(Small stand up comedy course)

ad humot
To my family
Agustina, Pedro and Milagros.

To Diego Wainstein, Natalia Carulias, Sergio Lumbardini, Hugo Fili and Martin Rocco, who were
there before everything exploded.

To Judy Carter.

To all my Colleagues, who build and push Stand Up with their brave egoism.
Thanks
Thanks a lot! to the colleagues who collaborated with their vision of Stand Up for this book. They
have honored me with their collaboration:
For Argentina: Sebastián Wainraich, Diego Wainstein, Pablo Fabregas, Fernando Sanjiao, Natalia
Carulias, Martin Rocco, Hugo Fili, Dalia Gutmann.
For Spain: Miguel Iribar, Carlos Clavijo, Marcos Mas, Manu Badenes.
For Uruguay: Laura Falero, Santiago Reyes, Rafa Cotelo, Ernesto Muñiz, Juan Pablo Olivera.
For Chile: Rodrigo Vasquez Mena, Sergio Freire, Fabrizio Copano.
Special thanks
The first paper edition was made through the “Crowdfunding” system, that is: Many people bet and
trusted me, and bought the book in advance so that it could be published.
The real heroes of Comedia Zen are:
Pia Giudice, Cecilia Guerty, Agustina Petrella, Marine dos Santos, Danilo Pelaez, Martin Zaragoza,
Nadia Chiaramoni, Pablo Bruschi, German Andres Daverio, Hugo Fili, Checho Falco, Diego
Gualda, Belu Casal, Federico Winkel, Leandro Groisman, Ricardo J. Urresti, Hector Omar Martin,
Juan Martin Bentolila, Octavio Palomino, Cuca Lujan, Nico Braun, Seba Crespo, Soledad Echague,
Daniel Bria, Mariano Potel, Raul Etcharren, Veronica Hernandez, Gabriel Grosvald, Gabriela
Wasser, Jorge Gianfrancesco, Silvia Antón, Dami Losada, Zongalo, Nora Schiavoni, Ariel Davila,
Nico Ferrari, José Otegui, Gabriel Kalenberg, Walter Gomez, David Masajnik, Carlos, Juan
Barraza, Gerardo Gardiman, Diego Feijoo, Alfredo Garcia Santillan, Gerado Bentatti, Gustavo
Budmann, Andres Rena, Silvina Marchesotti, Nicolas Barraza, Gabriel Marsili, Melina Villalba,
Christian Nigri, Matias Mendiondo, Gigo Quintenla, Eduardo de Bonis, Sergio lumbardini, Carol
Inturias, Ale Bavera, Eliana La Casa, Fernando “Chuck” Sanjiao, Luciana Demadonna, Gabriel
Gomez, Gregorio Rosello, Fer Crisci, Hernanez, Kristof Micholt, Silvia Elisabeth Burgos, Gervasio
Calderón, Fernando Puente, Giancarlo Angelini, Sofía Mora and Nestor Frenkel, Virginia M. Demo,
Connie Ballarini, Leo Camiser, Nicolas De Tracy, Pablo Valenzuela, Vicky Estrin, Maxi Gonzalez,
Tato Broda, juan Manuel Prieto, David Midanson, Leo Di Cesare, Damian Kogan, Gabriel, Fede
Rodriguez, Cristian Quiroga, Agustin Luchessi, Daniel “Lithuanian” Aglinskas and Paola Perez.

Index
Dedication
Thanks
Index
Zen Comedy
What is Laughter?

BOOK 1: Laughter in its Rational aspect

What is Stand Up Comedy?
Laws of Stand Up.

Chapter 1: Image of the Comedian.

Let's talk a little about the image.
What is my base image?
Stage Person
The elephant in the room.
Practice 1

Chapter 2: Premise.
What is a Premise?
Practice 2a
The Mother Premise.
Practice 2b
Tacit and Explicit Premises.
Requirements of a Premise.
Practice 2c Summarizing.
How do I build new Premises?

Chapter 3: Attitude.
The four basic attitudes.
Importance of attitude.
Meta-attitudes.
Practice 2d
Practice 3

Capitulo 4: Starting to create different realities.

The images.
Practice 4

Capitulo 5: The jokes.

Act Out: The first joke.

Practice 5

Capitulo 6: The Pie y Remate joke.

What makes us laugh at a joke?
Importance of Images.
The act out in the stand-up joke and punchline.

Chapter 7: Humor structures.

Humor by Exaggeration.
Practice 7a
Humor for Change of address.
Practice 7b
Pun.
Practice 7c
Humor by Comparison.
Practice 7d
Humor by Association.
Practice 7e
Humor by Out of context.
The Mix.
Practice 7f
Humor by Opposition.
Practice 7g
Combined Structures.
The Overshot.
Practice 7 hours
Final Comment on jokes.

Chapter 8: Comedy and Numbers.

Number one.
The One liner.
The number three.
The List Joke.
Numbers two and four.
Characteristics of number two.
Characteristics of the number four.
Practice 8

Chapter 9: The Material.

The set.
What is a Bit?
What is a Routine?
Structure of the Set.
Laughter curve of the Act.
How do we organize our material over time?

The Bridge.
The freedom that the Bit offers.
Practice 9

Chapter 10: Economy.

Humor Resource.
1) The surprise.
2) The identification.
3) The Absurd.
4) Repetition and Saturation.
5) The catharsis.
Special Note on resources.
Jokes built on repetition.
Call Back.
Running Gag.
Tag.
Economy and Synthesis.
How do I find the economy of a material?
Practice 10

Capitulo 11 The path of the material .

Techniques for facing the blank page.
1) The four basic attitudes.
2) Mind Mapping.
3) Automatic writing.
The path of the Material.
The discernment.
Final practice.

Capitulo 12 : The Zen of Comedy.

Appendix: Comedian's Word.

Sebastian Wainraich.
Fernando Sanjiao.
Pablo Fabregas.
Diego Wainstein.
Natalia Carulias.
Martin Rocco.
Hugo Fili.
Dalia Gutmann.
Miguel Iribar.
Carlos Clavijo.
Manu Badenes.
Marcos Mas.
Laura Falero.

Santiago Reyes.
Rafa Cotelo.
Ernesto Muñiz.
Juan Pablo Olivera.
Rodrigo Vazquez Mena.
Sergio Freire.
Fabrizio Copano.

THANK YOU

GLOSSARY
Zen Comedy
“Stand Up Comedy” is the purest form of comedy. The comedian is alone, without a net, in front of
the audience. All you have is your talent and your technique to achieve the goal of making them
laugh. All he has is... himself
What then occurs at the moment of the Act is a deep communion between the audience and the
comedian. Doing stand up comedy is relating to the audience. It's like surfing in the sea of
spectators.
This characteristic of Stand Up comedy requires an attitude of total openness to what is happening
at the moment of the Act. Leaving behind the burden we bring from our daily lives, the prejudices
about us and our material and, above all, the idea of knowing exactly how the public will react
during our Event.
The seasoned comedian presents himself to the audience with an open attitude and is prepared to
navigate the surprise of this relationship. Without judgments or preconceptions. An attitude of
listening and openness to what happens.
A Zen attitude.
What is laughter?
Pretentious question to start a stand up book… It is a mystery that only belongs to human beings.
Laughter is one of the things that differentiates us from the rest of the animals. No other animal has
a sense of humor. Why?
Let me outline a little THEORY, on which this book is based.
The sense of humor is one of the ways that man has to modify his reality. One of the ways in which
man exercises his capacity for creation. Man, through his sense of humor, creates new realities. It is
a manifestation of our rationality. Our Reason builds funny worlds or allows us to decode what is
funny in the world around us. The sense of humor is a rereading of the world through our rationality
This was born at the beginning of Homo Sapiens, when man stopped being just another animal and
learned to relate to the world through reason. Remember that in the beginning, the world was a very
dangerous place for man... Full of animals with very large teeth... The ability to rationalize was the
weapon that allowed man to survive and surpass other animals. It gave man the ability to modify his
environment. The sense of humor is one of the weapons that reason gave man, to ensure his
survival. The ability to imagine a different reality is a survival weapon.
Literally.
Laughter in front of “Something” (a concept, a situation, a character, etc.), changes its place in our
world. In reality, it changes our world towards another form, in which that “Something” goes from
being an object of Fear to an object of Laughter. By becoming an object of laughter, he loses power
in this new world we imagine.
If we can laugh at something, we can beat it.
When we laugh at something, what we laugh at loses gravity. Laughing at something allows us to
imagine a world where what we have laughed at is not powerful. Therefore... we have already
defeated it or we can defeat it. The object we laugh at no longer has power over us.
That unique capacity that man has, Laughter, has two components:
A RATIONAL component and an ENERGY component.
The rational component gives us the tools to imagine that new reality in which the object of our
attention becomes an object of laughter. The rational allows us to build this new world. It allows us
to understand that we can overcome the topic we laugh at. If we laugh at something it is because we
have power over it, it is because it is not as powerful as it seemed.
The energetic component charges us with energy to overcome those we laugh at. Laughter not only
allows us to understand that we can overcome an issue, but it also charges us with energy to be able
to do so. Laughter and energy are directly related. Not only that, but laughter also works as a
regulator of our energy. When we are low on energy it helps us charge and when we are high on
energy it helps us discharge it.
This is one explanation for the very common phenomenon of jokes at wakes. A wake is an
environment where the most concrete enemy of man (Death) is present. The atmosphere is charged
with fear, pain and the memory of our mortality. It is not strange that one way to defeat that enemy
is to make jokes. The moment we laugh, we have defeated death and raised our energy level to face
that hostile environment.
But also... Have you not found yourself laughing for anything or for no apparent reason, just
because you had a good day? When we feel happy we are charged with energy, that excess energy
manifests itself in the form of easy laughter. Laughter is one of the forms that a human being's
energy takes to manifest itself.
IN SUMMARY:
A sense of humor is a way to generate changes in my reality.
Laughter gives power to those who laugh.
It has two aspects that are always present: a rational aspect and an energetic aspect. To do Stand up
we have to take both components into account.
The rational component is more present in the construction of the material. How do I build that
world so that my object of attention is funny?
The energetic component is more present in the execution of my material. How do I execute my
material so that it causes laughter?
But both components are always present in the act of laughing. The structure and the way I build my
material has an implicit energetic component. And the execution of the material has an implicit
rational component.
 BOOK 1

“Laughter in its Rational aspect”

Humor Technique.
What is Stand up Comedy?
Basically it is a style of comedy in which the comedian alone on stage makes the audience laugh.
So simple and so difficult. Let's look at some common questions about Stand Up: Can the
Comedian wear costumes or wigs?
Yeah.
Can you use props?
Yeah.
Can he sing, dance, do magic, etc.?
Yeah.
Can you make a Character?
He is ALWAYS playing a Character. We call it Stage Persona, a way of calling our Character.
The idea of doing Stand up Comedy has nothing to do with a guy standing on stage, without any
props or wig or character. It does not go through the scenic or the costumes or the resources used.
It's something else. The translation of “Stand up” is not just “On your feet” as most people believe.
That is the literal translation. In the United States, a 'Stand up guy' is an upright guy who is not
afraid to face circumstances. Stand up also has that meaning: something frontal, something pure.
Stand up Comedy could also be translated: “Comedy from the front” or “Pure Comedy”. For
Americans, doing stand up comedy is doing comedy without intermediaries between you and the
audience. It has to do with the idea of doing Comedy in its purest state. Here and now, alone and
without a network.
So... Is it a one-man theater?
No. IT IS NOT THEATER. It is not a theater genre, it is a style of comedy that can be done in
various media such as: theater, cinema, radio, television, café concert, private parties, etc...
Laws of Stand up
To do Stand Up Comedy, only four laws must be followed:

1) The comedian is alone.

2) The ultimate goal is laughter.
3) There is no fourth wall,
4) The time is here and now
Let's look at these four laws a little:

The comedian is alone. It's easy, comedy performed by one person is called “Stand up”. When there
are two people, it is called a Duo or Comedy Step

The ultimate goal is laughter. It seems obvious, but it is not. Many people use Stand up as a way to:
do therapy, confess, educate or do politics. The goal in stand up comedy is always to make people
laugh... I can do it: doing therapy, confessing, educating, doing politics or whatever I want.

There is no fourth wall. This is a fundamental quality of stand up comedy. There is no artificial
separation between comedian and audience. Everything the comedian says he says to the audience,
what the comedian does he does to the audience. The comedian is aware of the presence of the
audience and his act is influenced by his relationship with it.

The time is Here and Now. This is because since there is no fourth wall, the viewer's time and the
comedian's time are the same. It may happen in an imaginary time (say the 15th century in France)
but in that case comic and public are in the same time and space. Everything that happens, happens
in real time and for the first time in front of the public. The public witnesses and participates in a
stand-up act.
The better a stand up comedian is, the more it seems like he is improvising, it seems like what he
says and does is something that occurred to him for the first time in front of that audience.
 Chapter 1

Image of the Comedian

The image is one of the essential characteristics that the comedian has to manage. The first thing the
public perceives about the comedian is his image. It's the first message. Even before he says his first
word, the public has already received a message from the comedian through his image. More
importantly, the comedian's material can be supported or boycotted by the image the comedian uses
to display it.
Let's talk a little about the image
We move in a world that is governed by images. We live judging and prejudging people by the
images we receive of them. It's not a question of being a better or worse person, it's just that way.
We all do it. You have to understand something, the image you give is not who you are, but it is
how you are perceived.
The image of a person is an interesting paradox:
1) On the one hand... it is something extremely powerful, as I have already said, everything we say
or do is filtered through the image we give when saying or doing it.
2) On the other hand... it is one of the silliest and easiest things to modify. For example, a different
haircut, a pair of glasses, clothing, body posture, a well-placed phrase, tone of voice, etc... are all
things that modify our image.
Furthermore, the image also changes over time and depending on the context of the society in
which it is presented.
A few years ago a person with baldness was a bald person and the burden of the image was that of a
rather serious person. He gave off the air of an older man, with not much success with women.
Nowadays, depending on the clothing and the way in which he wears his baldness, the image can be
that of a fashionable, modern man with great success with women. So much so that many young
people shave their hair to be “cool.”
In certain societies, specifically Western consumer societies, fatness is a sign of a person with low
self-esteem, who does not take care of themselves and has little success with women. In other less
developed societies or without the obsession with consumption, fatness is a symbol of a man who
enjoys the pleasures of life, powerful and therefore very successful with women.
In short: the image is something superficial and easily modified but it defines the way we are
perceived and everything we say and do is filtered by it.

What is my base image?

The base Image is the image with which we move in society in general. It is the image with which
we feel most comfortable, the one we use in our daily lives. It is not the one that those who know us
have about us and much less the one that we show in the workplace (For example in front of a boss
or a client) And I assure you that it is not who we are or believe we are. It's the way we show
ourselves in general.
The comedian must overcome the bondage of the image, understand that it is a tool to make people
laugh. You can modify your image or take advantage of it. What you cannot do is not know it or
deny that the image it gives is directly related to the effect that the material has. That is one of the
first questions that the comedian has to ask himself.
What is my base image?
It is directly linked to the stage person or character that the comedian is going to encounter. You
cannot find your own stage persona if you do not know what the base image is from which you
start. To get somewhere we have to know where we are starting from.
IMPORTANT: You can't be funny if you are afraid of ridicule.
One of the reasons for the fear of ridicule is the idea that: “The image I give defines who I am.”
This for a comedian is totally false. The image I give is one of my tools to make people laugh.
No more no less.
Stage Person
In stand up do you play a character?
Yeah.
It's called Stage Persona.
The stage persona is the character that the comedian plays to convey his material. It is almost always
a very subtle character, as if it were a very thin glove that one places on the entire body. So, so
subtle, it seems like I'm not playing a character. The better comedian I am, the more true everything
that happens to me on stage seems. People believe that everything I say really happens to me or
happened to me. But I'm always playing a character. The character that best suits me so that people
laugh with my material. So simple and so difficult. It is a character made with real parts of my
personality, but chosen and exacerbated.
Understand: WOODY ALLEN IS NOT A MANIATIC AND COWARDLY INTELLECTUAL AS
PRESENTED IN HIS COMEDY. He is an intelligent comedian with some neuroses, cleverly
exacerbated to make him laugh. THE LARRY DAVID FROM “CURB YOUR ENTHUSIASM” IS
NOT LARRY DAVID. THE JERRY SEINFELD OF “SEINFELD” IS NOT JERRY SEINFELD.
They are very talented comedians who understand the image they give and use it to build a
Character.

To find my stage persona I first have to know:

1) The image I give.
2) The material I want to make.

Depending on these two things:

1) I modify the image I give, to bring it closer to the image that suits me for the material I want to
make.
2) I choose and exacerbate the characteristics of my personality that best suit me for the material I
want to make.

Don't rush or obsess: Finding one's true stage persona takes a lot of scenery. It's a matter of trial and
error. We will see this concept in more depth in the second book: “THE ENERGY OF HUMOR”
when we talk about STYLE. Stage Person and Style go hand in hand,
For now, enjoy exploring different ways to manifest. I try different versions of myself until I find
the one I REALLY FEEL COMFORTABLE with. Do not seek to find the Stage Persona as if it
were a trophy. I know many new comics who become obsessed with finding a truly original stage
persona, violently shape-shifting on stage without enjoyment. You cannot find the stage persona if
you are not comfortable on stage. Like almost everything in life, for others to enjoy it, you first have
to enjoy it. IMPORTANT: While you are on the road: “Enjoy the ride.”
The elephant in the room

Americans call the elephant in the room something that is present in a very obvious way, but is not
talked about. It is as if one were having tea with friends in the living room and there was an elephant
sitting between them. If I try to deny its presence, it will become more and more evident. Let's
imagine that I am a very modest host and I want to ignore the presence of the elephant, resorting to
touching on increasingly interesting topics so as not to talk about it. Eventually someone will
interrupt the conversation shouting: - But what's the matter, no one talks about the elephant!!!! - Not
naming the elephant makes it grow bigger and bigger.
Sometimes the comedian can carry an Elephant in his image. A characteristic or quality so strong
and evident that it cannot be ignored. Denying the presence of the elephant in the room is death in
comedy.
If I have an image with some very evident quality, it is likely that while I am making jokes the
public is thinking about that quality of my image that is so evident. The elephant in the room doesn't
allow you to listen to me.

The Elephant of the PHYSICAL IMAGE:

If you have any physical quality that exceeds the average, it can function as an “Elephant in the
living room.” Remember that the FIRST IMAGE is the FIRST MESSAGE we give to viewers.
But it must REALLY be a physical quality that exceeds the average: a VERY big nose, a VERY fat
man, VERY short, VERY… VERY… VERY… VERY…

Otherwise it is just a part of your stage Persona, but it is NOT an Elephant.

