Q&A for How to Be a Comedian

Every comedian I know uses a recording app on their phone. They just turn it on before they get on stage, and then they put the phone in their pocket to record their set.

There's really no replacement for the open mic. It's the tried-and-true option for comedians who want practice telling jokes to a live audience..

Definitely. This is a great way to see the way some of the top professionals express humor.

Sometimes laughing with your audience can add to your performance. It can show your audience how much you enjoy your work and how much fun you are having. If not laughing is essential to your performance, you can always try thinking about something sad instead.

Look for open stages in your area where people can go, sign up and practice their comedy in front of people.

Sometimes jokes are not what makes a joke funny, but the voice, gestures and facial expressions are what make people laugh. Work on your appearance while telling your jokes, not just the story itself. Also, finishing the end of your joke with a word with just one syllable helps: it's been proven that short and catchy sentences tend to have a higher chance of making people laugh.

Read comedy books and watch comedy shows to get ideas on how to best deliver a joke. Check out wikiHow's suggestions for how to tell a joke for additional inspiration.

Try to have fun on the stage. As long as you are having fun, that's all that matters. Moods can be infectious. If you get nervous, your audience may get nervous; you are have fun, your audience will eventually have fun too.

What makes you laugh? If you love it, you'll be good at it. Comedy is from the heart.

If you want to stop laughing at your own jokes, work on controlling your reactions when you are practicing saying the joke. Sometimes comedians laughing at their own jokes actually makes the performance that much more hysterical.

Try to learn what they think is funny and go with that!

Think of the opposite of a thing to relate with the object or subject and make a bridge to connect the object with it. Make sure that your audience knows what you are talking about.

Try and immerse yourself into your routine. You inflection will appear much more relatable and humorous if you are emotionally in-tune with your routine. Also, get your material from things in your life or in the news or both.

A stage persona is like a character you play while doing your act. It can be more or less exactly like your real self, or it can be someone with a completely different personality altogether. It depends on what your comedy style is like.

Then turn your looks into a joke yourself and laugh along with them. If you beat them to the punchline, you'll stay on top.

Talk about what happened in your life that is real and and relate it in a funny way.

Yes, there are a lot of comedians who are on the spectrum. It does pose additional challenges, but has been done - check YouTube for some great clips on how stand-ups deal with their own experiences in dealing with autism; yours could be a good source of unique material.

Don't look at the people you get intimidated by or someone you don't know. It helps if you look at your friends while on stage. Try not to care what people think about you. You can wear whatever style of clothes you usually wear, I recommend keeping it casual.

Of course, sometimes it makes the routine better and funnier. Add sound effects to the faces or make funny gestures.

Don't try to explain it. Just move on to the next part of the routine.

If you're going to be a comedian, you should start practicing writing your own material. Comedians who steal others' jokes are known as "hacks", and are not respected within the comic community.

Maybe try explaining in a way that won’t take the fun out of the joke. Like “I hating dating apps because they may not be who they really are...” and then state the joke. If the audience is still confused, do something that will make them laugh. If that doesn’t work, just move on. Embrace failure and learn from it for next time.

Yes, Everybody can be funny. Remember comedy comes from the heart so, you need to make sure you accept what is in your heart first. There are many great gay comedians out there to listen to like Tom Allen and Stephen Amos.