Standup Comedy Workshop

$185.00

Out of stock

This course will be held Mondays evenings March 3rd - April 21st 6-9pm. Location is near Normaltown and will be emailed to students.

Description

This is an 8 week workshop in standup comedy. The workshop is open to absolute beginners or those who have been writing and performing for years. Students will write, share, and revise their own original material with the goal of performing a 5 minute set at a graduation performance.

Standup is a writer's sport, meaning students will have to write (in some fashion or another) every week to continually add on and improve their material. It is also a performance art, meaning students will have to deliver this material each week to practice. The class includes exercises to generate content, improve structure, and practice delivery in addition to discussing some of the theoretical frameworks to explain WHY certain jokes work, with examples from professional comics. We will meet 6 weeks, with 2 of the 8 weeks consisting of writing material and incubating.

This class is taught by Kelly Petronis. Kelly has been performing standup for 9 years and has opened for the likes of Joe Zimmerman, Adam Newman, and Allen Strickland Williams. In 2019 he finished his book-length masters thesis which was a conversation analysis of improv comedy describing how play, repetition, and projectability work for comedic performances.

Why Standup?

In our standup classes you will learn the fundamentals of the artform: the basics of writing a joke, identifying a good premise, creating compelling setups, developing and articulating a persona, driving home punchlines, anticipating audience expectations, adding tags, and more.

Specifically, we'll focus on how to be Generous, Honest, and New.

You will learn to:

  • Become a better public speaker

  • Tell more compelling stories

  • Tighten up your writing (in all forms)

  • Develop useful memory techniques

  • Gain a deeper appreciation for comedic artforms

  • Slay at every open mic*

*Uh, depends on the audience, and what you mean by ‘slay’

Online price includes a processing fee. Cash, Venmo or check price is $175. Contact kelly.petronis@gmail.com for arrangements.