is probably equivalent to art director in the movies). I illustrate but not very well. So I recruited artists who felt they understood my concepts and writing and were willing to draw on speculation if I would continuously promote their name and art during down times, that is, of little or no income. Many artists came and went. A day did not go by in the first three years that I did not think we would have to abandon the project. But we persisted. (It doesn't help to read self-help books on the topic of persistence).
Ten years later, it is almost unimaginable to me. We created the largest offbeat cartoon panel site on the Internet with over 8000 original images and have lured about 10 million people since we started counting ten years ago. We've opened 7 niche stores with over 90,000 licensed products. In many ways, I guess we have arrived. And if we can do it, so can you.
>From scratch in a metal warehouse, Rick London created the largest offbeat cartoon site on the Internet, Londons Times Cartoons http://www.londonstimes.us) The Best Ways To Enter The Field Of Humor
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Article Source: http://www.statssheet.com/articles/article65142.html |
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