It all depends on your Point of View!

I've talked about my thoughts on the importance of 'Point of View' in stand-up comedy, but, while traipsing through Alberta I read a book by Franklyn Ajaye, and found that he said it all first and best. The title of the book is, "Comic Insights: The Art of Stand-up Comedy". It's a great book; not too long on theory, and gives a great range of interviews with some of the great names in comedy.

“It all starts here. An individual point of view is by far the most important element for the memorable stand-up comedy. It’s what makes any artist of merit truly stand out. Artists as disparate as Picasso, Richard Pryor, Miles Davis, Woody Allen, The Beatles, Salvador Dali, Marlon Brando, Martin Scorcese, and Quentin Tarantino all have in common the fact that they possess very individualistic points of view through which they filtered their artistic perceptions of life.

Many great comedians will tell you that from a very early age people would laugh at the things that they said, even when they were serious. Why? Because their serious “take” or point of view struck the listener as funny or odd. Your point of view is the voice you hear when you talk to yourself. As a stand-up, tapping into how you really feel or think about this madness we call life is the key to tapping into your true sense of humor. We don’t all look at life the same way, despite the best efforts of the media and politicians to paint us as a collective group that marches in the same sort of intellectual goose step. An aspiring comedian must be determined to get to his or her true feelings on a subject and convey that to the audience. Figure out what you’re feeling or interested in because the goal is to get the audience interested in what you’re interested in. Good stand-up comedy is drawing people into your head.”