I think the greatest complement I have gotten to date about my stand up was from my buddy Mayo, He hasn't seen me perform in a long time and we were in a contest together and after I performed.

“That was the best set I have seen you do, So much better than that crap you were doing at the Philly’s Phoniest Contest”

Prior to this technique I have been told that if you were not looking at me why I was telling jokes that it sounded like I was reading them line for line. That was hard to take, but a great to know. That is why I am not an actor and don’t really want to be one.

I suggest you get the book or even better audio book, even though the voice on the audio book is annoyingly goofy.  So I am not going to write word for word how it works I will just say how it worked for me. I don’t want to write an entire chapter just what I have learned that works for me.

Rehearsing for my type of comedy: I am would be called a story teller type of comedian. I don’t have or use one liner type jokes, I build all my sets to have a running theme and I try very hard to have a natural flow from bit to bit… this is just how I am.

What I learned from Dean:

There are 2 stages of rehearsal and they are separated into “The Critic” and “The Creator” and you need to teach yourself to separate these two jobs/ways of thinking. This is the most important thing I have learned.  The reasoning behind this is that if you rehearse your set with “The Critic” correcting you at the same time you are working on your delivery and tone your are building that little negative “Critic” voice into your head during the your set. So this negative voice will come on stage with you and distract you why you are supposed to be delivering your set and having fun with your audience.

What to do with “The Critic”

You need to give the critic his voice just not why you’re going over your delivery and staging.

You need to use the critic to your advantage he is your friend, and if you use him he will make you a better comedian/writer.

Record your sets and practice sets then listen to it as the critic… make notes of what to change, then work that into the set.

Always critique your work in a space different from your practice area; you don’t even want to see the critic’s space from your practice area. Keep them physically and mentally separated.

What to do when you’re “The Creator”

This is when you are writing everyday like you should.

This is when you are practicing your delivery and staging and open mikes and thinking of what will make a great bit, and watching people.

This is when you learn your set: I am in love with the method I am about to tell you about… its works so well for me I no longer bring my set with me to shows or open mikes, I don’t have a set list and I am so much more relaxed about my jokes/bits. It may not work for everyone but it works for me and I love it. So here we go…again buy the book for better detail.

Don’t learn the words to the jokes: this is the wrong thing to do. You need to turn your bits into Pictures, Sounds and Feelings…sounds a bit odd right. It a way of turning the bit into a real memory that you can recall like telling a story about something that actually happened to you.

If you have a set with say 3 POV (Points of views) like You , The Narrator and a Third character (3 for this example) you will tell that joke or experience from each of those points of views act them out try to get the feel for all three of their feeling. Build an experience where you are more apt to remember the moment not the joke.

Do this until you are no longer trying to remember the words of the bit and now you are imagining that story about the experience you had.

I understand that there are particular words that you need to use for some bits… just practice them into the experience and why that word is being used.

Body Language 55, Tone 38 and Words 7: these are the percentages of how people get their information so build that tonal and body language into your set during the creative. Watch your set with the sound off and see what your body is saying. It’s amazing how many things you can do with body language and vocal tones to get the point across.

I am remembering my sets so much better and having more fun, I have a long way to go but I think this is a great way to rehearse.

We all go through the same process with new material, and the methods Judy Carter uses  to take some raw ideas and polish them might help as you try to turn your rough ideas into gems.

So - here's some tips on developing new material:

1. Record your ideas as they come to you.

Funny ideas don't just magically appear when you sit down to write them.Ideas are your master -- and you are their bitch.  They'll show up when they feel like it, and you'd better jump to it and record them when they happen.

With an iPhone, this is easy; just talk and record.  But for me, the hard part's transcribing all the recordings.  (280 at last count.)  If you're like me and can't stand to listen to your own voice, get someone else to transcribe your audio rantings for you.  Speechpad is cheap and gets the job done fast.

2.  Stand-up is like exercise.

Just because you got your body in shape two years ago doesn't mean it'll stay in shape.  You've got to work it every day.  And that means ALWAYS setting a goal for yourself to keep improving.

Create a specific goal for each performance, whether it's trying out some new material, working the crowd, or just making it through a set without being set on fire.

3. Get yourself a posse.

Doing stand-up alone is a one-way ticket to hell.  Depending on other comics you barely know to give you support is like asking a suicide bomber for a hug.  You probably won't get it, and it may not turn out well even if you do.