Let's understand what an Elephant is.
Imagine a comedian who is missing both arms: He stands in front of the audience and begins to
make his material with jokes about the quality of television. I bet you that the audience, instead of
listening to what the comedian says, will be thinking: - Poor thing, he's missing his arms. How
would it have been? What will your life be like? - Nobody listens to him.
A good comedian uses the lack of arms to his advantage. Open with that topic and remove the
elephant from the room.
HE DOESN'T DENY IT, HE USES IT.
He uses jokes about not having arms to establish his Stage Persona.
He sets the rules of the game with the jokes he CHOSE to make about his condition. With this, the
elephant disappears and the spectators SEE the IMAGE that the comedian has DEFINED WITH
HIS JOKES. Once the elephant is gone and the Stage Persona is established, he makes the jokes he
wants about television and gets the reaction he's looking for.
I assure you that a good comedian can overcome and use an image as strong as this, with two or
three jokes at most.
Many elephants depend on the audience and the context in which I am:

The foreign elephant.

Being a foreigner is very obvious, even if I speak the language of the country I am in well, my
accent is likely to distract the public. We don't want the audience to be thinking while we're telling
jokes: where is this guy from?
Two or three jokes about my country of origin and the fact that we are in the country where we are
performing and goodbye elephant.

The famous elephant.

Many of us don't have this problem but it is an elephant and I must mention it. When one has a
strong public image (television or radio celebrity, athlete, politician, etc.) that public image acts like
an elephant. People expect from us material in line with the public image that has been established.
If we want to make a different Stage Persona we must kill the elephant with the first two or three
jokes, if not, get on the elephant and enjoy the ride.

There are countless elephants

As many as there are prejudices in a society and context. Depending on the context in which I am,
they can be elephants: gender, race, physical qualities, religion, sexual preference, clothing
preferences, hair color, football preferences (if known), etc.…
In short, the image is something as superficial and stupid as the countless elephants it can create. A
comedian knows this, uses the image as a tool and makes the biggest elephant dance.

In short: What do I have to do with the Elephant?

The first and most important thing is to NAME IT.. The power of the Elephant over the comedian
exists only if it is ignored, if it is named it is automatically domesticated. The elephant is named in
the first material I make. This is: The first two or three jokes. Once I have named it I can make three
decisions:
1) Kill it: I make those first two or three jokes as if to say: - Yes, I know I'm very fat, I'm aware of it
and I already said it, now listen to what I have to say about television. 2)Get on and enjoy the ride:
A well-used elephant can give me a ride. It is a very powerful weapon to make people laugh. I don't
think “El Gordo Porcel” would have had a great career if he had been “The Slightly Overweight
Porcel.”
3)Sometimes get up and sometimes get off. I make jokes with my fatness, I cut and make jokes with
the TV, I come back and finish with the fatness and the TV.

In summary :
If you have an ELEPHANT, any decision you make is well made. You can get on it, you can kill it,
you can use it whenever you want and have it grazing. The Elephant is not a problem, it is a tool
(NOTE: For a comedian, absolutely everything is a tool to make people laugh). What you have to do
is name it as soon as you can. The only possible mistake you can make is to IGNORE IT.
Practice 1

With the image with which you feel most comfortable, your base image, find 5 people with whom
you do not have any type of relationship and ask them:
- I'm doing an exercise for a course and I have to ask you: What image do I give you? If you had to
define me with a phrase: What would you say? -

It is important that you do not have any type of relationship of trust or power.
That is: Obviously they cannot be friends or family. Nor can they be people who depend on you or
are in charge of you at work. This power relationship colors the response.
It could be: Some co-worker with whom you do not have a very direct relationship or power
relationship. Some friend from the gym, club, school, course, etc... with whom you are not friends
or have not previously chatted. The newsstand , grocer, etc... in your neighborhood with whom you
don't have a chatting relationship. Some stranger you stop on the street.

In a notebook write down the place and circumstances in which you asked the question, the
characteristics of the person you asked and the answer. Try to find a common factor in all the
answers. That common factor is a real characteristic of your image.
Try to define it with a phrase.
The rest are different readings that the observer puts. It is interesting that you notice that your image
also changes depending on the Observer.

Change your image. Change your hair, your way of dressing, your body posture.
Repeat the exercise. Notice how the answers change.
This exercise is interesting to discover the common points that your Image has and also to discover
how little you can change an image.

After exploring this exercise several times you will have a pretty good idea about your image and
how you can modify it.
You will also have learned something more about the audience you want to make laugh...
 Episode 2

Premise
The secret of the rational aspect of laughter is the PREMISE.
Every joke is based on a premise
What is a Premise?
It is a statement of reality. An idea or concept that shapes a worldview.
What's more: Our reading of reality is based on premises that we have incorporated throughout our
lives. ALL our reading of reality. Absolutely everything. We see the world around us. through the
premises that guide us. The premises we have acquired shape our world.

Let's understand the force of a premise.

It is a statement that we take as true, to which we give a truth value. They are the internal truths we
live with. Many of these premises with which we see life come from our experience with reality.
For example: He who has been burned, when he sees fire he fears it. Its premise is: Fire is
dangerous because it hurts.
Other premises have been taught to us in our social group.
For example: In a Western and Christian society, monogamy is seen as a virtue. The premise is:
When you love someone you must be sexually faithful to them for life. In other societies,
monogamy is not seen as a virtue. The premise is: You can have multiple partners, as long as you
can give them the attention and care they deserve.
Both social groups decode reality with different premises. They have different realities. The
premises define reality for a group of belonging.
In Argentina there is a prejudice that Galicians are people of little enlightenment. All Galician
jokes are based on the Premise: Galicians are gross . Whenever we laugh at a Gallegos joke we
laugh at how stupid they are. The different jokes about Galicians are different ways in which it is
shown that: “Galicians are brutal.” Galician jokes are different ways of confirming the Premise that
we know.
Other premises based on prejudices are: Blondes are stupid. Mothers-in-law are evil. Jews are
stingy. Lawyers are dishonest. etc.…
Prejudices are very strong premises for humor.
Prejudices are always premises, but premises do not have to be prejudices. A new observation of
reality necessarily generates a premise and this does not have to be a prejudice.

The Stand Up comedian is a creator of new premises. Or someone who knows how to recreate the
old ones. As an example, let's look at some of my material about the subways:
(To the public) Are you comfortable? They are sitting.
They come from their houses where they sit most of the time.
Most of you work sitting down.
You get on the subway or the bondi and all you want is to sit down!!
You don't care about anything else.
You go up standing up!, thinking:
(Obsessed) -I have to sit down, I have to sit down... I have to sit down!-
You were born to sit!!!!
From here a routine continues where I exaggerate and act out everything one does and thinks when
one wants to sit in transport and can't find a place.
All the humor in this routine, what makes people laugh, is in the absurd and exaggerated way in
which the premise appears and is fulfilled: Man was born to sit.
This premise is NOT a prejudice, it is a new look at man. It shows us a new way of reality.
This is what premises do, for better or worse, they shape the reality in which we move.
How does the premise work in the joke?
The premise is an affirmation of reality that is confirmed through humor.
WHENEVER WE LAUGH AT A JOKE WE ARE LAUGHING AT A PREMISE THAT IS
CONFIRMED.
I repeat in another way: When we laugh at a joke we are really laughing at the PREMISE that the
joke SHOWS.
Always?
Yeah.
ALWAYS.
I did not discover this, it was studied by Freud and other great thinkers and has been used in
advertising for many years.
Why do you think humor in advertising is so fashionable? Because the best way to convey an idea
is through a joke. When we laugh at a joke, we laugh at the idea it contains. All Galician jokes
cause laughter because the punchline confirms the premise: All Galicians are brutes . What's more:
ALL Gallegos' jokes are just DIFFERENT WAYS OF SHOWING that “ Galicians are brutal .”
All blonde jokes are different ways of saying: “ Blondes are dumb .” All mother-in-law jokes are
different ways of saying: “ Mothers-in-law are bad,” etc.

A joke is always a particular way of saying an idea, A PREMISE.

Do we have to agree with the PREMISE that a joke contains to make us laugh? NO.
Not always.
WE HAVE TO FIND OUT HOW THE JOKE CONFIRMS A PREMISE. That's what makes us
funny. Discover the premise and the way the joke confirms it.
That's why sometimes we don't understand a joke. Because we don't discover what premise is
fulfilled with the joke. Someone has to come and explain to us what Premise contains the joke or
how the Premise was confirmed,
It's something like this:
Man 1
“- A Galician says to another: Hey Manolo, give me another shampoo!-
- But there is one there in the bathroom._
- Yes man, but this is for dry hair and I have already wet it.” Man 2
- I didn't understand the joke
The joke is always explained by explaining the Premise.
- Didn't you notice? (Explains the premise) The Galician is so rude that he thought the shampoo
could only be used on dry hair and he had wet it.
IT'S LIKE THIS, WHEN WE LAUGH AT A JOKE WE ALWAYS LAUGH AT THE PREMISE
IT CONTAINS.
PRACTICE 2a

1) Write Three things you love about yourself and why.

2) Write Three things you hate about yourself and why,
3) Write Three things you love about your family and why.
4) Write Three things you hate about your family and why. Write down Three
5) things you love about couples and why. Write Three things you hate about
6) couples and why. Write Three things you love about your society and why.
7) Write Three things you hate about your society and why.
8)

Try to make the reason for your love/hate clear.

Try to summarize it in one sentence.
Congratulations!! You are beginning to find the premises with which you operate in your life.
The Mother Premise
Is all humor based on a confirmed premise?
Yes, 100% of the time.
When we laugh at a cake or someone who steps on a banana and falls or a face, do we also laugh at
a premise that is fulfilled?
Yeah
We laugh at the Mother Premise.
The Mother Premise is the key to laughter as a survival mechanism. All the premises and all the
humor derive from the Mother Premise.
What is the Mother Premise?
It is an idea that was formed in man at the beginning of his existence. It is the First Idea that gives
humor its essential characteristic of “Survival Weapon”.
The power that gave man the sense of humor.
How is this?

I imagine that the first joke was born in Prehistory.

I guess a man was in the steppe when he came across a mammoth . The animal came at him and
just when he was about to run over it he tripped, breaking his neck. The Man began to laugh at the
animal's stupidity. He carried part of his meat and ran to tell his people. While everyone ate in front
of the fire, they laughed at the poor animal. The man told and showed how clumsy and stupid the
Mammoth had been when he fell. That was the first joke and the first act of Stand Up.
At that moment the first comedian installed the Premise: The Mammoth is clumsy. And therefore its
natural conclusion: If the Mammoth is clumsy, I have power over the Mammoth .
FROM THAT MOMENT THE MAMMOTH WAS NOT AFRAID OF THE MAN AGAIN WHEN
HE WAS GOING TO HUNT HIM.

What I mean by this?

As I have already said: We can only laugh at what we have overcome. When we laugh at something
we have power over what we laugh at. Aren't the best jokes in the office about the Boss? By making
those jokes we feel power over the one who has power over us every day. If I can imagine a reality
where I have power over the one who oppresses me, then maybe I can construct that reality. That's
why dictatorships always imprison comedians. Whatever situation I find myself in, if I can laugh at
it, I have power over it.

So let's go to the Mother Premise, the one that has created all the other premises and the one that is
behind all the premises that exist, the one that is always fulfilled when I laugh.
This is:
I HAVE POWER OVER….
Or its various forms:
I am superior to…
I have surpassed…
This is the Mother Premise, all premises derive from It.

Again: THE POWER IS ALWAYS IN THE ONE WHO LAUGHES.

Remember in your childhood...
That schoolmate who had a physical defect or stood out from normal was the object of
LAUGHTER. His classmates made fun of him as a way of exercising their power OVER HIM.
Faced with this, the Burlado had two options:
1) The violence. Primitive way of survival.
2) Laugh at that defect or situation. By doing this the defect or situation was NEUTRALIZED. If I
laugh at my defect, I have power over my defect. Therefore others have NO power over me. The
mockery has no effect.
So rejoice: The more difficult your childhood was, the more talent you have for comedy... Actually,
you probably already know what I'm trying to explain...

THEREFORE: “ The Galicians are brutes” comes from the Mother Premise: “ We (My group of
belonging) have power over the Galicians ”… because they are brutes.
“ Blondes are stupid ” comes from the Mother Premise: “ We (My group of belonging) have power
over blondes ”… because they are stupid.
And so with all the Premises.

All Premises derive from the MOTHER PREMISE: I HAVE POWER OVER…

The slap in the face, what premise does it have?

It is obvious: the one who receives the slap is an idiot , I do not receive it therefore: " I have power
over the idiot who received the pie ." (Mother Premise)
The one who steps on a banana is the same case.
And the one who makes a pout or a funny face? A funny face is always a silly face, therefore the
one who makes a funny face shows a silly part of himself: “ I have power over him. ” (Mother
Premise).
Whenever we don't find the Premise, we laugh at the Mother Premise.
ALWAYS BEHIND EVERY PREMISE IS THE MOTHER PREMISE.

PRACTICE 2b

Review the premises you found in Practice 2.

Notice that having discovered and named the things you love and hate in your life gives you a little
more power over them.
Tacit and Explicit Premises
Most of the premises are installed in a membership group. They define a certain society. They are
in the collective unconscious of this society. Prejudices are good examples: Blondes are dumb .
Galicians are brutal. Mothers-in-law are witches. Etc.. These premises do not need to be named or
installed. They are Tacitas.

When I create a new premise that is not installed in a society, I have to install it or make it explicit.
It is important that the premise is clear for the joke to work. These are the Explicit premises.

Whenever I change the group I belong to, I have to be sure that the premises that I consider tacit are
installed in the collective unconscious of the group to which I am addressing, if not, I must Install it
or not make the joke. Whenever there is humor there is a Premise that is confirmed: It can be Tacit,
when I don't have to say it because it is in the collective Unconscious of a group. It can be Explicit,
when it is new and I have to INSTALL IT.
It is very important that when I work with an Explicit Premise that I install it correctly so that my
joke works.
Premise Requirements
The Premises must be:
Simple and clear, Universal and True.

Simple and Clear: It is obvious, a premise should leave no doubt about what it says and should be
as synthetic as possible.
Let's analyze “ Blondes are dumb ”: It leaves no doubt and is simple. If I formulated it in the
following way: " Women who have light hair tend to have an easier life due to the fascination that
the tone of their hair exerts on men in certain societies, which means that they often do not
generate a ability to resolve conflicts that often put them at a disadvantage compared to those
women who do not have hair of the same shade .” I would be saying the same thing but in a
complicated and boring way. This is wrong, not only do I run the risk of not being understood but
also the audience may fall asleep before I finish saying it.
You always have to find the clearest and most synthetic way to say the premise I want to say. In
addition to this being important so that the premise is understood when I say it, it is very important
so that I really understand what I am saying... One of the most common defects in beginning
comedians is not knowing what they are really saying.
Universals : The concept of Universal in Humor is not that the entire Universe understands it.
Universal means: That it is understood by the group to which it is directed. If I make jokes about
Gallegos in Argentina or Uruguay where the premise: Gallegos are gross is shared, these jokes will
cause laughter. But if I make the same jokes in the United States where that premise does not exist
and they don't even know what a Galician is, those jokes are not going to work. In the United States
there is the premise: Poles are brutes . In that case I have to change the jokes from Galician to
Polish and thus make the Universal Premise. I always have to be sure that the premises I use are
Universal

True: You have to understand the concept of truth in humor. It is not the absolute truth. It is not the
moral truth. It is not the truth of a society. It is not divine truth. In short: it is NOT the truth. It is a
Sophist truth. That is: It is a logical statement that is not contradicted in the jokes that follow it.
Any premise can be true if the jokes that support it confirm it. It is obvious that I do not believe
that: “ The Gallegos are brutes .” I do not consider it a TRUTH. But this is True if the jokes that
support it confirm it. If not, I have a false premise, whatever it may be.
The premise: " My grandmother gets very angry when she plays golf on the moon ." Is it a true
premise?
It may be, if the jokes that follow it confirm it. This is the basis of absurd humor. A series of
premises that at first glance seem illogical, but that make up a valid logical structure. And therefore
within the laws of humor: TRUE.
BEWARE: Many beginning comedians deny their premises with the jokes that follow them, thus
constructing false premises.
Another form of false premise is believing that one is using an tacit premise in a certain group of
membership when this is not the case. In that case the lack of Universality makes a false premise.

NOTE:
To understand the importance of the universality of a Premise and how this influences the
TRUTH, let's see this joke:

Two friends chatting in a bar:

- I've been married for 17 years, and I still love the same woman. Isn't it wonderful? -
- Yes, but try not to let your wife know her! –

What is the premise?

“ There is NO love in marriage ” or “ Marriage is bad .”
IT'S A TACIT PREMISE, RIGHT?
If you laughed, surely yes. But…
Now imagine the same joke told in front of an ultra-Christian and conservative audience. I'm not
sure there would be laughter, there would surely be disapproval and silence. This is because they do
not share the premise, they disprove it. The PREMISE that appears is: “ I am an adulterer and I
like it. ” There is NO Tacit Premise.
Practice2 c

Review the premises that you found in practice 2, see if:

Are they simple and clear?
If not, try to make them as simple and clear as possible, one sentence should summarize the idea.
Are they universal?
Does the person you are going to tell it to understand them or do you need to explain the context?
Are they true?
In this case, what matters is whether the speech that will accompany these Premises will agree
with them or deny them.
SUMMARIZING

• Man reads the world and life through Premises, these build the reality in which he
lives.
• Every joke is based on a Premise.
• The comedian creates new premises and uses existing ones.
• When I laugh, I laugh at the way the Premise is confirmed
• The more original the way it appears, the more intelligent the humor. But I always
laugh at the same thing: The Premise that appears.
• Behind every premise is the Mother Premise: I have power over…

HOW DO I BUILD NEW PREMISES?

Ah my friend before that, you have to know WHAT builds a premise. A premise is a reading of
reality. Every reading of reality is done from a POINT OF VIEW. The point of view in Stand Up is
called ATTITUDE.
 Chapter 3

Attitude
Every Premise is born from a POINT OF VIEW of reality.
Reality comes into existence from a reading that I make from a subjective position, from a Point of
View.
IF SOMETHING IS INDIFFERENT TO ME, I HAVE NO PREMISE ABOUT THAT.
To have a Premise about an Issue, I have to take a position on it. The comedian, through a joke, is
always giving his opinion and defining reality. In Stand Up the POV is called ATTITUDE.

A clear attitude about reality always gives me a premise.

Let's see what this is like with a more than well-known but still valid example: “The glass of water
is half full.”

Let's see the different Premises that a different ATTITUDE will give us:
Pessimistic Attitude: “ The glass is half empty ” (Pessimistic Premise).
Optimistic Attitude: “ The glass is half full ” (Optimistic Premise)
We can create more original premises with different attitudes:
Paranoid Attitude: “ Someone is drinking my water. ”
Winning Attitude: “ Whenever I'm thirsty I find what I need. ”
Nonconformist Attitude: “ Life always gives me less than what I want. ”

To find premises about reality we first have to have a clear attitude about reality.
THEME + ATTITUDE = PREMISE
Theme (Glass of water) + Attitude (Paranoia) = Premise (Someone is drinking my water.)

