Stand-Up Comedy Master Class at IS 62

13 May 2011, 11:12 AM by keith

The students in IS 62's "Laughter's Cool" after school theater program recently had a Master Class led by stand-up comic Dan Wilbur.  The students have continued their yearlong exploration of comedy by moving into writing and performing stand-up routines.  Dan spoke with the students about the process of writing material, different kinds of jokes and what it’s like to perform stand-up.  The group discussed how every successful joke needs to have a premise that’s something simple that everyone can understand, as well as how to find humor in life’s annoyances.  By sharing annoying or embarrassing parts of life with an audience, stand-up comics give the audience the opportunity to recognize universalexperiences that we all have in common.  The students and Dan also explored the importance of exaggeration and hyperbole in making something funny for an audience.

“They seem to be really funny kids and they understand comedy.  I bought my first stand-up album when I was 12, and it’s important for kids to learn how to laugh at themselves at this age.  Comedy helped me deal with growing up.”  said Dan.  We look forward to seeing these young comedians debut their materials on the stage soon!

“Today I learned about improv and comedy.  We learned that comedy isn’t all about jokes… it’s also about personality.  This class helped me learn more about how comics write and tell jokes.  I thought that comics just made up jokes on the spot, but now I know they work hard on writing.” – David, 6th grade

“It was really fun and entertaining.  We learned how to make jokes funnier to make people laugh.  I love working with everybody.” – Jessica, 6th grade