Once a week I get together with my comedy buddy to jam new material, and then we do the open mikes together. That way, we help each other tweak, change, or throw out material.  And we each have a better sense of what will (or won't) work for the other after seeing their material tried in front of an actual audience.  Click hereto get a comedy buddy.

4. After trying new material on stage, write it out verbatim.

Make sure you record your set at every open mike, and take the time later to transcribe it precisely.  Seeing your material in black and white will help you take out unnecessary words on the way to the laugh.  And very often, you'll find that you unintentionally said something just a tiny bit differently than last time - but the very small difference in wording made all the difference in getting a huge laugh.

5. Know where the laughs are (or where they should be).

When you deliver your material, especially the new stuff, have the guts to punch every joke and hold for the laugh.  That takes balls, or ovaries, or whatever you have that gives you courage.  If a joke doesn't work, there's an awkward silence when you pause.  It's scary, but it's the only way you'll know if the joke bombed - or if you just talked through what could have been a laugh because you were nervous.

6. Breathe.

We do it every day, but for some reason it's easy to forget when you're holding a microphone.  A full inhale and exhale without words helps separate your jokes, improves your timing, and gives you the appearance of confidence.(If you look like you think your stuff is funny, it's a little easier to convince the audience.)

This helpful info comes from my idol Judy Carter: http://blog.comedyworkshops.com/

OK, you've read my book, The Comedy Bible, and you probably have a standup act -- or a least a journal full of ideas.

So, now what? How do comics get from being "nobody" to being "somebody"? How do you find fame?

The problem I see is that there are so many talented people who have all the desire for fame - but who aren't willing to do what it takes to be successful. (No, I don't mean anything X-rated.)

Many comics haven't realized that the way to fame has changed. They're engaged in "old school" showbiz, thinking that someone will come see them perform and discover them. But nobody is coming, because times have changed. There are plenty of ways for agents, managers, and others to discover talent without even going to clubs, and so some of them have stopped going. That's why you may have to discover yourself -- and take steps to start your career on your own.

You may not have control over fame choosing you, but you can choose and control working your craft, developing your ideas, writing that script, or directing a YouTube movie. That's something you can do without needing anyone else's approval or money.

Recently, I was talking to an actress friend of mine who said, "I want to do a TV talk show. I would be a great interviewer."

At first, I wanted to discourage her, because I know how hard it is to get a talk show on network TV, especially if you're not a household name. But, then I thought, "You want to do a talk show - then just friggin' do it!"

Anyone who wants to star in their own show can do it with a few friends, a cheap camera, and an Internet connection. Many of the recipients of movie, TV, and book deals include people who got their start by creating DIY shows on YouTube.

Justin Bieber was a virtual unknown until his soon-to-be manager accidentally happened

Justin Bieber upon his YouTube videos. Comedian Bo Burnham received so many hits on YouTube that Comedy Central Records picked him up and started producing his albums. There are many, many more stories like these, because online is the new Hollywood.

It's hard to do it all yourself - but don't use that as an excuse to stop your career from happening.

Don't know how to edit, shoot video, or write? Check out Craigslist. There, you can find your production team. But, if you can't get past these problems on small projects -- how are you going to handle the huge projects that come with success?

After you produce your work, you need to find your audience. But in new school Hollywood, you don't need to hire an expensive publicist. You can use Twitter, Facebook, and email programs to find and grow your audience, or as the industry calls it, your "platform."

Having a "platform" played a big part in my getting another book deal with a generous advance. Being the author of several successful books in the past doesn't guarantee getting a deal anymore in a down economy. So, I spent four months writing a really convincing book proposal. The bulk of the proposal was highlighting my "platform" of comics and speakers who I assist with reaching their career goals, to reassure the publisher that they weren't taking too much of a risk.

A few years ago, people in the industry didn't need this level of assurance. But we are in tough times, where nobody is taking a chance on anything. Even if you are famous and successful, you still have to do the grunt work to get the big deals. Just showing up with an idea is no longer enough.

My friend is an Emmy award winning executive producer in reality TV. Even though she is extremely successful in the past and has a big shot agent, she still can't just show up and pitch an idea. So she's spent months writing up detailed treatments with act breaks, auditioned and cast her shows, and produced three minute "sizzle reels" for each show idea. She essentially does the entire show, herself, on her dime.