THE FOUR BASIC ATTITUDES

There are infinite attitudes, as many as there are tonalities and subtleties the comedian can create.
But... it is important that the comedian has a clear and powerful attitude in order to create a good
premise. My teacher, Judy Carter, taught me four attitudes that always lead us to success in comedy.

Are they the only ones used in Stand Up?

NO!
I repeat: NO! These are 4 of the infinite attitudes that the comedian can use.
These 4 are known to be powerful engines for comedy, but the most experienced comedian finds
those own attitudes that work best for him.

The four basic attitudes are:

•IT'S STUPID.
•IS RARE.
•IT'S HARD.
•I'M SCARED OF IT.
These attitudes applied to any Topic are excellent engines for the creation of Premises.

How are they used?

Faced with a topic, the comedian takes one of these 4 basic attitudes and develops it from the
chosen attitude.
It is important to feel the emotion that the attitude emanates and go through the topic without
stopping or judging what arises. I let myself be carried away by that attitude and explore the topic.
Once one feels that the topic has been sufficiently explored with that attitude, I stop and analyze the
premises that may have appeared. Never judge or analyze when going through a Topic and
especially do not try to be funny. There will be time for that!! This is time to let go of the attitude I
have chosen to approach a topic.

As an example, let's take our old theme of “Glass with water half full” and apply the 4 basic
attitudes to it:

It's stupid: The example of the half-full glass of water is stupid because when you're thirsty you're
not thinking if it's half full or half empty. I don't believe that a guy who comes from exploring the
desert will stop in front of a glass of water and say: AHA!!!!! A glass of water half full, will it be
good luck or bad luck? .

It's strange: A half-full glass of water is strange because it forces me into a philosophical discussion
with something as simple as water. It paralyzes me, I forget whether I'm thirsty or not and stop to
wonder about the subtleties of the human psyche. Is it half full or half empty? I believe that Freud
wrote his treatise on Psychology one night when he went to the kitchen in slippers and found a half-
full glass on the counter.

It's difficult: It's difficult to find yourself with a half-full glass because I don't know if it's going to
be enough to quench my thirst. But on the other hand, the promise of turning it off gives me
enormous pleasure. Should I take it and face the reality that it may not be enough or should I stop
and revel in the possibility of quenching my thirst? I have wasted many hours of my life in silent
contemplation of the possibilities of a half-full glass. As you can see, I don't have a very interesting
life.

It scares me: A half-full glass of water scares me because I don't remember why it's half-full. Is it
because I already took the other half? Could it be that my grandfather uses it to clean his teeth?
Why do I think this, if I live alone? Maybe someone else is living in my house and I don't know it?
Will I have Alzheimer's and will I fill it? My God! , free me from this glass of water!!!

NOTE: Notice that each of these attitudes opens up a world of different possibilities and premises to
build Humor.

How does this technique work?

THEME + ATTITUDE = PREMISE

I take the topic (Glass of water) and apply an attitude to it (It's stupid) and then the keyword
BECAUSE (It works as a trigger). Going through the Why leads me to explore the topic and find
the different premises. A clear attitude gives me several premises. In these examples I have found
one in each, but if I continued I would have found several more.

PREMISES FOUND:

It's stupid: The example of the glass of water is stupid because when you're thirsty you're not
thinking if it's half full or half empty .

It's strange : A half-full glass of water is strange because it forces me into a philosophical
discussion with something as simple as water.

It's difficult: It's difficult to find myself with a half-full glass because it paralyzes me. (Note that this
is the real premise that appeared in the exercise, although I found it in a later analysis)

It scares me: A half-full glass of water scares me because it makes me paranoid. (Same case as the
previous one, this is the true form of the premise that triggers the material)

REMEMBER THAT THE PREMISES MUST BE SYNTHETIC!!!

The more synthetically I can define my premises, the easier it is for me to work with them and the
more powerful material I will be able to generate.

IMPORTANCE OF ATTITUDE
Attitude is the point of view from which we see reality, but it is much more than that. Remember
that Stand Up is a style of comedy to be performed in front of an audience. The way I convey the
material is as important as the material itself.

Attitude is important on 3 levels:

Build the material. As we have seen, to develop a topic and find the premises it is essential to have a
clear and powerful attitude.

Transmit the material. The attitude that builds a material is the key to transmitting that material. It is
the feeling about the subject that will guide my action.

He saves my life on stage. Many times a clear and powerful attitude will hide bad material. (I don't
know what he said, but he said it very well!)

META-ATTITUDES
There are two attitudes that I call Meta-attitudes: These are LOVE and HATE.

Many comedians consider them attitudes. THEY ARE NOT. Nobody Loves or Hates in the
abstract. LOVE
BECAUSE IT'S STUPID, WEIRD, DIFFICULT, IT SCARY ME, ETC..
The same with Hate. Love and Hate function as a motor for other attitudes, the true attitudes that
build the material.

They are great for enhancing attitudes, but they are not attitudes.
They also work very well for making material by opposition: I love something that makes me sick
and I work on humor by opposition and vice versa.

Don't be confused, when you build a material from Love or Hate, you are always building it from
another attitude that is hidden behind.
To really shine the material I must know what the hidden attitude is that built it.

Remember: The worst sin of a comedian is not knowing what he is saying.

2d practice

Review the premises you found in Practice 2.

They are going to discover that everything they love or hate is for a reason.
They love because it is silly, stupid, strange, because it gives them fear, pleasure, etc...
The same for Hate.
Reformulate the Premises so that the attitude that created them is clearer.
Practice 3
Choose any Theme without thinking too much. Look for something you see around you, something
you hear or the first thing you think of. You can choose a topic you want to play. Or something that
they have already touched on in the previous Practice. Anything. Choose a TOPIC.

Apply the 4 attitudes and let yourself be carried away by what arises.
Remember that the key is: THEME + ATTITUDE = PREMISE.

Which translates as:

Such a thing (TOPIC) is stupid BECAUSE…..
Such a thing is strange BECAUSE….
Such a thing is difficult BECAUSE…
Such a thing scares me BECAUSE...

The word BECAUSE is the trigger that pushes me to develop a topic from Attitude.

Once you have developed the topic, analyze what you have written to see what premises have
emerged.
Each attitude will give you at least one Premise.
Look for how to formulate it in a way that is as synthetic and simple as possible. Save those
Premises, they will be gold dust for the future.

Congratulations! You are building new views on reality.

 Chapter 4

Starting to create different realities

As I explained before, humor is a new way of reading reality. It is the ability to create new
worlds where reality is funny. To create these worlds and, more importantly, transmit them to
others we have to understand how to build them.
If you have to describe a world, how would you describe it?
With words, drawings, signs, faces, screams, etc.
All the paraphernalia at your disposal to describe the IMAGES that build your world.
Whenever we transmit something, we are transmitting an IMAGE.
This deserves a deeper treatment...
THE IMAGES
Everything we say is translated into an image in our brain.
A description is an image.
A character is an image.
This is easy to understand…
But also: An event is an image.
Think, if I say: - A train crash -
This has automatically generated an image in your mind
It is not like this?
But also: A concept is an image. An idea is an image.
We go slowly and in parts:
Every concept produces an image. Suppose that in a joke I need to say that I am going to travel by
sea.
If I say Boat I generate an image.
If I say BOAT, the word boat generates an image.
If I say SAILBOAT, the word sailboat generates another image.
The same thing happens with the word BOAT.
Boat, sailboat and ship could be defined as: “A means of moving through the water.” Are they the
same?
Is it the same to use any of these words to construct the joke?
No.
Because?
Because these three words are three different concepts and:
EVERY CONCEPT GENERATES AN IMAGE AND EVERY IMAGE HIDES A BURDEN.
In summary: They are three words that produce three different concepts, that produce three different
images with three different charges.

Let's analyze the charge of these words:

BOTE: It gives me an idea of something small, it gives me a feeling of loneliness, of effort, even
poverty, almost the idea of a loser, visually it is something very clear and defined: at water level, in
contact with water, outdoors, it can give me a feeling of cold, etc.

SAILBOAT: It gives me an idea of something medium, it gives me a feeling of freedom, speed,

wealth, it defines me as a winner, sexual, romantic conquest, Visually it gives me a stylized image,
there may be a blonde sunbathing on the deck, feeling of the sun on my face, the wind blowing my
hair, etc…

BOAT: It gives me an idea of something big, it gives me a feeling of power, commerce, work, long
trips. Visually it gives me an image of greatness, of a micro world, of a traveling building, of
chimneys, noisy engines, separated from the water, protection, I smell fish, I hear the sound of the
siren, I see the smoke from the chimneys, etc...

Three different images, which hide three very different charges.

Images have charges of three types: VISUAL, SENSORY AND EMOTIONAL.
VISUAL: Everything we hear ALWAYS generates a visual image in us. We see what we hear.
Why don't I put the visual load as part of the sensory load? Because the human being is a visual
being. The sense of vision has a greater importance than the rest of the senses for human beings. It
is the most important sense we have. In fact we have built our society based on the visual. Our life is
defined based on visual images. I don't cross the street when I see a red light.
When I want to go to a public bathroom I look for the one where I see an image of my sex. I go on
vacation to places where I see beautiful landscapes.
If we were a society of dogs, our most important sense would be smell. We would be an olfactory
society. For example: I wouldn't cross the street when I smell a certain odor.
If we were a society of Bats, our most important sense would be hearing. We would be an auditory
society. For example: When I wanted to go to a public bathroom I would go to one where a sound
tells me that it belongs to my sex.
This concept of visual society is fundamental for the comedian, I am going to develop it in depth in
the second book.

SENSORY: Obviously the other senses are also very important. A sensory load is also associated
with each image. If I think of a sailboat I inevitably feel the heat of the sun on my skin and the wind
caressing my face. If I think of a ship I hear the sound of the siren.

EMOTIONAL: It is very important to understand the emotional charge of each image. Every image
has a feeling attached to it. Depending on the context and the feeling I want to convey in a joke, a
boat is very different from a sailboat.
Bote gives me an idea of loneliness, effort, it can make me hungry, desperate, weak, poor, etc.
Sailboat can give me romance, triumph, freedom, speed, sex, wealth, etc.
Depending on the emotion I want to convey in a joke, I have to know which image has the most
powerful emotional charge to convey it.

So: Are images words?

NOT ALWAYS.
A word is always an image but a phrase is ALSO an image different from the words that make it up.
As?

Old is a word, which is a very powerful image.

It can give: Wisdom, decrepitude, ugliness, peace, weakness, loneliness, I can see someone bent
over, with a beard and white hair, with a cane, etc.

Sea is a word that is a very powerful image as well.

It can give: Greatness, power, food, beauty, calm, fury, blue, cold, loneliness, romanticism, life,
danger, peace, etc...

If I say: - The old man and the sea -

This union of images generates a new image.
It can give me: Solitude, an old man contemplating, reflection, peace.

But… If you are reading this chapter, in this context you have read the BOTTLE image as well. And
if you have some culture, it has automatically referred you to Hemingway's story: “The Old Man
and the Sea.” Therefore this image gives you: Hemingway, loneliness, reflection, fight, swordfish,
sharks, fear, cold, hunger, despair , boat and everything associated with the story.
Notice everything you have seen and felt just with a phrase, with an IMAGE.
HUMOR IS BUILT ON IMAGES.
Everything we say generates an image in the viewer.
All.
The premises are images.
Jokes are images.

The more powerful the images we choose to build our material, the funnier our material will be.
It is not the same as saying: - I felt more alone than a GENOCIDAL DICTATOR on friend's day.-
What to say: - I felt more alone than HITLER on Friend's Day. -
The HITLER image is more powerful than the GENOCIDAL DICTATOR image.
It is always convenient to choose the most powerful image we can find to build our joke.
I chose an extreme image like Hitler to graph my concept, but don't be confused, the power of an
image is not always in the extreme of the image.

The POWER of an image is how exact the load of the image is, to the load of the concept, or
general image, that I want to give.
We will see this in depth in chapter 5: “The Jokes”
Practice 4
Review the Premises that you found in the previous exercise and see them as Images. See if they
are made up of other images, what final image they create and most importantly: what charge do
they hide?
Let's see as an example some Premise that I found in previous exercises: “ The example of the glass
of water is stupid because when you are thirsty you are not thinking if it is half full or half empty .”

Images that make it up:

1)Something stupid.
2)A glass of water.
3) Thirst.
4)Get to Thinking
5)half full
6) half empty.

These images form the complete image:

“ The example of the glass of water is stupid because when you are thirsty you are not thinking if it
is half full or half empty. ”
Who has the burden: THIRST, STUPIDITY, WASTING TIME.
“ Someone who is wasting time thinking while thirsty .”
How can I say it looking for a more powerful way?
“ To think about whether the glass is half full or half empty is very stupid if you are thirsty .”
This is a PREMISE that generates A MORE POWERFUL IMAGE THAN THE PREVIOUS ONE
AND SAYS THE SAME THING.

Try doing the same with your PREMISES.

If we value the load of the images we use, we can ALWAYS make what we want to say more
powerful.
 Chapter 5

The jokes
What is a joke?

People identify jokes with those phrases, dialogues or stories that end in a punchline. But... any
construction designed to make people laugh is a joke.
An Act Out is a joke. A Morisqueta is a joke.
I repeat: ANY construction designed to make people laugh is a joke.
And obviously a dialogue or phrase armed with a punchline is a joke. What is commonly known
as: “Foot and Finish Joke”.
I repeat again: ANY construction designed to make people laugh is a joke.
Let's start with the most primitive, and most effective, form of joke: “The ACT OUT”
Act Out, the first joke
The simplest way to make a joke and one of the most effective is Act Out.
Basically Act Out is showing the premise by making it appear in a situation.
It is the first joke structure that children make.
Do you remember when at school you wanted to make a joke about a classmate who had some
visible characteristic?
The typical way to make fun of that child was to imitate him.
That's an Act Out.
Suppose that child (Juancito) had a stutter. The hidden premise would be: “ Juancito cannot
speak .” The Act Out would be: “-(Exaggerating the Stuttering) I'm Juuu—Juuu—an—citooo, I
can't haabbblaaar!!! -¨
What the scofflaw has done is take the premise, exaggerate it, and show it to his peers.
A Perfect Act Out.

In other words: PREMISE + ACT OUT = JOKE

Let's analyze what the word ACT OUT means:

In English it means: “Act what is hidden.”
It is a way of showing, through an action, an underlying conflict. When a child whose parents have
just divorced starts acting out at school, it is usually thought that the child is acting out his parents'
divorce. The conflict that the child has at home is manifested through his behavior.

Why is it important to understand this subtlety?

Because the strength of Act Out is not in acting out the premise, but in exaggeratedly showing the
conflict it contains.

Where do we find the force of conflict?

In the Attitude that created the Premise.

Due to the influence of theater on Stand Up, many times in Spanish-speaking countries the word
Act Out has been confused with the word Acting.
This is a serious error.
Acting makes us believe that the joke is made by acting out the premise, while in truth the joke is
made by exaggeratedly showing the conflict that the premise brings.
The importance is not so much in acting the situations well, but in the situations showing in an
exaggerated way what the Premise means.
Many of the great Stand Up comedians are very bad actors but they know how to do great Act
Outs. Well, with very little they show the absurdity or ridiculousness of the premise.

Let's see an example with an Act Out of mine:

We have all done bad things as children. I remember that my favorite evil thing was Ring Raje,
which consisted of ringing the doorbell of a house and running away.
I loved that evil. Which must be the most IDIOT evil in history:

(I make me ring a doorbell) You make Ring! (I make myself run like an idiot) Run!... (I make a
stupid face) It's over!
-(As if someone asked me) How did you spend it?-
-(With a stupid face and voice) I don't know, I left! …You tell me! … I was not there...-"

What is the Premise?

The Rin Raje is the most STUPID evil in history.

What is the attitude that built the Premise?

It's stupid.

What should I show at the Act Out?

The stupidity of the premise.
In this case how do I do it?
I do the action in an obviously idiotic way. With a stupid face I show that I left and was not a
witness to my action. Everything I say reaffirms the stupidity of my action.

I repeat: PREMISE + ACT OUT = JOKE

Every premise has an Act Out that screams to be shown. Therefore every premise hides a joke.
What's more: Every punch line joke can be told in the Act Out form.

The Act Out is a perfect vehicle for the comedian's attitude towards a topic to be expressed.
Not only is it very powerful and funny, but it produces empathy and identification between the
comedian and the audience.
Through Act Outs I discover what the comedian feels about a topic.
A good comedian always reviews his material to see how many Act Outs he can add.
An excellent comedian has an Act Out for each premise and all of his Foot and Punch jokes are
resolved through Act Outs.
Practice 5
Take the premises you found previously and look for the Act Outs you can do with those Premises.
Play with the Premises, take them to the absurd.
Look for every possibility to show what that Premise means.
Explore…

Look at the Attitude that built the Premise you are using and exaggerate it. The key is in the
attitude. If it's stupid, look how incredibly idiotic following that premise can be... Be ridiculous, no
one is watching. Have fun with the Premise. If it scares you, show how scary that Premise can be.

That the Premise appears in a specific situation, that it is fulfilled exaggeratedly.

The key to finding good Act Outs is to play and have fun with the Premise.

Why are you reading this book if you don't want to have fun?
Remember: you can always be more ridiculous!

Once you've found an Act Out, write it as if you were writing a movie. Telling the actions you
perform and the way you perform them, the tones in which you speak, the emotions you feel and
obviously writing the dialogues.

Congratulations! You have written your first joke.

 Chapter 6

The stand-up joke

What is a Pie y Remate joke?

It's the first thing we think of when we hear the word joke. A Foot or Preparation takes us to a place
where the Punch appears (the funny thing) and we laugh.

Example:
A blonde and a brunette are walking through a park. La Morocha sees a dead bird and says: - Oh,
how disgusting, a dead bird! -The Blonde looks at the sky and says: - Where? Where?-

This is a classic stand-up joke.

What do we laugh at?
About how stupid the blonde is to look for the dead bird in the sky. THAT'S THE PREMISE
(Blondes are dumb). We always laugh at the Premise.

How does the premise appear?

In the Foot we place the viewer in characters, time and situation: A blonde, a brunette walking in
the park. Then we install what happens: The brunette sees the dead bird and is scared: - Oh, how
disgusting a dead bird is! -
In the Auction the premise appears and is confirmed: The blonde looks at the sky and says: -
Where? Where? - In this case the Premise is tacit, we all share the belief that blondes are stupid and
the blonde when looking for the dead bird in the sky confirms it.

As we see, the structure is quite clear.

There are always three parts to a joke:
PREMISE, FOOT and FINAL.
Nothing else.

The Premise:
As we already said, the Premise is that statement of reality that will appear clearly to us at the end.
It is the final meaning of the entire construction. What we affirm and demonstrate with the joke.
Sometimes it is Tacit and sometimes we have to make it Explicit. That is: we have to state it
CLEARLY and FIRMLY.
In this case the Premise is Tacit. What would this joke be like if we said it in a group that doesn't
know our belief that blondes are dumb? If we had to make it Explicit?

