On Teaching Stand-Up To Children
The Gratitude List #24
Teach your children well
Their father's hell did slowly go by
Feed them on your dreams
The one they pick's the one you'll know by– “Teach Your Children”, Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young
Last week, after a long weekend of shows and hangouts in Austin, I spent a few days in my hometown volunteering with a non-profit, helping run a stand-up comedy spring break camp for a few local kids.1 That’s right: stand-up comedy by kids, for adults! Kinda like this:
It was an absolute blast. Not just because we got to take an ice cream break in the middle of day 3, and also not just because it was a great excuse to see my family and celebrate my dad’s birthday with them while cleaning up at Hues & Cues and losing spectacularly at Phase 10.
What mostly made this class a blast was the teaching itself. Watching these kids go from raw material to a proper 5 minute set over the course of just a few days was incredibly gratifying. It was also a great chance for me to say some things I needed to remind myself of.
Here are 4 stand-up comedy tips I was able to refresh myself on after playing Joke Coach Jay for a week.
1. Being Observant Will Get You Very Far
One of the many things I learned after years as a camp counselor: talk to kids like adults with worse attention spans. I think a lot of adults assume kids are dumb – fitting, given that one of my students this week started his set by saying “kids used to be dumb, but now we’re stupid” – but that doesn’t mean they’re not paying attention.
Another one of my students started workshopping a joke about how adults always say alcohol is bad, but then get drunk anyway. This joke evolved over the week into pointing out a time when she saw an adult – theoretically, one of her parents – crash into a mailbox. It was biting, hilarious, and proof that simply paying attention was enough to get her to a really well-observed piece of material. Not to mention it gave her the perfect ending line – “don’t hit any mailboxes on your way home!”
Keep your eyes peeled. The world is always in motion. Just observe your surroundings and you’ll find plenty to talk about.
2. Write About What You Care About
The topics these kids wanted to make jokes about included:
Sur-Ron Electric Bikes
Pens And Ink
Adults Being Stupid
Kids Being Stupid
Homework
Squids
Being A Model
Family Vacations
Head Injuries
Not all these topics wound up making it into the final sets, but I gave the kids enough time and space to explore all of these topics on stage because it was clear they cared about them. And them caring meant they actually wanted to write and talk about those things at length. Can you imagine how much teeth-pulling it would’ve taken to get kids to write about stuff they didn’t care about? Who am I, one of their actual teachers?
3. Care About What You Write About
The flip side is that once they got on stage to reciting their material for the first time, it became apparent what was going to stick and what wasn’t by how invested they were in the performance. If they didn’t actually like what they’d written, or it wasn’t coming across as funny, that became an opportunity to probe deeper and create better jokes.
Getting yourself to generate material you care about is only half the battle. You’ve gotta get up there, perform it, and see how it sounds coming out of your mouth. That’s a non-negotiable in the workshopping process – you need to feel how it feels to talk about before you decide to keep, revise, or scrap the potential bit.
4. Don’t Be Afraid To Look Like A Fool
There was a remarkable lack of self-consciousness amongst these kids once they got on stage and began performing. They were doing voices, running around the room, throwing pens around… and I loved it. Sure, I had to rein them in a little bit so they could actually put on a viable performance, and not every kid was so freewheeling right from the beginning. A couple of them had some crazy stage fright and needed to be coaxed out of their shells with some careful words. But man — if they were afraid to look silly, they never would’ve let their freak flags fly up there. And that was where the real joy shone through.
Anyway: on to a few recs.
THINGS I’M GLAD I SAW THE PAST COUPLE WEEKS
ALEC FLYNN’S ODE TO CARING ABOUT STUFF
Recent WRONG! contestant Big Al has a podcast where he chats and grills. This recent clip from a solo episode where he encourages people to put effort into what they do – well, it is the tiny bit of inspiration I needed this afternoon to get over the hump of my own creative slump and get this post together.
ALEX HOOPER’S COMEDY SPECIAL ABOUT CANCER
Alex Hooper, an old friend who you may remember from his vicious roasts of the judges on America’s Got Talent, just dropped a new special called “Brace Yourself” about his experience as a cancer patient and survivor. He’s been dropping some killer clips from it on his socials, and I can guarantee that the special itself is well worth your time – especially if you like your comedy with doses of darkness, silliness, and energetic, boundary-pushing performances.
MIKE GLAZER DEALING WITH A LITERAL NAZI HECKLER
Comics deserve so much better than being heckled, especially when the heckler is as unhinged as this man was. Mike handled being heckled by this bottom feeder with poise and patience when he could’ve gone full guitar-smash and no one would’ve batted an eye. Bravo, buddy.
KURT STEINMULLER AND COOPER LYDEN’S HOUSE TOUR
You may have seen TikToks or Instagram Reels where a guy asks to see inside rich people’s houses or apartments. You’ve never seen it quite like this.
MYCAL DÉDÉ’S LATEST SUBSTACK POST
Dédé’s one of the greatest follows on the internet, and I love that his feeds online are basically an IV drip of microdosed satire and razor-sharp cultural critique. His new Substack post – which you should follow, if any of the above sounds of interest to you – had me howling.
A BRIEF DISPATCH FROM RECOVERYLAND
I’ll be completely honest with you guys: I’ve been slacking lately. I need to get my ass to some meetings. I feel spiritually sluggish and creatively blocked. All my morning pages for the past few days are about “optimizing” which is usually a canary in the coal mine for me thinking that I can try to wrestle control back from the universe. But the truth is that me failing to act – whether that inaction is not going to meetings, letting my step work collect dust, willfully throwing myself into the sucking void of social media — is also a choice. I am making that choice, and I don’t feel good when I make it.
It’s one thing to let a week of travel throw my routines a little out of whack. It’s another thing to just say “eh I’ll be okay” then proceed to do things that actively undermine my ability to feel okay.
In early recovery I used to hear “act as if” all the time. Even if I didn’t want to go to a meeting or do any step work or get out of bed or not drink, it was suggested that I act like I did, and eventually I’d come around. Right now, in the middle of this sentence, I’m doing a lot of acting as if. This whole newsletter is one big as-if act. I’ve never felt more like I’m putting together some clickbait SEO nightmare like I am as I write these words down. But I have to do it. I have to. You know why? Because I know on the other side I’ll feel better.
WHAT ABOUT ME?
This week, you can find me:
doing shows in LA - full show calendar is here
getting ready to host my comedy game show WRONG! in San Diego on Friday at 10 PM, get your tickets!
Until next time, friends. Thanks for reading, I’m glad you’re here.
Yes, this is where I was instead of here, writing this newsletter. Get off my back! It was shockingly time-consuming!