Are you willing to put your own money and time into producing your ideas? Because if you don't believe in what you're doing - why would anyone else?

If you are really passionate about what you do - then DIY your career.

Sound like a lot of work? It is. The hard work it takes to get anything done tends to weed out the unmotivated. That means there's less competition out there for those of us who don't just talk about doing something, but who do the work needed to make something happen.

This blog often feels like a full-time job, but it is an integral part of my DIY promotion platform. I don't have advertisers or a publishing house saying here's $50 write us something funny each week. But, this blog gives me a chance to share my knowledge with those that need it and I guess for now that's payment enough. (Psst - I offer coaching services)

Click here to leave your feedback, or on the following links to get tips on out how to produce a sizzle reel and typical submission guidelines for a book proposal.

And don't be afraid to ask people to follow you. If you don't ask, they won't.

-Judy

The comedians that I like all have great timing, strong characters and smart jokes. I need to get my timing down in order to get my character or persona, with that I can deliver and write great jokes for myself.

Timing became my next area to work on when I recently sped through my set in a contest… because I was nervous and really felt I could have done so much better. Not saying I would have placed in the contest, but better competing with myself. (I am always competing with the Jess that performed his last show)… I watched my video and was so let down that I did not pause in places , sped through the set so fast that what I had times as 5 min was actually 4.5 in the end… that is 30 seconds of timing out the window.

Here is the bad set and you can see that I was way to fast… My start was rough so I think I did the age old beginners mistake of trying to get to a punch… I am a story teller that is the kiss of death for my style of stand up.

Here are some basic things to keep in mind.

One thing I have done is stepped on my laughs… We work so hard to get them to laugh and you don’t want top squash that… this is when you go into another joke too early and don’t enjoy the praise… this does 2 things… one they will not really hear the beginning of your next joke or the set up… and two… you are actually training them not to laugh… seriously! There is like a bell curve to the timing in this situation… You need to wait till they get to the loudest point of that laugh then once they go over the top and start to go down in volume you can start to go into your nest set up or tag what you just did.

Vocabulary: A beat is a pause taken for the purposes of comic timing, often to allow the audience time to recognize the joke and react, or to heighten the suspense before delivery of the expected punch line.

Slapstick timing Comic timing can also be seen in the more physical forms of comedy as well. Every slapstick comedian from Charlie Chaplin onwards has relied on the physical joke being made at justthe right time. The bucket of water never falls until the audience has built up for it to just the right level. Farce The farce is another example of comic timing. Here, the humour is derived both from rapid speech and rapid movement — people running into and out of rooms at breakneck speed and managing to cause havoc in the process as done to perfection in the series Fawlty Towers.

Pregnant pause A pregnant pause (as in the classical definition, "many possibilities") is a technique of comic timing used to accentuate a comedy element, where the comic pauses at the end of a phrase to build up suspense. It's often used at the end of a comically awkward statement or in the silence after a seemingly non-comic phrase to build up a comeback. Refined by Jack Benny, the pregnant pause has become a staple of stand-up comedy.

Here are some great things I have found on the internet pertaining the Timing. If you know me I have not leaned to do these yet. I am just sharing the information I find as I learn it… so don’t judge me…lol You must know the joke. You have to know exactly where the laughs are and leave room for the audience to react. Your laughs come from your knowledge of them, not accidentally.

Hint: Punchlines do NOT have to be just words. There are a number of reasons that new comedians don’t pause enough to allow an audience to laugh:

1. Having a set that is too long for the time allotted—so there is no time built in for the audience to laugh.

2. Nervousness and increased adrenalin, causing the comedian to “barrel through” their act.

3. Lack of confidence in their comedy material.

4. Absence of proper preparation or improper preparation that doesn’t account for pauses for laughter. Most new comedians don’t even really know when to start talking again when they do get a big laugh (Hint: You don’t wait until there’s complete silence to start talking again).

Here’s my stand-up-showcase tip for today: There are only two things that happen when a comedian is on stage—the comedian is talking or the audience is laughing. Giving audiences sufficient time to laugh is a HUGE part of comedy timing.

So when something really shitty happens on stage, you are lucky; you just got that out of the way and it wont happen when your doing your Comedy Central Spot.