“I am convinced that BLONDES ARE DUMB.

The other day I saw a blonde and a brunette walking through a park.
La Morocha saw a dead bird and said: -Oh, how disgusting, a dead bird! -The Blonde looking at the
sky answered: - Where? Where? -”
I install the premise without a doubt and clearly in the first line and modify the footer and the
ending so that it is fulfilled.
My suspicious readers have surely noticed that I modified the timing and shape of the Foot and the
Finish. I am convinced of something and I SAW something that proves it. This is so that the
Premise cannot be disputed. Whenever we install a new premise, it is advisable to take it to a
personal level so that people do not discuss it.
Don't worry, we'll see it more in depth in Book 2.

The foot
It is the minimum information necessary for the auction to fall. Americans call it SETUP, which
seems like a more accurate word to me. SETUP means: Preparation. The Foot is that, a Preparation
for the arrival of the Finish.
In the Foot is installed:
The Who: the characters or concepts the joke is about. THE Where: The location in time and space.
The Situation: The context in which the joke happens and the actions and details that prepare us for
the punchline.
THE Who, the Where and the Situation are IMAGES.
The strength of the Foot lies in choosing the best and strongest Images to prepare for the arrival of
the auction.
THE ENTIRE FOOT IS PICTURE PERFECT.
We laugh at the Auction but what gives shine and meaning to the auction is THE FOOT. The more
perfect the Foot is, the more graceful the Finish will be.

The Finish
It's what makes you laugh. The explosion where the confirmed premise appears. Americans call it
PUNCHLINE, which literally means: “Line where the punch is.” And it is exactly like that, it is an
unexpected blow that disorients the viewer and confirms the premise.
IT IS ALSO AN IMAGE.
The strength of the auction is in choosing the most powerful images to confirm the premise.

What makes us laugh in a joke?

For something to make us laugh, the Premise has to appear in the Punchline as a break in the logic
of the Foot.

Let's go slow…
Whether it is a tacit or explicit premise, at the bottom I am building a story. This story has a form
and a logic. It's going somewhere. If I continue that logic of the story in the way it is expected and
confirm the Premise, I don't have a joke, I have an STATEMENT.

Let's see what this would be like:

A blonde and a brunette are walking through a park. La Morocha sees a dead bird and says: Oh,
how disgusting, a dead bird!

What happens if I continue the PIE logic?

BAD FINISH:
La Rubia looks at the dead bird and says: -Can't something be done? -
We're saying she's stupid. We are confirming the Premise: He wants to do something for a dead
bird. But there is no break in the Pie's logic: The blonde understands the logic of the situation and
from her stupidity (and perhaps good heart) tries to alleviate pain. We confirm the Premise but it's
not funny.

What happens if I break the PIE logic?

GOOD FINISH:
La Rubia looks at the sky and says: - Where? Where? -
This breaks the logic of the PIE. A dead bird cannot be flying. If it flies it is NOT dead.
This confirms the stupidity of the Blonde but in a surprising way, which breaks with the logic of the
story.

The difference between a joke and a statement is that in a joke there is ALWAYS a break in the
logic of the story.
BUT THIS BREAK CREATES A NEW LOGIC THAT CONFIRMS THE PREMISE.
In this case: “ Blondes are stupid because they believe that dead birds can fly.”

Therefore: The PIECE is the break in the logic of the PIE where the PREMISE is confirmed.
Definitely:
A JOKE IS A BREAK IN THE LOGIC OF A STORY THAT CONFIRMS A PREMISE.

Importance of images
We already said that everything we say we transmit through images.
A blonde and a brunette walking through the park is a clear image.
A dead bird is another.
A blonde looking at the sky and saying: - Where? Where? - is a very powerful image that defines
the GRACE of the joke.
The more powerful and accurate the images are, the funnier the joke is.

The Act Out in the Pie y Remate joke

As we already saw, Act Out is a joke in itself.
Just by saying the Premise and doing the Act Out I have a joke.
But Act Out is also a powerful tool to make a joke shine.
Yes, in the previous joke I also said the punch line: “The Blonde looks at the sky and says: - Where?
Where? - ”
I SHOW the blonde STUPIDLY looking at the sky SAYING IN A FOOLISH WAY: - Where?
Where? -, the Joke is going to be much more EFFECTIVE.

Let's remember the Premise: “Blondes are stupid.” What is the Attitude behind the Premise?
It's stupid.

What do I show in the ACT OUT?

Exactly that, how stupid it is to search the sky for a dead bird. I will always find a way to show the
attitude that the joke builds in the punchline.
Acting out a stand-up joke is the difference between making a funny joke and a brilliant joke.
IMPORTANT NOTE:
In reality, whenever we do humor, we are making Pie y Remate jokes.

Every humorous construction is made up of:

1) A Premise that supports it.
2) A Foot that installs the What, the Who, the Where and the When.
3) A Finish where the breakdown of logic explodes and the Premise is fulfilled.

In all types of humor, including physical or “Slapstic” humor.

Example: If we laugh at someone who steps on a banana and falls resoundingly:

1) The Premise is the Mother Premise: I am superior to…. (The guy stepped on a
banana and fell and I didn't)
2) The Foot is the guy walking calmly towards the Banana without seeing her. (The
calmer and more relaxed the walk and the more self-confident the guy, the better Pie will
be)
3) The Finish is the resounding fall. (The more ridiculous and absurd the guy's face, the
more powerful the Finish will be)

WHENEVER I BUILD HUMOR I HAVE A PREMISE, A FOOT AND A FINISH.

 Chapter
7
Structures of Humor
Let's remember that a joke is always a break in the logic of a story.
The logic of the story is in the FOOT and the break in the FINISH.
Every PIE has a meaning (it says something), a direction (it goes somewhere) and an intensity
(with a certain energy).
The FINISH changes part or all of the structure of the PIE.
Let's look at different structures to make this break.

Humor by exaggeration
In this type of structures the logic of the Foot changes due to an exaggeration taken to the absurd in
the Finish.
Example :
“My girlfriend is so fat that when she steps on the scale, the scale says: To be continued.”
We laughed at the EXAGGERATION of the result.

What is the PIE?

My girlfriend is so fat that when she steps on the scale...

What is the FINAL?

…the scale says: To continue.

What is the PREMISE?

“I have the fattest girlfriend in the world” that is: “I am a Loser”
In this case the Premise is included in the PIE.

Where is grace?
The Premise is confirmed but in an EXAGGERATED way. We never expect the Bride to be SO
FAT that the Scale tells us CONTINUE. The PICTURE of the Finishing surpasses any image the
PIE has made of the bride in our heads.
The Logic of the FOOT is broken by EXAGGERATION.

An exaggeration that breaks the logic of the story and creates a new logic.
If the joke had been:
“My girlfriend is so fat that when she steps on the scale, the scale says: 450 Kilos ”
The joke wouldn't be funny.
Because?
Because even though 450 kilos is a lot, it is a possibility. Exaggeration does NOT break the logic
of the story. The IMAGE of the Auction DOES NOT surpass an IMAGE that the FOOT has
installed on the fat woman. I have no real hype.
To be continued... instead it breaks all logic, it is infinite.
NO Image that the PIE has installed in our head CAN COMPETE with the Image of the Finish.

The secret in an exaggeration joke is to create an image in the punchline so exaggerated that it
surpasses the image that the viewer may have in their head.

CLUE:
When you make a joke out of exaggeration, the IMAGE of the punchline is the key to the joke. The
more powerful and accurate the IMAGE is, the funnier the joke will be. Be careful that the IMAGE
of the AUCTION has to be exaggerated and absurd but COHERENT and that generates a new logic
that is sustained.

ANALYSIS:
Let's look at the logic of the Foot:
My girlfriend is so fat that when she steps on the scale...
It has a meaning: My girlfriend is fat and is going to weigh herself.
It has an address: I am saying that my girlfriend is going to weigh herself and waiting for the result
of that weight. The PIE is going somewhere.
It has an intensity: It has an energetic charge. In this case our IMAGE of a VERY FAT woman who
is going to be weighed, we expect a great result.

Let's see it graphically: The PIE is going somewhere with a certain intensity

Now the logic of the AUCTION: …the scale says: To continue.

It has a meaning: The result of the weight. DOES NOT change the PIE logic

It has a direction: The scale gives us the result. DOES NOT change the direction of the FOOT

It has an intensity: It is SO Fat that the scale has no numbers, it is INFINITELY fat.
CHANGE the intensity of the FOOT. We expected a very Fat woman, but NOT SO FAT.

The INTENSITY of the image of the Finish EXCEEDS the image that the Foot created in us. This
produces a change in the logic of the PIE.

Let's see it graphically:

F
 FOOT AUCTION

The Finish continues the meaning and direction of the Foot, but modifies the Intensity.
Practice 7A
Take the Premises you found in the previous exercise and try to make at least one exaggeration
joke with each Premise.

IMPORTANT:
Jokes are not always as short as the one I just used as an example. The Footer can be much longer,
it can have dialogue, etc.
Don't try to find the Foot and the finish in a single sentence. There will be time to synthesize, if you
feel like it.

Look for how to confirm the Premise with a very exaggerated Image….
Play with the exaggeration.
If you don't have fun first, it's difficult for the audience to have fun.

After hard work and cursing about your inability several times... I'm sure you wrote some joke out
of exaggeration. Bravo!!!
Humor for Change of Address:
In this case the break in logic occurs due to a change in the direction of the PIE. We think we are
going one way but in the FINAL we discover that we are going another.

Example (This time with my material):

I have traveled a lot, I have met women all over the world…. And throughout the many trips and the
many women I have met, I have learned something from Them. All over the world women have one
thing in common, they are equal in one thing... Nothing with me... But nothing... nothing.

We laugh because of the surprise we feel when it seems that I am going to teach the public
something profound that I have discovered about women and instead I say that I am a loser and that
women want nothing to do with me.
Change the direction of the PIE.

What is the PIE?

I have traveled a lot, I have met women all over the world... And throughout the many trips and the
many women I have met, I have learned something from them. All over the world women have one
thing in common, they are equal in one thing...

What is the FINAL?

With me nothing... But nothing... nothing.

What is the PREMISE?

I'm a loser with women.

NOTE: This premise works connected with the MOTHER PREMISE. If the comedian is a loser
with women and confesses it, then the viewer feels a little more of a winner or identifies with how
badly he is doing with women (if he feels like a loser).
That gives POWER to the viewer, it is true: I have power over... (In this case his relationship with
women).
In the case of the female spectator, it is exactly the same but in her relationships with men. And in
the case of the homosexual spectator, ditto.

WHENEVER THE COMEDIAN LOSES POWER IN A SUBJECT, THE VIEWER GAINS

POWER IN THE SAME SUBJECT.
In this case, the theme is “relationships.”

Where is grace?
We laugh when we find out that in reality the comedian is not a winner and a man of the world but
rather he is a loser with women, BECAUSE the PREMISE appears with the CHANGE OF
DIRECTION AT THE PICTURE.
The PREMISE appears as a SURPRISE
We believe that the material will continue with a lesson that the comedian will give us thanks to his
numerous trips and the many women he has met and in reality he confesses to us that he is a loser.

The secret in a joke by change of direction is to make the audience believe that we are going to say
something, that we are going to continue with a speech or that something is going to happen and in
the Punchline the direction changes and we say something else or the unexpected happens.

CLUE:
When you make a joke by changing direction, the key is to generate a well-marked and clear
DIRECTION in the FOOT, so that the change in the PICTURE is effective.
I repeat: the key in a change of direction joke is to mark the direction of the FOOT WELL. The
clearer the direction in the Foot, the easier it is to make the change.

I set a very clear direction in the PIE.

I have traveled the world...I have met many women...blah blah blah.
I put myself in the place of a man of the world who knows a secret about women. People are
waiting for me to share my wisdom...
And instead I change direction and say that what they all have in common is ignoring me. The
premise: I'm a loser with women appears, as a surprise.

The important thing when I do this material is NOT TO SEE IT COMING that I am a loser. I mark
the ATTITUDE of a man of the world well in the FOOT until I CHANGE in ATTITUDE in the
FINISH.

ANALYSIS:
Let's look at the logic of the PIE:
I have traveled a lot, I have met women all over the world... And throughout the many trips and the
many women I have met, I have learned something from them. All over the world women have one
thing in common, they are equal in one thing...

It has a meaning: I have traveled a lot and all over the world I have noticed that women have
something in common
It has a direction: The comedian is going to share a profound teaching with the public. He's going to
tell us a secret about women.
It has an intensity: Something is approaching, we wait for a revelation.

Let's see the logic of the AUCTION:

With me nothing... But nothing... nothing.

It has a meaning: All women have something in common, it DOES NOT change the meaning of the
FOOT.

It has a direction: When we think he is going to share a profound teaching, the comedian CHANGE
the direction and confess I am a Loser.
The direction of the PIE changes, a teaching does not come, a confession comes.
We thought we were going one way but in reality we were going another.
We thought we were going to learn from a winner but in reality we are going to sympathize with a
loser.

It has an intensity: What came was a possible revelation, it did NOT change the intensity.

Let's see it graphically:

The Finish changes the direction of the Foot.

Practice 7B
Again work on the previous premises.
Try to make at least one change of direction joke with each of the Premises you have found.

IMPORTANT:
You know the Premise that you have to confirm. You know the punch line that confirms it. Build
a
Foot that allows you to put in the shot, but that looks like you are going the other way.
Remember, the key is in the FOOT.
Don't let the auction be seen coming.
Distract them!!!

After hard work and cursing about your inability several times... I'm sure you wrote a joke about a
change of address...
Bravo!!!
Pun
The pun is a type of joke in which the funny thing happens by breaking the logic in the MEANING
of the FOOT.
The auction produces a change of MEANING in the foot.
We believe that the comedian is saying one thing, but in reality he is saying ANOTHER THING.
What it looked like one way is different.

Example :
Two gauchos are in the middle of the field, in the distance you can see a group of Indians
approaching. One says to the other:
-The Indians are coming! -
-Are they friends or enemies? -
-They must be friends, they all come together.-

We laugh because at the end. the one who answers. changes the meaning of the question. From
friends or enemies of the gauchos, they become friends or enemies among themselves.
In the word game WE CHOOSE a different reading of the phrases or words to change the meaning
of everything.

Another more basic example:

Once upon a time… truz.

This short joke is a classic play on words.

What seems like the beginning of a story: Once upon a time...
It becomes a statement: There was an ostrich.

In these jokes the break in logic is always in the CHANGE OF THE MEANING that we choose.

What is the premise in ALL word games?

ALL word games work the same. We always laugh about the same thing.
WE LAUGH THAT WE DISCOVERED THEM.

In the first: We discovered that one of the gauchos misunderstood, instead of friends or enemies
between them, the other had asked friends or enemies of the gauchos. WE DISCOVER THE
CHANGE OF MEANING: What a fool, he misunderstood.
In the second: We laugh because we understand the change in meaning proposed by the comedian.
Instead of telling a story he was telling us that there was an ostrich.
- Hahaha, he made me believe he was going to tell a story but it was a lie, I understood it. –

It is the MOTHER PREMISE: I am superior to… or I have power over…

In this case it takes the form of: I AM INTELLIGENT... I understood it.

The audience laughs when they discover the NEW meaning that the comedian proposes. In the
game of words, the structure or the story does not matter, what makes us laugh is discovering the
new meaning.
CLUE
I always said that word games are an intelligence test...easy to pass.
That is why puns occur both in the silliest jokes and in so-called intelligent humor. The more work
it takes to discover the new meaning, the more intelligent the joke seems to us.
So the key when we make a play on words is to make it clever, but not so clever that it is not
understood.
It is an intelligence test that must ALWAYS be passed.

It is very important when we play word games to know which group we belong to: Do the words,
for this group of belonging, mean the same as they do for me? Do you share the idioms that this
joke has? Do you share the cultural images that this joke has?

We must be very careful with word games when we travel to another country, another region of our
country or even when we address a very closed belonging group.

Practice 7C

Try to make at least one Pun joke with each of the Premises you have found.

IMPORTANT:
Focus on what the Premise means.
The Punchline has to make the meaning of the Premise appear.

Play knowing the real meaning you want to achieve and have fun with the words.

After hard work and cursing about your inability several times... I'm sure you wrote a joke for Pun
Game.
Bravo!!!
Humor by Comparison
Another structure for making jokes is humor by comparison.

It is about taking two images that apparently cannot be compared and finding common points or, in
contrast, taking two images that are apparently similar and finding the differences.

Basically it is:
Finding the similar in very different images
EITHER
The different in very similar images.

The break in logic occurs in:

Finding common ground in what is very different OR in differentiating what is similar.

Examples:
How is a man like a pin?
In which both have a head, but neither of them thinks.

Other:
How do women and computers are alike?
Both in a woman and in a computer you have to
invest a lot, they have a lot of memory but no intelligence and shortly after having one you already
want a better one.

And other:
The difference between a misfortune and a tragedy:
That you are on the beach with your entire family and suddenly a giant wave comes and takes your
mother-in-law away, that is a misfortune. But after 5 minutes the giant wave returns and returns
your mother-in-law, that is a tragedy!

Let's analyze the first joke:

How is a man like a pin?
In which both have a head, but neither of them thinks.

What is the Foot?

How is a man like a pin?

What is the Finish?

In which both have a head, but neither of them thinks.

What images do we have?

Image 1: Man
Image 2: Pin.

Two totally different images. In principle not comparable. Grace appears when you manage to
make that comparison that apparently is not possible.
Where does the premise appear?
In the comparison. What is the ending
By saying: both have minds but neither of them thinks.
The premise appears: ' All men are simple' .
Which is a Tacit Premise.

What do we laugh at in comparison jokes?

It is similar to a play on words, on the one hand we laugh that we understand the comparison but
also, we laugh at the Premises that appear in the comparison.

Clue
The key in comparison humor is to analyze the subtlety of the Images and the most powerful
characteristics of each Image to make the comparison.
The more extreme and powerful the images are and the more fair and exact the characteristics we
find to compare them, the funnier the joke will be.
Graphically:
Practice 7E
1) Try to make at least one Comparison joke with each of the Premises you have found.
Important:
Again focus on the meaning of the Premises.
Find something to compare the main IMAGE of your Premise with so that it is confirmed.
For example: If your premise is: Blondes are Dumb.
The question is: What can I compare a blonde to to SHOW how stupid they are? Blondes are like
supermarket Easter eggs. They are very cute and attractive on the outside, but inside they are
hollow.
Now it's your turn, get the most out of those Premises...

2) VERY IMPORTANT EXERCISE:

For a comedian EVERYTHING is comparable.