What are these stage junkies doing actually? They are getting their brains use to the fact that they go on stage and get in front of people. Turns out that this is a very important exercise for the way our brains and bodies work.  I have been reading more about how the brain work and less about wring jokes, and here is a nugget of info I can share with you.

Turns out getting on stage is stressful to most people, even comedians who have done it for a very long time can have stage fright type stress…

Stress tells the brain to go into a Fight or Flight mode… this is a basic built in function we have to survive.  If you feel some stress you get adrenalin released, this is fine...  it gives you the energy and sharpness you want. If you get too stressed that is where there is an issue… when this accurse the brain releases a chemical called Cortisol. This is made more or less to make the body work and think about the muscle reactions and less about the way the brain works, your brain usually goes to either anger or fear during this step. So this is what makes you forget the words you use to know so easily. This stress hormone is associated with memory loss, if you have too much or two little released, it makes you lose attention and can actually hurt the brain. It can interfere with the brain cells ability to communicate with each other; can even evoke your freeze alarm. It’s “The dear in the headlights moment.” It’s not fun to be that dear on stage!

Cortisol : Its supposed to help bring your blood flow to the muscles and away from your  hippocampus, this is good if you saw a tiger and needed to run, not if you are going to walk onto a stage with 1000 people looking at you. It can compromise your working memory; it can even hurt your ability to form new memories. If that is not bad enough long turn stress can actual cause your Cortisol levels to stay high and damage your brain, impairing your ability to remember and causes hippocampus damage.

So chill out de-stress, and get on that stage, get on any stage you can and get those hour’s of stage time under your belt. Your going to get your body use to the stage 5 min at a time and learn each and every time you’re up there. I recently did a show that was my first time doing 25 min in front of a literally sold out room.  I went out there and did only 17 min of material, forgot a few key phrases and second halves to my bits. This is what I am talking about… I need to get on the stage more and get use to this.

I am lucky that the other things I have read helped with my performance: I was not robotic, I had fun with the audience, I slowed down when I needed two and even went back to a joke that I forgot earlier. The audience did not know what I forgot and it was still a fun show.

So it's time to hit the stage as much as I can.

I have taken up to level 3 of Philadelphia's PHIT Improv class's and currently doing a Level one in NY at the Magnet (Long Form) as well as Comedy Sports (Short Form)

I will be comparing the two and contrasting them and how they are helping me in "Stand up" and "Public speaking".

Here is what we did last week in Long form class:

We warmed up with a “pass-the-clap” game, a game of “Thank you statue” and “Samurai warriors/swords”.  Then we did a bunch of warm-up scenes and spent a lot of time on object work.  Half of us got up and we did a bunch of scene initiations (of important moments in life) where one person initiates and someone else joins.  After that we did a bunch of “describe the environment” scenes with a suggestion of a location, where both scene partners looked around the stage and described the environment to each other/the audience.  There was a great moment in one of those scenes where two guys were in a bomb shelter and someone said “I hate your kids”.  Rick talked about how we sometimes get so caught up in talking about the space/coming up with dialogue in our head that we miss a jewel of a line, like that. He stopped the scene and pointed this out, and the scene continued…it was hilarious!  While describing the space and interacting with the environment are meant to free us up, Rick’s point was, sometimes the opposite happens.  Sometimes we get so caught up with “working” in the scene that you don’t listen.  But you can do both – both improvisers can have wants and can be interacting with the environment, as long as you’re listening to each other.  How two people interact is good enough to make the scene great.  

We took a break and came back with a warm-up game of “Zip, zap, zop” and more scenes with suggestions of locations.  We did another listening exercise, “Back-to-back” scenes, where two people sat in chairs with their backs to each other and had to really listen to what the other person was saying.  It makes you really slow down and listen.  Rick said to think of it as a ping-pong match where someone hits the ball to you, you take your time and then return the ball to them.  It forces you not to get ahead of yourself and to make the scene about the two of you, not about some preconceived notion.  We finished the class with some object monologues where each person took on the perspective of an inanimate object in a location and had to speak from the point of view of that object.

Lessons:

-Naming stuff – don’t wait, name things as soon as you can... This is in one of those cases where you are holding an inviable object and the other person on the stage and you are referring to its quolities but not saying what it is... this can lead you down a path of trying to figure out what can have all those quolities...

Its so big
Look at those eyes great shade of blue I must say
It looks delicouse..

Just name it and move on

-Object work – it doesn’t matter if what you’re doing is accurate, just as long as YOU know what you’re doing.  In addition to that, anything that we do/say is more REAL when we see the space in our head

-Don’t be afraid to REACT to what someone says and to have a POINT OF VIEW – you always want to be effected in a scene.  Having a point of view can be a great source of info – a point of view fuels what you say, and in turn, what you say fuels your point of view

-If it’s fun, keep doing it!!! – even if it’s silly (i.e. rolling around on the floor as if you're doing BAD yoga), if you’re having fun, the audience is probably having fun too

Two Main Take-Aways

1) “Ping-Pong Effect” – slow down and let yourself be effected/react to your partner

2) Have a point of view

**These two things combined take the pressure off of us to think.  The details and richness will all come naturally if you’re coming from a place of natural reaction**

Lessons from the first class:

-Truth in Comedy -- most impactful stuff comes from real life 
-Yes, and... - everything that happens on stage is information

Here is what we did in The Short form Class:

We started off talking about the golden rule of  "Yes and" and then what they called the platform this is the relationship, place and issue of the scene ... In short form you need to get to it faster to get to the comedy... Short is all about the joke in the scene.

We then did the pass the clap same as above, the Big booty (one of my favorite games)  then we did the name game where we just learned each others names while clapping hands with people to the left and right of us.

We lined up 4 on one side and 3 on the other and did a 3 line exorcizer where we had to get the relationship and place established within in 3 lines. But use natureal feeling sentences.

Then we did the same thing but with environment work, someone comes out and starts miming the actions they are doing in the environment, the other person joins the scene and they go from there just like above.

5 things: you ask the person next to you to list 5 things ... Example List 5 new words to be added to the dictionary, or 5 Spielberg movies that never got made... start off interesting , then go crazy. As they are listing the 5 things walk around the circle and back to your spot.

The statue game, then Statue thank you, then we turned away from the stage and said freeze during a scene and walked out and took that persons exact position. Started a new scene based off the position.

Worlds Worst: a where you play out situations with characters that are the worlds worse...Doctor,lawyer, husband, handyman...get it.

We then circled up and did story time where we each say a sentence to a story building the character in the first round, then the problem second round then the solution 3rd round.

We finished up with a talk about being clean, and how its better to learn to get the laughs being clean then you know how to break the rules in the future if you want. and how different parts on the country have their improv tastes...like Philadelphia likes clever and even some innuendo, but the Midwest is more about shtick corny!

Two Main Take-Aways

Short is about the funny the comedy and long is about the truth the real.

Both Long and Short form have some of the greatest people you will ever have the fortune to work with.

Standup and Speakers

Use this technique to write funnier material

By Judy Carter

I've got a new favorite set-up I'm using that's so new it's not even in "The Comedy Bible." I call it, "Reluctant Admissions" and here's how it works:  I make a big, bold statement of "truth" and then I have to admit that it was actually a total lie.  Now, here's how you put it into action...

Recently, I was performing for a Canadian audience and I said:

[STATEMENT] "We have so much in common, you're from Canada - I'm from Canada!"

[ADMISSION ONE] "Well, not exactly 'Canada' Canada...'"

[ADMISSION TWO] "Actually, that's just what I tell people when I'm travelling through France."

Here's another example:

[STATEMENT] I lost 120 pounds!

[ADMISSION ONE] Well... I didn't exactly lose all of it at once.

[ADMISSION TWO] Well, actually - I just lost and gained the same 10 pounds twelve times.

Your turn now. Riff on this:

[STATEMENT] I finished my first 5K yesterday!

[ADMISSION ONE]

[ADMISSION TWO]

And you don't have to be a comic to add this to your spiel. It's a great opening joke for speakers and comics alike!

Find out more about Judy Carter

Basic Conditioning and Simulation:

The equivalent to this in sports conditioning:  NFL linemen doing leg presses, so they can have explosive power and energy. A tennis player work on their stamina so they can still get to the ball 3 hr into match.

Rebuilding your basic skills sets is conditioning. This will make you stronger and faster in your chosen area. The truth is every linebacker even in high school does leg presses, but how many Comedians and Public Speakers work on their skill base?