To demonstrate this you are going to take an Image from list 1 and find at least 3 points of
comparison with an image from list 2.
List 1 List 2
Pears Spyglass
Men Fire
Trains Russians
Soccer Lawyers.
Astronauts Poker
Shoes Bus
Women Frogs
Refrigerators Hospitals.
Jail drunk
Monkeys Piano

I start:
Drunks are like Pears:
When they are ready they fall. You always find them lying under a tree. A little bit is sweet but a
lot of it ends up making you sick.
You didn't think you could compare pears with drunks, did you?
Reader of little faith... Now make a comparison You.
Humor by Association:
Humor by Association is a higher form of humor by comparison.
In this case we take two Images and instead of comparing both images, we associate the loading of
those images and create a third image that has a life of its own.
This third image is the union of those two previous images.

Example :
(SPECIAL NOTE: THE FOLLOWING MATERIAL WAS WRITTEN BEFORE GOD MADE
THE JOKE TO THE WORLD OF CHOOSING AN ARGENTINE POPE, AS I ALWAYS SAY,
GOD IS THE BEST COMEDIAN)
What would the Catholic Church be like if the Pope were Argentine?
In confession, instead of doing penance, the priest would ask for a bribe .
Instead of bread and wine at mass, choripan and beer would be taken.
The priest would begin the chants of the mass, fluttering his cassock shouting: - Sing everyone!,
you bitches !!! –

What did I do?

I took characteristics of the collective imagination of what it is to be Argentine and united them
with the liturgy of the Catholic Church.
This union of two different Images:
Image 1: Being Argentine, Image 2: Catholic liturgy.
It gives me a third image:
Image 3: Catholic liturgy “Argentina”

What are we laughing at?

From the appearance of this third image, it is a live image that works and corresponds perfectly to
the loading of both previous images.

Where does the premise appear?

The premise or premises always appear when the created image lives and manifests itself.
In this case several premises appear:
Argentines are corrupt. (First association)
Argentines are basic to eat. (Second association)
Argentines are soccer fans. (Third association)

The breakdown of logic appears in the creation of a new reality that does not seem possible but
nevertheless exists and works in my joke.

Another example:
This magnificent joke is from my colleague Hugo Fili, one of the Argentine comedians who best
handles humor by association:
Have you seen those signs on the street with a photo of a dog that says: -I got lost. - ?
Fucking dog!! You took the photo. You made the posters with the phrase: -I got lost-. You stuck
them all over the city... And you're not able to call your owner? Tell him: - Look, I got lost... I'm on
such a corner... pick me up, I'll pay you for the taxi... -

This is another way to do humor by association.

Hugo is associating the image of the owner (man) making the posters and posting them around the
city, with that of the dog. (The key is in the phrase: I got lost. That phrase allows Hugo to make the
association)
This association gives the new image of a dog-man, who takes the trouble to make the posters and
put them up but is not able to call his owner.
Remember that an image is not always a word, it can also be a concept or an action.

Another example :
This joke is from a student of mine and came up in a class:
An aguaviva is a flavorless gelatin... but with a bad vibe.

Perfect and synthetic example of association.

Associate the characteristics of two images
Image1: Aguaviva, Image2: Flavorless gelatin.
It gives me a third image:
Image3: Flavorless gelatin with bad vibes.
This image is the union of the visual charge of the flavorless Gelatin and the Aguaviva (A colorless
mass) plus the emotional charge of the Aguaviva (irritant).

Clue:
The key in humor by association is to make an accurate reading of the images that you intend to
associate. When we want to corroborate or make a premise appear about an image, the key is to
associate that image with another image that meets the characteristics that our premise seeks. It is
important to have a clear reading of the load of the images for the public to which our joke is
directed, before making the association.
My joke about the Argentine Pope may not work in another country.
Perhaps in another country the Argentine image does not have: neither the burden that I am
proposing, nor the characteristics that I am presenting are known.

Graphically:
( Image 3,
a new and living reality, is the finishing touch and when it manifests itself, the one or more
that
we want
to share appear.) premises
Practice 7E
1) Try to make at least one Association joke, with each of the Premises you have found.
IMPORTANT:
Once again the key is in the Premise.
Find something to ASSOCIATE the main IMAGE of your Premise so that it is confirmed. For
example, if your premise is: “Blondes are Dumb.” The question is: With what IMAGE can I
associate a blonde so that the premise appears in action.
Example:
What would the Catholic Church be like if the Pope were a Blonde?
In confession, instead of counting our sins, we would tell each other EVERYTHING!!!

2) VERY IMPORTANT EXERCISE:

For a comedian EVERYTHING is Associable.
To demonstrate this you are going to take an Image from list 1 and find at least one association with
an image from list 2.

List 1 List 2
Pears Spyglass
Men Fire
Trains Russians
Soccer Lawyers.
Astronauts Poker
Shoes Bus
Women Frogs
Refrigerators Hospitals.
Jail drunk
Monkeys Piano

I start:
What comes from crossing a Pear and a Drunkard?
A “happy hour” fruit.

You didn't think pears could be associated with drunks, did you? Reader of little faith...
Now make an Association You…
Humor for “Out of Context”
It is a form of humor by association.
If humor by Association is an evolution of Comparison, “Out of Context” is an evolution of humor
by Association.
Basically it is taking an IMAGE (A character, a thing, an event or a concept) and placing it in a
totally different context than usual. The break in logic occurs when you manage to place something
from a certain context in a totally different context.

The out of context can be summarized as follows:

1)An ORDINARY Image in an EXTRAORDINARY situation.
2)An EXTRAORDINARY Image in an ORDINARY situation.

A brilliant example of this way of doing humor is Eddie Izzard's routine: “Death Star Canteen”.
In it Izzard places Darth Vader in line at the “Death Star” cafeteria waiting to arrive to order
something to eat. The absurdity of seeing this extraordinary character in such an ordinary context
makes us laugh.
It can be found on YouTube with subtitles, it is worth watching.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8BFQIQpVQ9c

CLUE:
For out of context to work, the key is that the logic of what happens is within a perfect association
between the Object of the joke (A character, a thing, an event or a concept) and the New Context.

THE MIX:
The Mix is a type of joke that uses out of Context to work.
It's about installing a character and then placing him in a totally different context.

For example :
First I install my German Granny: how stingy she was, how strict she was with discipline and how
she had all of us grandchildren running around and then I change the context:
I say something like: - That's why I think that if my grandmother were Minister of Transportation
the trains would run better... -
and I start a routine with my Grandmother challenging the train drivers, reviewing expenses,
controlling the passengers. Etc.
PRACTICE 7 F
Take a character from list 1 and a context from list 2 and make a joke.

CHARACTERS CONTEXT

Mother Teresa of Calcutta A Rave

hitler A fast food place

Maradona In the Boys Scouts

Fidel Castro At the Proctologist

Buddha At the supermarket.

I start :

Hitler took power at the age of 45. I mean... He was a forty year old...
He had to have annual prostate exams.
What would your visit to the Proctologist be like?
- Don't stop Herr Doktor!!! Blitzkrieg me and call me Poland!!!! –
HUMOR BY OPPOSITION
Opposition humor is also a form of “Out of Context.” Basically it is placing an image in a context
diametrically OPPOSITE to the one that this image naturally usually has.
Humor by Opposition occurs when the ASSOCIATION of an Image and a totally opposite Context
WORK. For this, the characteristics of both must be perfectly associated.

For example :
1) A Nun teaching sexual education classes.
We see an impeccably dressed Nun with a soft and demure voice speaking in totally profane words
about the most daring sexual fantasies...
2) A delicate girl threatening the public.
We see an angelic and petite girl threaten the public with the harshest atrocities imaginable,
3) A criminal lawyer teaching pastry.
We see a lawyer with an absolutely legalistic image and tone teaching us how to make a homemade
cake.

CLUE
The more exaggerated the OPPOSITE characteristics that are ASSOCIATED in these Images that
we build, the funnier the result will be.
MANY TIMES WE DO NOT NEED TO BUILD A CHARACTER TO CREATE HUMOR BY
OPPOSITION.
In Stand Up we simply develop a song with an OPPOSITE ATTITUDE to what it should have...

Example of my material:
( HAPPY)
I love the way my wife decides my life for me. My life is much easier...
She tells me how to dress, I dress myself...
She tells me that I like it… that I don't like it. There are things that I don't like anymore... and I
didn't know, look how stupid.
There are friends of mine who are not good for me. Thank goodness I found out... because I kept
seeing them...
The more innocently and resignedly happy I make this material, the better it works.
PRACTICE 7 F
1) Find an image and associate it with an activity or speech absolutely opposite to what it should
have.
Example: Speak like an Italian chef about the characteristics of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

2) Choose something from the material that I have already written and diametrically change the
attitude with which it was written to say it.
Example: If I wrote something about how much I hate public transportation in my city, try saying
the same thing but with an attitude that suggests the opposite. (You have to change the text in
addition to the shape obviously)

3) Finally approach a Topic with an attitude DIAMETRALLY OPPOSITE to what society

considers it should have.
Example: Having a negative attitude about having sex with a beautiful woman. Being terrified of
bunnies. Etc.
Combined structures
Humor is something that flows, it is not something rigid.
In the structures that we have seen, the breakdown of logic appears through various simple and clear
mechanisms to distinguish: Exaggeration, Change of direction, Play on Words, etc... But many
times the mechanisms are combined.
Many times in a change of direction or a comparison there is also an exaggeration, OR a play on
words or any other combination. All mechanisms are combinable.
The important thing when we make a combination is that one structure does not ruin the other.
Let's look at this example:
- How is a cave similar to a refrigerator? -
- In which the cave has stalactites and stalagmites and the refrigerator: this little can of tuna, this
little can of anchovies... -
It's a comparison, but it's also a play on words. Both mechanisms work perfectly and do not
interfere.
When we work on combined structures we have to pay special attention to ensuring that the images
we use comply perfectly with the structures we work on.
In this case the play on words must close the comparison.
The images that the play on words create unite me with a cave and a refrigerator. The joke closes
perfectly.

THE OVER-AUCTION
The over-punch is a punch that is said immediately after another punch. The over-punch uses the
previous shot as a foot. This gives it enormous strength because it climbs on the energy that the
previous shot has left.
Example: Let's try the last joke I wrote:
What comes from crossing a Pear and a Drunkard?
A “happy hour” fruit….
…are fruits that ripen only from 19 to 21 on trees that grow in front of an Irish pub.
NOTE:
Be careful with over-finishes!
Sometimes they are very effective because, as I said, they build on the laughter of the previous
punchline. But many times, if the punchline has worked very well, it is better for us to keep the
over-punchline to ourselves so as not to run the risk of lowering the effectiveness of the joke.
The use of the over-punch is up to the comedian to decide at the moment he tells the joke. It
depends on how the public feels.

Practice 7H
Try adding a punchline to each of the jokes you wrote.
FINAL COMMENT ON THE JOKES:
I repeat: Humor is not something rigid, it is something that flows and is alive.
These structures are examples of common ways of doing humor.
Nothing is so rigid, as we saw previously they are often combined.
An exaggeration is made through a change of Address. A comparison becomes an association…
Etc…
The important thing is to create a new logic.
Break with the logic that the FOOT brings in the FINISH in a coherent way so that a PREMISE
appears.
If what you write sounds funny to you, if it makes you laugh... it's probably a joke and you have
complied with one of these structures.
If it doesn't work when you say it, revise it according to what you've seen in this chapter.
Sometimes you think you are telling a joke and you are making a statement.
CAREFUL!
For a statement to be funny, the audience has to agree with what I say. A joke is often funny even if
the audience does not share my thoughts.
The key is the breakdown of logic.
 Chapter 8

Economics and Numbers

Numbers are rhythms.
These rhythms have an implicit burden on human beings. Using different rhythms produces
different effects on the message. This is a mystery that has been treated from the most diverse
perspectives of human knowledge. Psychology, communication theory and even numerology and
Kabbalah (from the more esoteric side) have dealt with this topic.
For comedy, the reason for this is not so important. What interests us is to understand what charge
each number has, to improve our material.
Let's see a little what the charge of each number is and how it is used in comedy.
There are two fundamental numbers for comedy. The number One and the number Three.

Number one
Number one is the number of absolute truth.
The authority number. Of the truth revealed.

Do you remember when you were kids?

We have all heard our Father say at some point:
- I tell you this once and I'm not going to repeat it! -
That was synonymous with the fact that our Father was serious, that what he was going to say was
important. What is said only once has a charge of Truth. It is an affirmation. Define.

Number one has that power.

When I give a single adjective about something, that definition is absolute.
It is not the same as saying: Juan is a not very trustworthy person. It's not that he's a bad person, it's
that he's dim-witted. Sometimes you tend to miss things that happen and make wrong readings of
reality.
What to say: Juan is an idiot .
We say the same thing, but the burden of saying it looking for ONE image that defines it is much
more powerful.
Juan is defined: He is an idiot.

Number one works with this power in all its forms.

Every time we use the number one in Comedy, we are absolutely stating something.
What we say is how we say it. It is defined. No doubt. It does not need more explanations or
adjectives to be defined.
It's complete. It's like that.

As we have already said in the comedy, the rational and the energetic are intrinsically related. The
number one also brings its own energy charge.
It's a blow.

The charge is powerful, direct and non-continuous. A pineapple straight to the jaw.
This translates into a joke structure that is directly related to the number one load: The One Liner.

The One-Liner:
The translation of One-Liner would be: “One-Line Joke.”
It's exactly that.
It's a joke where the Premise, Footer and Punchline are all in ONE line.
More precisely, the premise is in the Foot or is an tacit Premise. Let's look at an example with a
joke that I used before:
“My girlfriend is so fat that when she steps on the scale, the scale says: To be continued.”
Premise, Footer and Finish are on a single line as we have already seen in the analysis of this
structure.

ONE-LINER FEATURES:
The One-Liner is a structure where everything is integrated into a single line. Therefore it is
governed by the number 1.
Its characteristic is to be powerful and blunt. What the One Liner says is like this. After hearing the
previous joke, no one doubts that my girlfriend is the fattest in the world.
The One liner goes from 0 to 100 in a very short time. As we have already said, it relies on the
charge of number 1. It's a blow.
A good One Liner, well said, is an instant laugh. The public has no time to prepare for Laughter.
In other structures, with longer Pies that prepare us for the punchline, with dialogues or descriptions
of situations, the audience starts laughing as the joke unfolds. Not in the One Liner. Laughter
surprises us.
It is, as I already said, a direct shot to the jaw.
KEYS OF THE ONE-LINER
The One Liner is a statement. He has the number one burden. It's EVERYTHING in one line.
Therefore we do not have much time or many words to make our statement. The key then is to find
the most powerful and perfect Images to construct the joke.
In a One-Liner we have to pay close attention to making the images perfect. A weak image gives us
a doubly weak One-Liner. Just as we use the power of number one, if what we say does not
correspond in power to this rhythm that we are choosing, it will be doubly exposed.
If we are using another structure, where we slowly build the joke, we can afford to use images that
may not be as powerful but that together give the powerful Image that we need.
In the One Liner we don't have time. Every Image we use has to be perfect. They have to
correspond to the power that we are assigning when using the number one.

THE NUMBER THREE

The number three is called the magic number in comedy.
In general in comedy things are said in threes.
Because?
Because rhythm three has the burden of something that is finished. If the number one has the burden
of an absolute truth, a revealed truth. The number three carries the burden of a truth that has been
demonstrated. The path of that truth has been traveled and is finished. Three is a circle that has been
completed.
- What I say is like this. For this, for this and for this! -
It's a proven one. That's why in comedy normally no more than three examples are given to
demonstrate something.

When we want to define something we do it with One example or Three. Using Two examples is
weak.

When we want to define the end of a state we use the number Three.
Before starting a race we say:
- Ready, Set, Go! –
We use pace three to define that the waiting state is finished and the running state must begin.
In general, to perform any act that involves a change of movement we use the number three. The
most common phrase before starting something is:
- On the count of three. One two three! –
This rhythm is firmly rooted in the human being.
Energetically, it generates a tension in us that tells us that something is finished and something new
must come. It prepares us for a jump.
This has a very strange correlation in the public. When we tell them things in threes, it is as if we
were saying:
- Ready, Set, Go! –
The audience feels the need to laugh at number Three.
As strange as it may seem, this is so.
That is why the number Three is called the magic number.
This translates into a joke structure that is directly related to the charge of the number Three: The
“List Joke”.

The List Joke

Lista's joke uses that rare quality of the number Three of inducing laughter.
Basically it is three statements that grow in intensity until the third is the Punchline.

Let's look at an example, with a joke that circulates on the Internet, rude but effective:
They call Maradona Fernet Branca :
Because it's black, bitter and works well with coke.

As we see, these definitions about Maradona grow in intensity until they end with “It works well
with coke.”
This one-two-three generates the audience to unconsciously feel: After three I have to laugh. It is
the growth of the energy that the Three rhythm has incorporated into the Human being.
For this growth to be fulfilled, the following rule must be given: What I say must grow in
Intensity.

If my first statement has an intensity of 100.

The second must have an intensity of 200

The third, which is the finishing touch, must be of intensity 400.
The third is the explosion.

LET'S ANALYZE THIS JOKE

Saying that someone is black in our society has a negative charge, but there are many people who
respond to that “insult”. It is more of an insult that speaks about society than about the person.
Furthermore, to say that someone is black I don't have to know them very well, just seeing the color
of their skin is enough. I can say it without even talking to that person. In the comparison with
Fernet the same thing happens, just by looking at Fernet I can tell that it is black. Let's say this is a
100.
Saying that someone is bitter already implies superior knowledge in addition to being a superior
insult. It is not an insult that depends on a society but rather it is an insult that implies knowing the
characteristics of the person. The same thing happens with Fernet, to say that it is bitter I have to
have tried it. Let's say it's a 200.
Saying that Maradona “works well with coke” is an even greater insult, I am calling him a drug
addict with the enormous burden that that entails. Furthermore, to say that someone is a drug addict
I have to know them really well, having shared their intimacy. The same with Fernet, to say that it
works well with a soda I have to have tried it combined with other drinks as well as alone. In both
cases these images offer me much superior knowledge. It's a 400.

What we do in a list joke is find three images that grow in intensity to take advantage of the energy
boost that the number Three gives us.
We get on it: - Ready, set, Go! -
The structure of the list joke is so powerful that it can be applied to any list of Threes.

You can also construct a list joke with three jokes. In this case it would be a List Routine. Let's look
at an example with another joke that I used before:
What would the Catholic Church be like if the Pope were Argentine?
In confession, instead of doing penance, the priest would ask for a bribe. Instead of bread and wine
at mass, choripan and beer would be taken. The priest would begin the chants of the mass, fluttering
his cassock shouting: - Everybody sing!, you bitches!!! -
As we see, this list "joke" is built with three jokes that grow in intensity. We will see later what a
Routine is.

CHARACTERISTICS OF THE LIST JOKE

The list joke is practically foolproof.
If we put enough emphasis and attitude into what we say, the “magical” nature of the Three rhythm
means that we practically always have a laugh at the end. It is an energy that increases and seeks the
final blow.
If the One-Liner is a direct shot to the jaw, the list joke is the famous 1-2-3. Two blows that prepare
the final blow.

Do you remember that I said that: “Three is a proven One”?

Remember that: "If One is a revealed truth, Three is a demonstrated truth"?