Say you are a public Speaker or Comedian… Basic writing is needed for the presentations structure and joke structure are the base over all skill set. We all need to maintain the basic skills we have for our jobs or goals. People forget things the longer it’s been sense you first learned or worked on your initial skill, in my case writing  jokes and story structure skills. So I need to reread The Elements of Style as a book on writing, or Judy Carters 5 Steps to joke writing, or Truth in Comedy for improv.

Focused simulation: Athletes spend time on specific skills like pitching a baseball or serving a tennis ball, or hitting a golf ball out of the sand, they are all about your specific skills. They must be performed differently each time to simulate real life changes. Unlike a musician who practices the notes witch will never change. But for a quarterback no 2 passing situations will be the same.

Analyze others speeches and talks, and think what you would do differently. Analyze how a comedian that is on the top of their game is working the audience or set up their set list building the energy of their show and controlling the experience for the audience.

Self Regulation: (Background reading reminder) I read a month or so back in the Dean book that during rehearsal our goal is to rehearse the critic out of the performance so you do not have that critical voice in your head getting in the way of your performance. So keep this in mind. I also like to keep the idea of doing your edits in a different part of the room as you rehearse your delivery and entire set in keep that critic physically separate from your actor.

Deep practice is self regulation and its about learning and how to get better at performing a particular skill or getting better at performance in general.
One major aspect is Goal Setting:
A poor performer: will not have any goal for that day. They just slug through their set without an aim other than to do the set. There is nothing they are striving to do better.
A mediocre performer: sets goals that are general basically to get to a good outcome. Get a laugh.
A great performer: Sets goals that will help them in the future. Like work on audience participation, don’t use a particular nervous twitch word like “um” or use more body language or voice inflection. Then see if you matched your goal, see if you can get better at a specific goal you set.

The next step is to reach that goal.
Make an exact plan, if your goal is to How exactly will they reach this goal? It’s more about the process to the outcome not just the outcome.
Attitude: Planning a goal and sticking to it everyday sounds had and you will need motivation… Where do you get it?
Self efficacy: your ability to perform and believing that all the work will pay off.

Feedback: We need to self evaluate only we can know what the goals were and if me met out goals.

Excellent Performers: are more specific and set the bar for them setting s specific goal and aiming only to match that goal. Sometimes they compare their performance to their own personal best, or other performers on their level or the best in that field. The key is to know when. Choose a comparison that will stretch you just beyond your current limits.

Mediocre Performers: are content with telling themselves they “Killed” or did great or poorly or ok.

Everything I have read to-date says not to set your goals so high that no meeting them will discouraging and not very constructive, on the other hand too low a standard produces no advancement. If you pushed your appropriately and evaluated yourself rigorously then you would have identified errors that you made. (No one is perfect) A critical part of self evaluation is figuring out what caused the errors.

Mediocre Performers: believe that their errors were caused by someone or thing outside their control… My fellow comedian got lucky, the audience was cold, and I was put on to late or early in the show…

Top Performers: believe they are responsible for their errors; this is not a personality thing. Remember the Pro set very specific goals and worked on specific skill sets, so if something did not work they can look back and pinpoint the part of their performance that may have misfired.

In the world of Golf a champion performer does not blame the weather or the green for a bad performance, they blame themselves.

So when you get off stage: Odds are strong the experience was not perfect, how do you respond? That part were unpleasant. Top Performers: Respond by adapting the way they act. They can make an educated guess on what actions they should change then repeat that situation with a tweaked goal and do better. They believe in their pressing on and making their work pay off.

Mediocre Performers: Respond by avoiding those situations in the future, not working on that bit till it gets the response you are looking for. Average performers did not have an action plan and blame things on the environment and are clueless on how to adapt. They will not repeat the performance, it they do they will not have adapted and not gotten any better.

Deep Knowledge: Educate yourself about the Domain you work in… Become an expert in your industry; learn all you can about the field. The more you know the better you will be. The opportunity to learn about your domain is easier to do than you think. We have the internet and written history about just about anything. Learn how that info works and functions as a system a working model.

Put it this way: You probably know how to drive and it works for you and you are failure to some well traveled routs and you may even pay attention to gas prices. But a Top performing Truck drive posses an extremely rich mental modal of his domain. He understands all the subsystems of his vehicle, hydraulic, mechanical, electric and how they interact, he knows 100’s of routs and their features as well as speed limits, weather conditions, police activity, gas prices, state licensing requirements and so much more. He knows how it all works together.