Therefore:
Any List Joke can become a One-Liner and vice versa.
I simply take the last image from the list joke and build a One-Liner.

Let's see in the previous case:

They call Maradona Fernet Branca, because it works well with coca.
A perfect One Liner.

And every list routine can be turned into a single joke (One liner or not):
What would the Catholic Church be like if the Pope were Argentine?
The priest would begin the chants of the mass, fluttering his cassock shouting: - Everybody sing!,
you bitches!!! –
A perfect joke.

In the same way I can turn any One-Liner into a List joke. I just have to increase the intensity of the
images until I reach the end of the One Liner.

Let's see what it would be like: “My girlfriend is so fat that when she steps on the scale, the scale
says:
To be continue." , turned into a list joke:
“My girlfriend is so fat that when she steps on the scale: Thriller music is heard… The birds stop
singing… And the scale exclaims: To be continued!!”

KEY TO THE LISTING JOKE

Whenever you use the Three rhythm to generate a joke, the images should grow in intensity. If you
use the Three rhythm to do a joke routine, same thing. The third joke must be the most powerful of
all.

NUMBERS TWO AND FOUR

They are numbers with very particular characteristics.

Characteristics of the number Two:

Let's imagine converting the previous Three routine into a Two routine.
What would the Catholic Church be like if the Pope were Argentine?
Instead of bread and wine at mass, choripan and beer would be taken. The priest would begin the
chants of the mass, fluttering his cassock shouting: - Everybody sing!, you bitches!!! – Don't you
feel like something is missing?
Don't you feel like it's not finished?
This is because the number Two always asks for a number Three to complete itself.
This is why when the comedian wants to install something in his material he uses ONE example or
THREE examples.
Two examples are weak They always ask for a third to close the concept
Two is used to make OPPOSITIONS.
Such or such.
Or to make CONJUNCTIONS.
Such and such.

If I want to close a concept with the number Two I have to make an Opposition or a Conjunction.
“This is like this AND like this” or “This is neither like this nor like that”
Black and white.
Ying and Yang.
The Two serves to Oppose and Complement.
This becomes an incredibly strong rhythm for making a statement.

Characteristics of the number Four.

Number four is Change.
Never try to close a concept with four examples, in the third example the concept is closed and the
fourth example is annoying.
Because? By the magic of number Three.
When we hear three different statements about something, we naturally take that concept for
granted.
Four is the New.
After: - Ready, set, go! – a NEW STATE is coming, which is that of Running.
That is why naturally man expects a Change in the four. And when this happens he celebrates it. If
you are going to give more than three examples about something, the fourth must have a twist,
something different.

Let's see what it would be like.

What would the Catholic Church be like if the Pope were Argentine?
In confession, instead of doing penance, the priest would ask for a bribe. Instead of bread and wine
at mass, choripan and beer would be taken. The priest would begin the chants of the mass, fluttering
his cassock shouting: - Everybody sing!, you bitches!!! –
And everyone, but all the faithful in the world... would become Muslims.
I use the four as a change in the structure, in this case I leave the association.
In this way the Four works and is powerful.
The Four should always lead me to a change. Another Theme, another Structure, another Premise, a
change whatever.
Therefore:
The Four is the perfect BRIDGE.
What is a Bridge?
Patience, we'll see later.
NOTE :
These first four numbers are the ones that have the most important characteristics within the
Comedy.
The other numbers do not have important effects except that when we leave the Four we enter the
realm of SATURATION.
Another concept that we will see later.
Patience again.

PRACTICE 8

Using the Premises you have found or finding new Premises.

1)Make a ONE-LINER.
2)Make a LIST JOKE.
3)Turn your One-liner into a List Joke.
4)Turn your List Joke into a One-Liner.
5)Add a Fourth element to your List Joke.
 Chapter 9

The material
One very important thing to understand the essence of Stand Up and its difference from theater is
that comedians do not do monologues on stage, they do their material.
The material is the collection of jokes and routines that the comedian has to make people laugh.
Unlike the theatrical monologue (whether comic or not) where what is said is always the same show
after show, the material is something dynamic that can be modified depending on the comedian's
preference. Before a performance, the comedian chooses from his material what he wants to say and
in what order he is going to say it.
That's called: The Set.
Each function has its own Set that depends on the audience it is aimed at and the comedian's mood.
What do I feel like saying today?
The Set is assembled with the material that the comedian wants to do in the order that the comedian
decides.

THE SET
To understand how a set is built, I'm going to take a set of mine and then we'll analyze it.
We will analyze part of a set that I put together for a show in Montevideo, Uruguay. I find it
interesting to analyze it because it has several elements that I have been talking about in previous
chapters.
Note: Many of the jokes are from Act Out, they appear as if in a dialog box.

URUGUAY SET:

Hi how are things? My name is Alejandro Angelini

I'm Argentinian... (Pause) that's not funny, I know.
(Dejected) It's more of an accident...

I love Montevideo, but one thing that made me sad is seeing that here, like in Buenos Aires, you
also find people begging, drunks who live on the street. Very sad, in the corner of my hotel there is
a drunk begging. Step into the morning... there's the guy, drunk, begging. Step into the afternoon...
he's drunk begging... Before coming here I see him, poor, drunk, begging... When does he buy the
alcohol?

I confess, I am an Argentine who does not understand anything about football. What's more, I am
disabled from football. My desperate Father tried to make me understand, he took me to the square,
he threw the ball at me... (Act Out of ball that hits me without any reaction from me) - tuc! knock
Knock! nothing…-
It had nothing to do with the ball, so my dad thought I should sleep with it to see if it was cool. I
have scoliosis from that time, nothing more.
My mother, who was very tender, painted a face on the ball, so that it would take affection.
That worked, but when I went to the square and saw the boys playing I shouted: - (Desperately as if
they were kicking my pet) No Puffy! No Puffi!

This is not my first trip. I have traveled a lot, I have met women all over the world... And
throughout the many trips and the many women I have met, I have learned something from them.
All over the world women have one thing in common, they are equal in one thing:
With me nothing... But nothing... nothing.

Women have left me in every possible way. From the classic:

(In the tone of a capricious girl) I'm confused...-
- Confused…Confused…(Angry) Give me back the iPad, motherfucker!! -
Or Also: (In a sympathetic tone) The problem is not you, it's me... I like big penises!
Even the most original: (Thinking and doubting, he looks at me as if he didn't know me) …Who
were you?... ah yes, I don't love you anymore! -
But the prettiest, the prettiest was a girl who once told me: - (With a lot of love) I love you so much,
I love you so much... that I'm going to leave you so as not to hurt you. -
(Totally bewildered) I never understood what he meant to tell me...
Women are a mystery, a labyrinth. A labyrinth of contradictions.
(Pretending to get lost in a labyrinth) A contradiction leads you to another contradiction, which
leads you to another contradiction, which leads you to another contradiction
- (Playing angry mine) If you don't know what's happening to me, I'm not going to tell
you! –
- (Desperate) And how do I do it!!!... There is no manual!!!-

The Problem in relationships is that the woman is deep, complicated... and the man is simple.
Simple!!
The woman is a labyrinth, the man is a train track.
A train.
It leaves the Sleep station and arrives at the station: Take .
What is the Terminal? In the middle is eating and shitting. Nothing else.
-(Acting like a train that makes a journey) Sleep, eat, catch, fuck... Go to sleep! - It is a circular
road.

That's why the world is the way it is. Because until now we men have handled it. And we don't want
to go anywhere! Sleep, eat, shit and fuck, nothing more. There is no plan, there is no Utopia.
And if they rush us... having sex is enough:
- (Concerned) Unemployment rates are reaching alarming levels! -
- (Relaxed) I don't know, I'm fucking... .
If you don't believe me, look at the men who have changed the world. Who are the men who have
changed the world? Men who didn't have sex.
Look at Marx... with that face he couldn't catch
Look at Freud's face... he didn't catch
Look at Jesus Christ... I'm not saying it... the Bible says it!!!

ANALYSIS
You will notice that the Set is divided into units separated by a space. Each unit of these is an
independent comedy unit. I could take it separate from the Set and it would work on its own.

Let's look at an example:

This is not my first trip. I have traveled a lot, I have met women all over the world... And
throughout the many trips and the many women I have met, I have learned something from them.
All over the world women have one thing in common, they are equal in one thing:
With me nothing... But nothing... nothing.

This is called BIT.

The Set is assembled by choosing which Bits of my material I want to make.

What is a Bit?
It is an independent comedy unit.
Something that doesn't need anything before or after to be funny. It has all the elements in itself to
make you laugh.

I mean, a joke?
Yes... but it can also be a Routine, a song, a dance, a pantomime, etc...

What is a Routine?
It is a series of jokes grouped under the same Premise.
It is the basis of a comedian's set.
Important: It is not a series of jokes grouped under the same TOPIC, I repeat it is a series of jokes
grouped under the same Premise.
The same Topic can have several Premises and therefore several Routines.

LET'S RETURN TO THE ANALYSIS:

This is not my first trip. I have traveled a lot, I have met women all over the world... And
throughout the many trips and the many women I have met, I have learned something from them.
All over the world women have one thing in common, they are equal in one thing:
With me nothing... But nothing... nothing.

Women have left me in every possible way. From the classic:

(In the tone of a capricious girl) I'm confused...-
- Confused…Confused…(Angry) Give me back the iPad, motherfucker!! -
Or Also: (In a sympathetic tone) The problem is not you, it's me... I like big penises!
Even the most original: (Thinking and doubting, he looks at me as if he didn't know me) …Who
were you?... ah yes, I don't love you anymore! -
But the prettiest, the prettiest was a girl who once told me: - (With a lot of love) I love you so much,
I love you so much... that I'm going to leave you so as not to hurt you. -
(Totally bewildered) I never understood what he meant to tell me...

Women are a mystery, a labyrinth. A labyrinth of contradictions.

(Pretending to get lost in a labyrinth) A contradiction leads you to another contradiction, which
leads you to another contradiction, which leads you to another contradiction
- (Playing angry mine) If you don't know what's happening to me, I'm not going to tell you! -
(Desperate) And how do I do it!!!... There is no manual!!!-

The Problem in relationships is that the woman is deep, complicated... and the man is simple.
Simple!!
The woman is a labyrinth, the man is a train track.
A train. It leaves the Sleep station and arrives at the station: Take. What is the Terminal? In the
middle is eating and shitting. Nothing else.
-(Acting like a train that makes a journey) Sleep, eat, catch, fuck... Go to sleep! - It is a circular
road.

That's why the world is the way it is. Because until now we men have handled it. And we don't want
to go anywhere! Sleep, eat, shit and fuck, nothing more. There is no plan, there is no Utopia.
And if they rush us... having sex is enough:
- (Concerned) Unemployment rates are reaching alarming levels! -
- (Relaxed) I don't know, I'm fucking... .
If you don't believe me, look at the men who have changed the world. Who are the men who have
changed the world? Men who didn't have sex.
Look at Marx... with that face he couldn't catch
Look at Freud's face... he didn't catch
Look at Jesus Christ... I'm not saying it... the Bible says it!!!

How many THEMES are there?

We could say that there is one: ¨The relationship between men and women¨.

How many BITS are there?

There are five. Two jokes and three routines

How many ROUTINES are there?

There are THREE with their corresponding jokes.

Let's see what they are:

JOKE 1
This is not my first trip. I have traveled a lot, I have met women all over the world... And
throughout the many trips and the many women I have met, I have learned something from them.
All over the world women have one thing in common, they are equal in one thing:
With me nothing... But nothing... nothing.
Premise: I'm a loser because women ignore me
Jokes that correspond to the premise: 1. A change of direction.

ROUTINE 1

Women have left me in every possible way. From the classic: (In the tone of a capricious girl) I'm
confused...-
- Confused…Confused…(Angry) Give me back the iPad, motherfucker!! -
Or Also: (In a sympathetic tone) The problem is not you, it's me... I like big penises!
Even the most original: (Thinking and doubting, he looks at me as if he didn't know me) …Who
were you?... ah yes, I don't love you anymore! -
But the prettiest, the prettiest was a girl who once told me: - (With a lot of love) I love you so much,
I love you so much... that I'm going to leave you so as not to hurt you. - (Totally disconcerted) I
never understood what he wanted to tell me...
Premise: Women leave me
Jokes that correspond to the premise: FOUR jokes in the form of ACT OUTS
Let's analyze the different jokes I make. The first is a change of address: (When I say: Give me back
the iPad!!.................... It is clear that she is not confused and that she is shitting me). The second is
a change of direction: (Normally this phrase ends in “it's me”, in this case I continue it with: I like
big penises… with which I close the change of direction). The third is an exaggeration: (He directly
does not remember me). The fourth is an obvious change of direction (The comment: I never
understood what he meant... IT'S NOT THE PICTURE, it's a BRIDGE, we'll see what it is about)

ROUTINE 2
Women are a mystery, a labyrinth. A labyrinth of contradictions.
(Pretending to get lost in a labyrinth) A contradiction leads you to another contradiction, which
leads you to another contradiction, which leads you to another contradiction
- (Playing angry Mina) If you don't know what's happening to me, I'm not going to tell you!
–
- (Desperate) And how do I do it!!!... There is no manual!!!- Premise: Women are
complicated.
Jokes that correspond to the premise: 2. An association (done as Act Out) AND An Act Out.

JOKE 2
The Problem in relationships is that the woman is deep, complicated... and the man is simple.
Simple!!
The woman is a labyrinth, the man is a train track.
A train. It leaves the Sleep station and arrives at the station: Take. What is the Terminal? In the
middle is eating and shitting. Nothing else.
-(Acting like a train that makes a journey) Sleep, eat, catch, fuck... Go to sleep! - It is a circular
road.
Premise: Man is simple.
Jokes that correspond to the premise:1. A joke by association in the form of Act out.

ROUTINE 3
That's why the world is the way it is. Because until now we men have handled it. And we don't want
to go anywhere! Sleep, eat, shit and fuck, nothing more. There is no plan, there is no Utopia.
And if they rush us... having sex is enough:
- (Concerned) Unemployment rates are reaching alarming levels! -

- (Relaxed) I don't know, I'm fucking... .

If you don't believe me, look at the men who have changed the world. Who are the men who have
changed the world? Men who didn't have sex.
Look at Marx... with that face he couldn't catch
Look at Freud's face... he didn't catch
Look at Jesus Christ... I'm not saying it... the Bible says it!!!
Premise: Men are only interested in sex.
Jokes that correspond to the premise: 2. An act Out and a change of direction.

Set structure
As I already said, a set is assembled with the BITS that we choose for a certain presentation or
ACT.

What is an Act?
It is the presentation we must make.

In the act we have to take into account:

1) The type of show and our position in it.
2) The duration of our presentation.
3) The public to which it is directed.
We will see these issues in depth, for now let's see how we structure the set for our presentation:
What defines the Bit Order for me?
Understanding this is very important for the greatest effectiveness of my Set.
¡) The set is NOT defined by a thematic issue.
There can be a set that is all one track or multiple tracks. The order of the songs is not what defines
the order of the set.
2) The Set is NOT defined by a question of dramatic structure.
I am not telling a comic story, remember that this is not theater. The order of the bits is not defined
by a story that I have to tell or by a chronological issue or anything like that. It may seem that I am
telling a story and that it has a dramatic structure, but the true reason for the order and structure of
the Set is something else.
So…
What defines the Structure and Order of my Set?
The act.

These are the questions I have to ask myself: 1) What style of show am I presenting in?

Is it my sole proprietorship?
Am I part of a stand up group? If so... in what position do I come out? I am the presenter, the first, I
am in the middle, I am the closing.
Am I invited to a stable show? Is it a rotating comedian show?

3) How long does my presentation last?

If it is my one-person job, it usually lasts between an hour and an hour and a half maximum. If I'm
in a stable show, between 15 and 25 minutes. If I go as a guest it can normally last from 3 to 15
minutes. The length of the presentation is important in the type of bits I should choose, the shorter it
is, the more effective and powerful the bits I use should be. We will see it in depth.

4) What audience is it aimed at?

What is the physical location?
A bar, a theater, a social event, etc…
What type of neighborhood is the presentation in?
Is it an urban audience? Is it a public from the interior?
What cultural level?
Of what social class?
Is it a heterogeneous audience?
A theater, a place of public access, etc…
Is it an audience from a certain social group?
A bar in a certain neighborhood, a country club, a benefit, a club of a certain racial or social
minority, an event of a certain group, etc...
Is there a predominant age type?
Can I be politically incorrect?
Should I be suitable for everyone?
Is it outside my city?
Is it outside my country?
etc

Once I have an idea of the Act I must perform, I perform the corresponding Set. One more time…

How do I structure my Set? How do I choose which Bits to do and in what order?????
Looking for the laughter curve…

Laughter curve of the Act:

This is the map of the optimal energy of the Act.
As you can see, it is an energy curve that rises quickly at the beginning, maintains itself throughout
the journey and ends in a great ending.
This box tells us which Bits I have to choose and in what order. The set is put together based on
achieving this energy curve. Let's see a little what it is about:
It is a Cartesian graph or XY axis. This means that we take two things into account to form a curve.
In this case, on the vertical axis (Y axis) we take the public reaction and on the horizontal axis (X
axis) the duration of the event. In other words: The blue curve tells us what the reaction of the
public we are looking for is, throughout the duration of the event.

What are the reactions we can have during an act?

ATTENTION: Let's call it the midpoint. The public is attentive, follows us, reacts to our speech,
but... without expressing itself too much. Its not all bad. At least we are not alone on stage, they are
listening to us. It is not what the professional comedian is looking for (in fact, this alone is not
enough for us, damn egos), but believe me, for many beginner comedians, getting the attention of
the public is already a challenge. achievement…

Up:
LAUGHTER: The public is not only attentive but they laugh. Our jokes work! For a professional
comedian it is the starting point, for a beginner comedian it is often an achievement...
LAUGHTER AND APPLAUSE: Now if we are talking, this is what the true comedian looks for as
an average of his act. He doesn't want the public to just laugh at his jokes, he wants them to
celebrate and applaud them. The thing that every professional comedian hopes for and every
beginning comedian craves.
OVATION: The true objective of the Act. The comedian who does not intend to receive an ovation
at the end of his act does not deserve to be called a comedian. Many beginners think that it is a rare
thing that happens once in a while. Professional comedians wait for you in each and every one of
our acts.