A Rich Mental Model helps all performers in 3 essential ways:
A Mental Model forms the framework for how you hang the knowledge you learn about your domain. Top performers can reach into their memory and use facts specific to their domain, because they understand their domain. They organize so the information can be used and absorbed better and faster. Because you have a mental model you know where that information fits and works with other information, creating a larger working structure to pull from.

A Mental Model helps you distinguish relevant information from irrelevant information. This is valuable when you’re in new situations, it allows you to free up valuable mental resources to work on what’s really important. Focusing on what’s most important.

A Mental Model will help you project what happens next… Because you understand how the system works you can better know the results from particular inputs. How the events that just happened will create the events of what will happen. A mental model is never finished; it’s always growing and changing.

You need to keep those skills sharp, Set some goals, be realistic on your achievements, and learn all you can about your field. Comedy is not all fun and games and speaking is not just talking. Start thinking better to do better!

I want to just finish this with a word to those of you who worked your but off writing a bit that is really close to another comedians work. That does happen... The California Comedy Coach says that we may have seen a comedian do this set forgotten about it and then wrote the joke not realizing it. But there is no way you will end up with it being word for word like this guy did.

We can even have bits that are in the style of or "Seinfeld or Mitch esk" that is also not stealing. I have been in the room when a comedian calls another comedian out for it. but unless its your joke being lifted I would stay out of it. Some times comedians do sell bits to one another, so I would just say don't be one to soil another comedians good name because you didn't know what you were talking about. You cant take that stuff back. Its too small of a community and that stuff gets around true or not.

In “The War of Art” : After he writes for about 4 hrs he takes a hike in the woods, and during that hike corrections and ideas would come to him. He would carry a voice recorder to take notes of the great feedback. (Things like: the opening line on page 158 is to much like the one on 456… Change the word X to Y… and so on.) He calls it his “Angels in the Abstract”, or refers to it as our minds super computer going through a background process, crunching information.

In the book “Talent is Over Rated” it referred to how practicing something that you find the most difficult / uncomfortable out of the desired "skill set" that your focused on learning. Going over it “over and over” with a deliberate focused on the things your least able to comprehend.  You need to amerce yourself in the information and work on the part that you least comprehend you will increase your skill set over all. It’s called Deliberate Practice.

Yet another book I al working through is “The Talent Code” and this is also about the way training in a very particular way will get you to learn better and create strong pathways in the brain for better thought processing. This is called “Deep Practice”.

Example: Let’s say you’re at a party and you see someone you know but you can not remember their name… if someone tells you their name you learn nothing, but if you figure it out and correctly retrieve that information you just worked or engraved into your memory and you practiced finding that name deeper.

The current book I am reading is called “Your Creative Brain” and again this process comes up as the concept of Deliberate and Spontaneous paths of creativity. The two use different parts of the brain:

The Deliberate Processes like problem solving, retrieving knowledge, and making plans are the so called “higher order thinking” that is the Lateral areas of the Prefrontal Cortex. Remember I talked about the “CEO or the Executive” calling the shots in the brain, that what this area is… looking for facts and making decisions.

The Spontaneous Process the areas of the brain that are used/activated are the Medial (middle) Prefrontal Cortex and other midline areas in the frontal and parietal lobes as well as areas in the rear of the brain. These are areas also associated when you are daydreaming. But most important these are the areas now associated with things like spontaneous thought and imagination, reverie and envisioning the future.

When you create you do something no one has ever done before, because it’s never been done there is no rule books for how to proceed. You have to forge ahead, blaze new trails, stepping onto the edge of chaos and look over the edge to infinity… well sort of there are some rules we can learn from. And lucky for us written accounts of creative processes have been notes since the early Greeks.

Here is a great example of  how all of the above come together back in the day.  There was this dude called Archimedes and he was given the task to find out the volume of gold in an intricate crown for this King Hiero, who was having some trust issues with his jewelers.

Archimedes was racking his brain over the issue trying to figure it out for some time and decided he needed a break, so I went to the baths and as he was getting into the water he noticed the water was splashing out of the tub, more and more as he submerged himself and it hit him. Eureka! Without even thinking he ran to his down the street buck naked trying to get to his pad to prove his hypothesis. The volume of an irregular shape can be calculated by noting the amount of water displaced when the object was submerged…

See how that works… Here is a doodle from the book I took a snapshot of.