Down :
DISTRACTION: The public is distracted, they lose track of what we are saying. It's not that he's
bored, he's distracted. A curse for the comedian. Many times it can happen to us during the act that
the audience is distracted, sometimes it can be because of our material (false premises, poor images,
too long feet, etc.), sometimes it can be our fault (distraction on stage, blood sausage, a hypnotic and
boring rhythm) and sometimes because of the environment (a glass falls, a cell phone rings,
someone makes a noise or speaks during our performance). Do not underestimate the distraction of
the public, it is the comedian's number one enemy. We will see how to combat it later in the
Economics chapter and also when we talk about Energy and Public Management in BOOK 2. Don't
feel bad if at the beginning of your career it is the daily bread of your actions, it is normal. That the
public is only distracted when we speak at the beginning of our career is to have an auspicious
beginning.
BOREDOM: The comedian's hell. All the jokes fall like dead. We feel the public slowly falling
asleep. It is torture for both the audience and the comedian, who only thinks about when to finish so
he can leave. And know this, it happens to all beginning comedians. At first, getting them to just be
distracted and not get bored is already a triumph! Cheer up!!! We have all been there.
I'M LEAVING: It happens. The audience gets up and leaves in the middle of the event. Sometimes
they cry out for their money back. Happens.
It has happened to all of us at some point in our careers. If it has never happened to you, it is
because you have not acted enough. Comedians are tested here. The true comedian learns from his
mistakes and improves. And pray that it never happens again… NOTE: If it happens to you often, it
may:
1) You are a misunderstood genius. (very rare)
2) Yours is culinary or another form of Art. (Quite more likely)

How do we organize our material in time?

We divide it into three blocks, which do not last the same amount of time.

1) THE OPENING:
It is the first BIT or, at most, the first two or three Bits of my material.
It's not the first third of my material, it's much less.
It is the first blow I give to the spectator. In the case of a standard material, 15-20 minutes, the first
3 minutes at most.
In the case of a long material, one-person type of 60 minutes or more) I can take 5 - 7 minutes for
the opening, but no more.
What is asked of the material in the opening?
In the blue curve of the graph you can see that during the opening the material is asked to take the
audience's reaction from a situation of possible DISTRACTION to a situation of LAUGHTER. In
this block it is requested that the curve ascend QUICKLY AND WITHOUT DIFFICULTIES.
Therefore, what type of material should I choose for my opening?
This is where, knowing the type of act I must do and answering the previous questions:
1) What style of show am I presenting in?
2) How long is my presentation?
3) What audience is it aimed at?...

I choose the ideal BITS for my OPENING.

In other words: The Bits that will allow me to move up quickly and without difficulties from
DISTRACTION to LAUGHTER.

For this to happen my OPENING BITS must meet the following characteristics:

A) THEY MUST BE UNIVERSAL.

I must be sure that they will be easily understood and assimilated by the public to whom my act is
directed.
Example: Do not open with material on Quantum Physics unless it is at a physicists' convention.
Or too politically incorrect if you're not sure the public will accept you.

B) AS POSSIBLE THEY SHOULD BE RELATIVELY SIMPLE.

It is not advisable to open with material that requires too much work from the viewer. In general, it
is not advisable to ask too much of a car without warming up the engines first.
I have to clarify that I know many comedians who choose exactly the opposite. They open with very
complex material to wake the viewer up with a slap and warn them of what is coming. To choose
this path you have to have rest, if you are going to open with complex and shocking material, you
better maintain that level throughout your act and even surpass it at the end. Examples of materials
not advisable for the opening: A very complex association of images. whose cultural images are not
very universal. A word game that requires too much work to solve. Any joke that needs too much
information or setting up the premise too well before getting to the punchline. Etc..

C) YOU MUST GIVE ME SECURITY AND INSTALL ME.

The opening material has to make me feel firm on stage. That way I will be able to manage my
energy and my presentation perfectly. It has to be material that I like to do, that I enjoy doing and
that does not create conflicts in my first relationship with the public. It is for this reason that many
comedians who have a politically incorrect or complex style choose to break the previous rule (B) in
the opening and open with an especially complex or shocking Bit. My advice is: You have to have a
lot of stage before you can handle a complex style really well and generally that style is not sought
after, it happens naturally. Don't force your opening and only break the previous rule when you are
confident and INSTALL YOUR STYLE and not to show that you have it.
This concept is one of the reasons why COMIC IMAGE is so important.
Your IMAGE is part of your opening, it is the first thing you say.
This is why we deal with the ELEPHANT image in the first Bits. We manage it so that it DOES
NOT manage us. If our image is too powerful (AN ELEPHANT), we use the OPENING BITS to
install ourselves where we want, before the public installs us where we DON'T want.

D) IT MUST BE VERY POWERFUL.

Aaah didn't I tell you?
The opening material, in addition to meeting the above requirements, has to be VERY funny.

It has to have very powerful images, hilarious Act Outs, explosive endings, etc…
Look at the curve on the graph.
It has to bring the public to LAUGHTER.
Remember, it has to be funny, really REALLY FUNNY.
NOTE: In a short act (3-5 minutes) all the material is considered as if it were opening material
except the last Bit which is the Closing, sorry...

EXAMPLE:
Let's look at the Set I made in Montevideo as an example of Apertura material.
1st. BIT:
Hi how are things? My name is Alejandro Angelini
I'm Argentinian... (Pause) that's not funny, I know.
(Dejected) It's more of an accident...
The first thing I do is recognize the ELEPHANT. Believe me, being an Argentine in Uruguay is an
ELEPHANT. The Image of Argentine has a very strong charge in many Latin American countries.
(I said strong image so as not to say negative, I am Argentine after all...)

2nd. BIT:
I love Montevideo, but one thing that made me sad is seeing that here, like in Buenos Aires, you
also find people begging, drunks who live on the street. Very sad, in the corner of my hotel there is
a drunk begging. Step into the morning... there's the guy, drunk, begging. In the afternoon... he is
drunk, begging... Before coming here I see him, poor, drunk, begging... When do you buy alcohol?
I use this joke to get out of the ELEPHANT. Notice how I start from the ELEPHANT and end with
another topic that has nothing to do with it. Furthermore, this material seeks an identification
between what happens to ALL the inhabitants of a big city.

3rd BIT
I confess, I am an Argentine who does not understand anything about football. What's more, I am
disabled from football. My Father desperately tried to make me understand, he took me to the
square, he threw the ball at me... (Act Out of ball that hits me without any reaction from me) - tuc!
knock Knock! nothing…-
It had nothing to do with the ball, so my dad thought I should sleep with it to see if it was cool. I
have scoliosis from that time, nothing more. My mother, who was very tender, painted a face on the
ball, so that it would take affection. That worked, but when I went to the square and saw the boys
playing, I shouted:
- (Desperate as if they were kicking my pet) Not Puffy! , to Puffi noooo! -
This material has a very fun Act Out at the end, which I have a lot of fun doing and ends high in a
heartbreaking scream that always causes an explosion in the audience.

2) THE MIDDLE.
Here is the rest and pleasure of the comedian. It represents the large part of the material, between
the opening and closing. As you will see in the graph, it is a plateau (Blue Line) that is actually the
result of the bits that manage the public's reaction between LAUGHTER AND APPLAUSE and
ATTENTION (A sinuous curve that goes up and down and averages laughter ).
The important thing in this part is to never lose the ATTENTION of the public and to always be as
much as possible within the LAUGHTER. Therefore:
What requirement must the Bits included in this part of the Act meet?
Be funny and work for the audience to which the event is directed. Nothing else.
Here are the Bits that I like. They may not be so universal. Be Complex.
Of course everything I say has to be powerful, but I can afford to say some things that just keep the
laughs going without being explosive. It's where we can treat ourselves. A place for the most
delicate luxuries to the palate.

SPECIAL NOTE:
This is the part where we comedians try out our newest material. We mix the new material with
proven material in the middle of our Set.
NEVER TRY NEW MATERIAL AT YOUR OPENING OR CLOSING.

3) THE CLOSING.
The big end. The Big Bang. Americans say: "Always close with a Bang."
It is the moment of our Act in which we seek the OVATION. They are the last 2 or 3 bits. But
especially the last bit. It has to be our most powerful bit. I repeat: It has to be our MOST
POWERFUL BIT.
It may be complex or politically incorrect, if we have done our job well they have already bought
us. That it is Powerful is the only thing that matters, leaving people screaming and asking for more.

SUMMARY:
At the Opening our Bits must be:
Universal, Simple, Install us and give us security and Powerful.
In the middle:
We provide the luxuries, what costs us the most and the new material.
At Closing:
The most powerful thing we have.

THE BRIDGE:
As I already said, what defines the order of the SET is given by the public's Reaction curve and not
by a Dramatic or Thematic issue.
Many times the comedian feels the need to give a dramatic justification to the order of the BITS.
This happens especially when changing TOPIC, but can happen within the same TOPIC when
changing BIT.
It's as if we needed a glue to give unity to our SET. That is why comedians often add Phrases or
Comments between BITS to serve as BRIDGES.
Let's look at an example:
Comedian X chose to add some Bridges to his SET
 SetX
Premise -.............—
Joke -..................... Bit 1 (Routine)
Joke .......................

Premise-------------
Joke ----------------
Joke ----------------
Joke ----------------

Joke ..................... Bit 3 (Joke)

Premise -...............
Joke --------------- Bit 4 (Routine)
Joke ---------------

Premise ------------
Joke ----------------
Joke----------------- Bit 5 (Routine)
Joke-----------------

Joke ----------------- Bit 6 (Joke)

BRIDGE

Comic Song - - Bit 7 (Song)

J.

It's really NOT necessary. The best comedians don't need to use bridges. EVERY PREMISE IS A
BRIDGE.
If you have your premise well stated, the pause that the audience's LAUGHTER gives you at the
end of the previous BIT is more than enough to enter the Bit that continues.
But if you feel that you need to add a BRIDGE, it is good that you follow the following tips:

1) THE SHORTER A BRIDGE, THE BETTER IT IS.

Like any good bridge, the longer it is, the more chances you have of falling and drowning. Many
beginning comedians make very long bridges that make the viewer dizzy and lose their attention.
That's death on stage.
That's why the classic bridges of joke tellers are very short: This reminds me of:...
Speaking of... (referring to some image from the previous joke) When I was coming here ... The
other day it happened to me that ...Etc...
You've probably heard these types of bridges. I don't advise you to use them, they are very used and
will give you the image of a cheap comedian. But they are widely used because they work. They
don't waste your time and take you directly to where you want to go.
Maintain the spirit of these bridges and try to make yours as simple and synthetic as possible.
possible.
2) A PAUSE IS ALWAYS A BRIDGE.
Verdaguer, a famous Argentine comedian, used his cigar as Puente. Between jokes he took a long
drag on his cigarette, which gave him the necessary pause to change the subject. Some comedians
use a glass of water as an element to generate the pause. That drink of water they take between their
Bits is the Bridge they need. Some use a little dance or some corporal way to show the pause (Eddie
Izzard, great English comedian, for example). Nowadays, good comedians simply pause and let the
audience's laughter be the bridge.

3) ALWAYS TRY TO MAKE YOUR BRIDGE IN THE FORM OF A JOKE.

The best bridge is a joke that serves as a bridge. That's why before the Marrone catchphrase was
used so much, another great Argentine comedian used his famous catchphrase: -Cheeee-
The filler works as a bridge and as a joke at the same time. (I will talk about filler later)

Whenever I use bridges I try to disguise them in a joke. Let's look at an example of my Previous set.
Women have left me in every possible way. From the classic:
(In the tone of a capricious girl) I'm confused...-
- Confused…Confused…(Angry) Give me back the iPad, motherfucker!! -
Or Also: (With a sympathetic tone) The problem is not you, it's me... I like big penises! -
Even the most original: (Thinking and doubting, he looks at me as if he didn't know me) …Who
were you?... ah yes, I don't love you anymore! -
But the prettiest, the prettiest was a girl who once told me: - (With a lot of love) I love you so much,
I love you so much... that I'm going to leave you so as not to hurt you. - (Totally disconcerted) I
never understood what he wanted to tell me...

Women are a mystery, a labyrinth. A labyrinth of contradictions.

(Pretending to get lost in a labyrinth) A contradiction leads you to another contradiction, which
leads you to another contradiction, which leads you to another contradiction
- (Playing angry mine) If you don't know what's happening to me, I'm not going to tell you! -
- (Desperate) And how do I do it!!!... There is no manual!!!-
Notice how my last joke of the first routine (The 4th) allows me to establish how complicated
women are, which is precisely the premise of my next BIT. This is due to the intrinsic nature of the
number four that forces me to change my path. (We already saw it previously)
The Freedom offered by the BIT:
Why don't comedians talk about monologues?
What is the importance of thinking about comedy bits to put together the SET?
The monologue is something rigid, which has a dramatic structure, which does not change in its
essence in any of the functions.
The SET is something fluid, alive, that is modified depending on the act that I must perform and
whose only guide is to bring the audience to the Ovation.
Many times we have to change our set in the middle of the act because the audience is not reacting
the way we expected.
That is why we think in bits, because bits are independent units, therefore they can be rearranged
and moved around as desired. That ability of the bit to enter and exit and be said in any position is
what gives fluidity to our Set.

Can a bit be said at any time and in any position?

YEAH.
We just need to slightly modify the FEET or add a comment to the FINISH of the bits.
This is why comedians don't need Bridges. What we comedians do is modify our bits slightly so
that they also serve as Bridges.
Let's look at the following excerpt from my Set:

Women are a mystery, a labyrinth. A labyrinth of contradictions. (Pretending to get lost in a

labyrinth) A contradiction leads you to another contradiction, which leads you to another
contradiction, which leads you to another contradiction
(Playing angry mine) If you don't know what's happening to me, I'm not going to tell you! -
- (Desperate) And how do I do it!!! There is no manual!!!-

The Problem in relationships is that the woman is deep, complicated... and the man is simple .
Simple!!
The woman is a labyrinth, the man is a train track.
A train. It leaves the Sleep station and arrives at the station: Take. What is the Terminal? In the
middle is eating and shitting. Nothing else.
-(Acting like a train that makes a journey) Sleep, eat, shit, fuck... Go to sleep! -
It is a circular road.

Let's analyze this last Bit.

What is the Premise? The man is simple.
It could easily be said without needing the first sentence: The problem in relationships is that the
woman is deep, complicated... and the man is simple.
Why do I say this then?
To enter the Premise: “ Man is simple ”, coming from the Premise: “ Woman is complicated ”.
If I had NOT said the previous BIT, this BIT could be said like this:

Let's face it! Men are simple.

Simple!! Simple as a train track.

A train. It leaves the Dormir station and arrives at the station… Take it. What is the Terminal? In
the middle is eating and shitting. Nothing else.
-(Acting like a train that makes a journey) Sleep, eat, shit, fuck... Go to sleep! - It is a circular road.

THE CHOICE OF THE SHAPE THAT I GIVE TO THE FOOT, IN THIS CASE, IS TO INSTALL
A CERTAIN BIT AFTER ANOTHER, WITHOUT THE NEED OF BRIDGES.
EVERY BIT CAN BE SAY IN THE ORDER I WANT AND WITHOUT THE NEED OF ANY
BRIDGE
Practice 9

This is the moment of truth.

Imagine that you are going to do an event on Corrientes Street in the City of Buenos Aires.
For those who don't know, it is a fairly heterogeneous audience, between 25 and 50 years old,
middle class in general.
You have the time you need to do it.
The show is at 11:00 p.m. (Not suitable for minors)
Think...
Choose from your material (All the jokes you've been writing) which Bits you want to do and in
what order. Put the bridges that you feel they need and give them the best Order that you see fit.
Congratulations! You have written your first Set.

Now think again:

You have to perform in a very cool bar in Palermo Viejo. (Barcool in cool neighborhood)
This time at 00:30 am.
For those who don't know, the audience is a rather young audience, between 20 and 35 years old,
middle class. High average .
Put together a set for that Act. Always with your clear material

Now you have a new show:

It's at a neighborhood club at 7 p.m. There are going to be a lot of children. The public is of all ages
(0 to 75 years) from the lower-middle class. Build another Set.

It is important that you discover that the Bits can be modified and ordered in the way that suits you
best.
Don't sacralize your material!!!!
EVERYTHING can be modified
 Chapter 10

Economy
The economy of material is one of the most important topics in Stand Up. Let's understand well
what we mean when we say ECONOMY.
The definition of economics is: “The optimization of resources” And it is exactly that. It's not just
about being synthetic, although synthesis is important in stand up.

The definition of ECONOMY in Stand Up would be:

“The fair and perfect way to make a material so that it shines at its maximum power”

Finding economy in a material is finding just the right images and the perfect shape for the material
to shine. It has to do with the structure and also with the energy of the material. To find the
Economy of a material you have to ask yourself a key question:

Where is the funny thing?

As simple as this question seems, it is the key to finding the Economy of a material.

Where is the funny thing? What was fun for me when writing this material?
That is something that resonates deep within one. Why did I think of this material? What was it that
made me laugh?
And once I find it, how do I make it shine?
In order to answer this question there is a concept that I have to talk about first: “The Resources of
Humor”
Humor Resources
Humor is a relationship.
In the construction of the material, it is a relationship between the comedian and the world around
him. The comedian relates in a certain way to reality, with a certain attitude or point of view, and
this relationship generates the material.
In the Act, it is a relationship between the comedian and the audience. The comedian relates to the
audience in a certain way when he is delivering his material. The material is communicated in a
relationship.
In that relationship laughter arises.
Every relationship is a communication. And in all communication there is a transformation in the
other. What the comedian communicates produces an effect on the audience.
That effect is what allows the joke to shine. All material seeks a type of relationship with the public
to produce a certain effect.
Those effects that the material seeks to provoke in the public are called Humor Resources.

These are: Surprise, Identification, Absurdity, Repetition and Saturation and Catharsis.

1) THE SURPRISE:
Many times our material seeks to surprise the viewer.

When we say an exaggeration joke like:

“My girlfriend is so fat that when she steps on the scale, the scale says: To be continued.”
The auction image is such an exaggeration that we don't see it coming.
We are surprised.
That surprise generates an energetic jump in the viewer, which pushes Laughter.

Let's see another joke with another structure.

I'm going to take a change of direction joke, from my Material. (Note that by slightly changing the
Foot, this BIT stands on its own)
On the corner of my house there is a drunk begging.
Step into the morning... there's the guy, drunk, begging. In the afternoon... he is drunk begging...
Before coming here I see him, poor, drunk, begging...
When do you buy alcohol?
This change of direction produces surprise in the viewer.
That surprise makes us laugh.

Notice that I used two different structures to break the logic of the Foot. In one case an exaggeration
and in the other a change of direction.
They are two different structures that IN THIS CASE rely on the resource of Surprise.
The resources of humor are not tied to the structure of the joke (change of direction, exaggeration,
play on words, etc...). Different jokes can share the same structure but rely on different humor
resources.

The material that relies on the resource of surprise seeks to provoke in the viewer a comment such
as: - Que HdP! I did not see him coming! I was surprised! -
Have you ever found yourself saying this while laughing at a comedian's material? That is what we
look for when our material relies on the resource of Surprise.

CLUE:
The key to making a material that relies on the resource of Surprise shine is NOT TO SEE IT
COMING.
The FOOT has to have the right images and it has to be said in the perfect way so that you don't see
the surprise coming, but when it arrives it HAS TO CLOSE PERFECTLY.

2) THE IDENTIFICATION:
Other times our material seeks to provoke identification between the audience and the comedian.
This almost always happens in the comedian's most personal material.