Preparation Stage is made up of 4 main components:

1) Gathering General Knowledge

Sense the basic premise of creative ideas is that they are original and useful combinations of recombinations of desperate bits of information. Then is stands to reason that the more stuff you know the more creative you can be. “I had an improv teach Amie who told us that to be great at improve we have to have as many interests out side of improve as we can, that will give us more fuel to use in improve.“

No one else had the mental library that you have; this is what makes us all unique you have stuffed in your brain every memory from how to hold a spoon to quantum theory. So the more you know the more you want to know.

2) Acquiring Specific Skills and Information

So here you need to acquire the skills specific to the endeavor you looking to take on, in my case I want to be better at public speaking, writing joke, speeches and motivation.

So if you want to paint you need to learn about color theory, brushes, how to spread paint on a canvas, what colors are used in shadow, how to draw using perspective and so on. So you need to learn about what has been done before, experts call this “Learning your Domain” Learning all you can about your specific endeavor not only will this generate even more interests for you it will also help you with the next step.

3)Problem Finding

This is the search or – a definition of--- a problem or dilemma that can be solved with a creative idea. This is another way of saying finding new ways that things can be done or done differently. Seurat was a painter but painted with Dots not Strokes.

4) Problem Immersion

You consider the problem or dilemma from many angles, every aspect, turning it over and over in your mind and attempt to generate potential solutions. You marry yourself to the problem, temporary obsession.

Incubation:

Let it go, go rest, turn your attention else wear, go for a walk in the park/woods. This is called incubation stage because you can stare at an egg each day for several weeks but not be aware of the chick developing inside. So now you can send the dilemma you have been thinking so much about to the back burner also knowing that it too is developing out of site like that egg. This is the point where the Deliberate and the Spontaneous paths to creativity diverge.

If you are deliberately trying to solve the problem you will resist the incubation and continue to search for a solution for the problem…That Executive section of the brain active the whole time…You will consciously go over memories and information from the back of your brain until you find a suitable solution.

If you take the spontaneous rout you will notice that taking a break from creative problem solving will have some beneficial effects, like recovery from mental fatigue or recharging your mental batteries. Say that one of the issues you were having was that the wrong answer kept popping up; this break will help you forget about that answer you have become fixated on.

Finally the incubation period will allow you to focus on your environment. Just like Archimedes noticed the water overflow in the baths. You too may see something that can trigger a “Eureka!” moment.

Illumination:

If your spontaneously problem solving, your executive center now needs to delegate the work and the solution will spontaneously spring into consciousness when you least expect it. Some call this illumination, some call this insight the Greeks called this inspiration… this is what “War of art “calls angels in the abstract or the muse. Some call it creative genius… but let’s just make sure you realize, you worked hard for this in the first place.

Verification:

Once your creative solution is here now the real work begins…The verification stage and that has 3 steps: Evaluation, Elaboration, and Implementation.

Not all creative solutions are good for your particular problem. Now you need to see if it’s worth pursuing, you need to look at its strengths and weaknesses. If it’s a keeper you move forward. If its not going to work you start over from the Problem Immersion.

If you like your idea, next comes elaboration you flesh it out… like if your are writing a short story and you have an idea for the plot you can then fill in the story details in this step. At the end of the elaboration stage you should have a finished product.

And the last step implementation, that’s getting your work out there, like for a comedian or speaker like me that is shopping it at open mikes and offering to do speeches for meetings and stuff. If you don’t get it out there is will end up just being some unused work you have laying around gathering dust.

Side note to add to your learning:

I am also reading the book “Spark” and one of the things that is talk a lot about is how cardio vascular exercise helps grow new brain cells as well as releases all kinds of great chemicals for the brain and that after a vigorous half hour of physical activity your brain is primed to learn something. (Note, your brain is not very good at learning and retaining information why you’re on the tread mill, most brain activity is on vital body functions and stuff.) But the part where this comes in is after your work out, if you work on a complex task you brain is able to learn that and build stronger path ways as your learning. This is prime time, you’re a sponge and you need to take advantage of that time. So think of it this way, when you are going to rehearse your set or write you jokes, do it after a good hard 30 min cardio work out and you will be better for it.