Let's look at another BIT from my material as an example:

Women have left me in every possible way. From the classic:
(In the tone of a capricious girl) I'm confused...-
- Confused...Confused...(Angry) Give me back the iPad, motherfucker!! -
Or also:
(In a sympathetic tone) The problem is not you, it's me... I like big penises! - Even the most original:
(Thinking and doubting, he looks at me as if he didn't know me) …Who were you?... ah yes, I don't
love you anymore! -
But the prettiest, the prettiest was a girl who once told me:
(With lots of love) I love you so much, I love you so much... that I'm going to leave you so as not to
hurt you. - (Totally bewildered) I never understood what he meant to tell me.
This routine has several Act Outs (with two different structures as we have already seen), all
supported by the identification produced in the public by the way the women have treated me. The
public identifies with my suffering. We have all been losers at some point, men and women. We can
all identify with that feeling. This is very important: despite talking about being a loser with women,
the identification is with the feeling of feeling like a loser. This identifies everyone equally: Men
and Women.

Remember that I said that: THE POWER IS ALWAYS IN THE ONE WHO LAUGHES. When we
identify with the comedian in a feeling, we can laugh at that feeling. - It's not that bad, the
comedian is worse than me... - We can overcome that feeling, in this case we are more than losers.
That charges us energetically. Identification generates an energetic charge, which also pushes
Laughter. Surely you have ever laughed at a comedian thinking: - He is just like that!! The same
happens to me!!!-
That's identification.

CLUE:
The key to identifying a joke is emotionally, never rationally. We identify with what the comedian
feels, not with what the comedian says.

Why can we watch an Iranian movie about a farmer who is taking care of his goats and get excited?
It's not because we are interested in the adventures of an Iranian goat keeper.
It is because we identify with the feelings that his adventures generate in him.
Why do we say that “Hamlet” is universal?
It is not because the tribulations of a Danish prince are familiar to us. It's not because we can relate
to his father's murder at the hands of his uncle. Much less with the appearance of his father's ghost
asking for revenge.
It is universal because WE IDENTIFY with the anxieties and doubts, the feelings, that these events
produce.

Identification is always emotional, it is never rational.

Many beginning comedians think that they identify with the themes they address or the concepts
they say. It is not like this. Identification is through the feelings that these themes and concepts
produce.

Where is the key to making a material that relies on the resource of Identification shine? In the
attitude that generated that material. All material was generated from an attitude, in identification
material it is very important that this attitude manifests itself in the form of feeling.

3) THE ABSURD
The absurd is one of the most beautiful and effective resources to use. Sometimes our material
introduces the viewer to an unreal world, absurd but sustained by discourse.
The viewer enters a new world with its own rules but as real as the one they live daily.
This can happen in a joke, in a routine, or in an entire set.
There are comedians who have made absurdity their style.
Woody Allen, The Marx Brothers, Buster Keaton, Diego Capusotto here in Argentina, are clear
examples of masters in the use of this resource.

I highly recommend looking for a Woody Allen routine called “THE MOOSE”, on You Tube, you
can find it at: https://youtu.be/_I5EBQQ9SJU

An example of absurdity is the joke of the brilliant Hugo Fili:

Did you see those signs on the street with a photo of a dog that says: - I got lost -?
Fucking dog! You took the photo. You made the posters with the phrase:-I got lost-. You stuck them
all over the city...
And you're not able to call your owner?
Tell him: -Look, I got lost... I'm on such a corner... pick me up, I'll pay for the taxi...-
This joke, by Hugo's association, relies on the resource of the absurd.
Hugo takes advantage of the absurdity of the custom of making a poster with a photo of a dog and
saying: “I got lost”, in the first person as if the Dog had done it. What does Hugo do? It takes that
absurdity and makes it real.
Materials that rely on absurdity usually leave the viewer with a phrase like: - How crazy!!! The
things that occur to this guy...-

CLUE:
The key when making absurd material is that the new logic proposed is perfect.
If we are going to modify the rules of reality and propose new rules, these rules have to be well
established and work logically within my new world. If I am going to invent a new reality I can't
cheat, it has to be more perfect and believable than the true reality.
For example:
Within the new world that the Superman comic presents, this is an alien who obtains powers due to
the difference between the sun of his home world and our sun. This gives him a series of
superpowers such as: more strength, x-ray vision, more speed, the ability to fly, etc... This absurd
new world in which Superman exists tells us that he can perform all of these feats because of his
different physical and molecular structure and the way he reacts to our Sun. But Superman does not
perform magic, he is not a magician, he cannot perform miracles. Superman's followers accept the
absurdity and continue his adventures. But... if in some adventure, Superman makes his enemy
disappear in a magic trick instead of hitting him, there would be a rebellion among the readers. They
would shout: - Trap!!!!-
Because? Because Superman's rules of absurdity do not stipulate that the hero does Magic.

It is very important that the viewer enters this new world with the rules very clear and that these do
not contradict each other. Superman is an alien, NOT a magical being.
In the previous example the Dog behaves exactly as we imagine the person who posted the sign
behaved.

Another example of smaller absurdity:

I confess, I am an Argentine who does not understand anything about football. What's more, I am
disabled from football. My desperate Father tried to make me understand, he took me to the square,
he threw the ball at me... (Act Out of ball that hits me without any reaction from me) - tuc! knock
Knock! nothing... - It had nothing to do with the ball, so my old man thought I should sleep with it
to see if it was cool. I have scoliosis from that time, nothing more.
My mother, who was very sweet, painted a face on the ball, so that it would take affection. That
worked, but when I went to the square and saw the boys playing, I shouted:
- (Desperate as if they were kicking my pet) Not Puffy! , to Puffi noooo!-
For the absurdity that I believe that the ball is my mascot to work, I first have to properly establish
my inability to relate to the Game of soccer and the ball as part of that game.

4) REPETITION AND SATURATION.

Repetition gives us a feeling of security.
I don't know why, but it is installed in Man. Knowing what is surely going to come calms us. That
feeling of security triggers the Mother Premise: I have power over... in this case what I am seeing.
That pushes our Laughter.
But beware! If we abuse repetition we can get bored.
As we have seen in Chapter 8 “Economics and Numbers”, repeating something more than four
times requires a change. If we are going to repeat something more than four times, then we really
have to go deep.

We have to go towards Saturation.

This resource relies exclusively on the energetic nature of laughter.
There is an old axiom of comedy that says: “One kick in the ass is painful… Ten kicks in the ass are
funny… One hundred kicks is a laugh.”
In the silent films of Chaplin and others, this resource was used a lot. When one abuses repetition,
an energetic charge is generated in the viewer who looks for a way out. Like a coiling spring. The
way to release the tension that saturation causes is Laughter.
It is one of the oldest ways of making jokes. A clear example is the routine of the clowns getting out
of a car. It works because they never end up leaving. Clowns get out and get out of a small car that it
is not possible for them to get into. That's saturation... and absurd of course.

In stand up we use it a lot in the way we build routines. Many times we saturate the viewer with
examples and images, increasing the energy in the Foot more and more until when we feel that the
viewer can't take it anymore... we give them a break with the Finish. We are going from less to
more, but we are really going to more. We drop the viewer from a high position.

Example of other material of mine:

I am separated. When you separate, you grow a lot, really, you mature. He rethinks his life.
My ex-wife is an actress, in the three years that we have been separated: She reconsidered her
career, worked on television, was nominated for the Martín Fierro, starred in a film, worked on
radio, dated a high-ranking TV executive, separated again, met another man, found at last! to the
love of his life, he remarried, he got pregnant!!!!…
And I!!!… I fucked a chubby girl.
This is a joke of a change of direction, but it relies on the device of Saturation. I am increasing the
number of my ex-wife's achievements and I am getting excited until at the peak of energy, I
decompress with my only achievement.

Another way to use the Saturation resource is in Word game routines. They are those routines that
are built based on a single resource that is repeated ad nauseam. For example, tell a story only by
repeating the names of songs, or cars, or actors, etc.

CLUE:
To rely on the resource of Saturation you do not have to stay halfway. That is: either we install the
concept in a Foot with the right images and the right words or we REALLY overextend ourselves.
Staying halfway when we want to use the Saturation resource is NOTHING.

5) THE CATHASIS
Catharsis is an emotional release.
It is also directly connected to the energetic nature of laughter.
It is not exactly a resource in itself, it is taking the resource of IDENTIFICATION to the extreme so
that the emotion that that Identification contains is discharged.
The comedian performs Catharsis on stage and downloads what the spectator does not dare to
download in public. The viewer responds to that release with an energetic release in the form of
laughter. What the viewer thinks is: - Wow, that's how he dared to say it!!!
To do Catharsis is to shout, insult, cry, spill any emotion that the material contains but that is not
convenient to demonstrate in public. WORKS.

Sam Kinison, American comedian, knew how to take this resource to the form of art. You can see it
on YouTube:
https://youtu.be/vdd_LJgws1c

Many comedians have based their careers solely on the resource of CATARSIS. Enrique Pinti is an
Argentine example of a career supported by this resource.
An example of this resource in my material is when I make the joke:
Women have left me in every possible way: From the classic:
(In the tone of a capricious girl) I'm confused...-
- Confused...Confused...(Angry) Give me back the iPad, motherfucker!! -
In this Bit I try to do CATARSIS when I scream: -Give me back the iPad, motherfucker!! -.
In that part I try to let all the anguish of having been left and humiliated spill over. People
ALWAYS laugh and the punch line is NOT a big deal, however it is supported by the resource of
CATARSIS.

CLUE:
It is so powerful to do Catharsis on stage that it can become a trap for any comedian. It is the first
way to finish off any observation that appears to us. Bad words placed at the right moment are a
form of CATARSIS and we all know that they always generate a laugh. Many comedians have lost
their talent and generated mediocre material by ABUSING this resource.
BEWARE: The berret comedians believe that making observations about life and then doing
CATARSIS on them is doing stand up. IT IS NOT, doing that is being a stupid comedian, nothing
more. The key to CATARSIS is NOT TO ABUSE and always use it as a resource to support a
punchline and not as a punchline in itself.

SPECIAL NOTE ON RESOURCES

Like everything in comedy, this is not rigid.
I can have several Resources that complement each other. I can make an Identification based on the
Absurdity. Or an Absurdity supported by Surprise, Etc... The important thing is to define FOR ME
what is the most important resource that I am using. What is the main resource? I have to take care
of all the resources I use, but especially the main one.
JOKES BUILT ON REPETITION

CALL BACK
The Call back is a joke that plays with repetition within the structure of a set. The translation would
be: “Call again.” It is about taking an image or a concept from one bit and then repeating it in
another bit. The key to Call Back is to change the context of this image and make the image work
the same.

Let's see with a Call Back of my material:

In one part of my Set I am talking about what divorce is.
Being separated has its vibe. At first it's fantastic
(Happy and Liberated) I'm naked, eating pizza and looking at Tinelli !!… and What!!! –
Then it's...
(Depressed) I'm naked, eating pizza and looking at Tinelli... What did I do?... What happened?...
How did it end like this -
I continue with my Set and go through other topics and jokes...
After a while and having gone through several topics, I talk about death and what happens when
one dies...
They say that when you die you leave your body.
Did you hear that? One leaves the body and floats... and sees everything from above. You float and
see yourself... Down there...
What must be the first hell:
(Angry) Naked, eating pizza and looking at Tinelli...What did you do? –

This is a Call Back.

I bring back an image that was in one bit and recreate it in another bit in a totally different context.
Call Backs when working with repetition are incredibly powerful. A well-placed Call Back is an
explosion of laughter.

RUNNING GAG
The Running Gag is a List Joke that is completed over the course of a set.
The literal translation would be: “Running joke”
It is a joke that is repeated and seems like a Call back but then it appears again and is finished much
higher. Work the magic of the number Three. It's like a list joke hidden among the material.
The key to a Running Gag is the crescendo.
Each appearance of the image or joke must grow in intensity until the third one must finish high.
Do you remember the Call Back from the previous example?
Many times with that I build a Running Gag.
I continue talking about what those who died for a while and came back say, about the journey to
reach heaven and meet your relatives, and then cross the light. In that part I say:
But no one knows what happens after the light. Those who have returned to tell us did not cross. It's
a mystery…

I think it's because on the other side of the light is God... (Screaming) Naked, eating pizza and
looking at Tinelli!! …
That's a Running Gag. Notice that the third repetition closes the list joke.

Note:
Like all List Jokes, the Running Gag can have a fourth appearance, but in this case, this appearance
of the joke must comply with the characteristics of number 4 and change the essence of what is
repeated.
For example :
If I continue the Set and later in another BIT I install another character. I can talk about the fact that
I surprised this character by opening a door and there asking the public:
Imagine how I found it?
(I can bring the microphone closer so they can answer. Someone is sure to say: - Naked, eating
pizza and looking at Tinelli!!!-)
There I cut and say: No... reading a book...-

TAG
The filler is a form of joke that relies solely on repetition. Basically it is a phrase or a grimace that is
repeated throughout the Act. This phrase or grimace defines the character and the way they would
act in a certain situation. It is linked to the characteristics of the comedian and his stage persona.
The grace is in the Repetition.
The crutch works in a basic and primitive place of the Human Being. Once a filler is installed, we
are waiting for the comedian to say it so we can laugh. It's incredibly powerful and it's incredibly
basic.

What is the key to installing a crutch?

The filler has to exactly define my character at the moment I say it.
Nobody doubts what Olmedo meant when he said to Javier Portales: - Did you bring me the girl?
-
Or Guillermo Francella when he looked at a model and said: - She's a girl. -
Both fillers perfectly defined the character in a certain situation.

In modern Stand Up it is about not abusing this resource, it has the smell of old humor. But I must
admit that many careers were sustained thanks to a couple of good crutches...
ECONOMY AND SYNTHESIS
Let's remember the definition of ECONOMY in Stand Up:
“The fair and perfect way to make a material so that it shines at its maximum power”

This does not necessarily tell us that in Economics everything always has to be Brief. Many times a
Pie must be extensive because the Economy of the material requires it. Some structures such as
changing direction sometimes ask me for an extended Foot to establish a very clear and powerful
direction before changing it.
Some resources like surprise are the same.
Or I want to use the resource of Identification and a more extensive and descriptive bit helps me to
install my emotion
All structures and resources can have a justification for extensive material.

But... When in doubt...

When you do not have a clear and very precise reason for being extensive:
"LESS IS MORE"
Always when in doubt, prefer the Synthesis over the overabundance of words.

How do I find the synthesis of a material?

1) I look for the most powerful Images to say what I am saying.
The key is finding the right images.

2) Always when in doubt, think that:

“If I'm saying something with 20 words and I can say the same thing with 10, it's more powerful to
say it with 10.” Don't waste time with descriptions unless you're going somewhere or have a clear
purpose.

3) In Stand Up there are NO introductions.

Everything we say is PREMISE, FOOT or POUNDING.

4) Be careful with adjectives!

If I want to establish an image, a fair adjective is better than an overabundance of words.

5) Be careful with the descriptions!

In Stand Up you don't tell stories, or stories... you MAKE YOU LAUGH. It may seem like I'm
telling a story or a tale but... I'M TELLING A FOOT. I don't have to describe a place, a person, a
moment or anything... Unless I absolutely need to for a joke to work.

6) Finally, again, when faced with any decision, remember: “When in doubt: Less is more.”

How do I find the economy of a material?

Where is the funny thing?
This is the key question I have to ask myself to find the Economy of the material.

Every time something occurs to me that might be funny (be it a joke, an image, a premise or
anything else) it's because a little laugh occurred inside me. That's the funny thing. What was it that
made me laugh? No matter how small it may be, there was something that ignited a small spark of
internal laughter.

I AM THE FIRST PUBLIC AND JUDGE.

I have to respect that spark, if it existed it is because there is something strong behind it. So I have
to wonder.

What makes me laugh about this joke?

An image, a premise, a morisqueta, what?
Why is it funny to me?
What kind of premise does it hide?
How can I make it shine?
What type of structure is best for me to make it shine?
An Act Out, an exaggeration, a change of meaning, a comparison, what?
I change and try different ways of showing what's funny. I try an Act Out, then a joke due to
exaggeration, I try a change of meaning, etc... I define a form, a bit.

If I already have a BIT set up and I want to improve it:

What Resource is this BIT based on?
What is the structure you use?
Once I have the BIT, with its structure and the Resource on which it is based:
What does this structure that I am using and the Resource it relies on ask me to Shine?
I use the advantages of knowing the resource and structure I chose for my BIT and make it Shine.

Example: In front of an image association routine.

Is the Association understood? Is this new association alive? What resource does it rely on?
Suppose in the absurd. Does the logic of what happens work within my absurdity?

Let's see with some of my material:

(I REPEAT SPECIAL NOTE: THE FOLLOWING MATERIAL WAS WRITTEN BEFORE GOD
MADE THE JOKE TO THE WORLD OF CHOOSING AN ARGENTINE POPE. AS I ALWAYS
SAY, GOD IS THE BEST COMEDIAN).
What would the Catholic Church be like if the Pope were Argentine?
In confession, instead of doing penance, the priest would ask for a bribe. Instead of bread and wine
at mass, choripan and beer would be taken. The priest would begin the chants of the mass, fluttering
his cassock shouting: - Everybody sing! You fuckings!!! - Does the Association understand each
other?
In Argentina yes. If I leave the country, I have to modify this material based on the different
premises that exist about Argentines in that country.
Is this new association alive?
Yes, this Pope-Argentine behaves like a Pope and an Argentine. His actions and what happens give
him existence and reality.
Is the resource of the absurd respected?

Yes, in the logic of an Argentine Pope, this new creature behaves like an Argentine-Pope and not
like a French-Pope or an Argentine-Rabbi.
In this particular case, an important question for the Economy of this material, when adding it to my
Set, is:
Can I end with: “-Everyone sing!, bitches!!! -“in front of this audience?
Is it an Act where I can say bad words? If not, I have to find another image to top it off.
Practice 10
Review ALL your material.
Check your ECONOMY.
Pay attention to what RESOURCES it relies on.
See if you are really getting the most out of those Resources.
Review your Act Outs.
Check everything.
Try putting together Sets where you can put Call Backs and Running Gags.
Do you have any crutches?
Rewrite ALL your material based on what you've tried.
EVERYTHING can be improved.
 Chapter 11

The path of material

In this chapter we will see what the path of the material is from when it is an idea until it becomes
proven material. Here we will apply all the themes that we have seen.

But first we have to talk about a comedian's first nightmare to write material: “THE BLANK
SHEET”
On very rare occasions a comedian is walking calmly and out of nowhere a joke, a routine or some
genius comes to mind. That's called inspiration. And little happens...
Most of the time we know that we want to talk about a topic but we are not clear about what we
want to say. Or, if we work on this professionally, many times we have to talk about a topic for a
special event or job and we have nothing thought about it. Many times it is a topic that never
mattered to us. For that we use the “Techniques to face the blank sheet”
TECHNIQUES TO FACE THE BLANK SHEET
The key to facing the blank page is not to look for a result.
It's very difficult to develop a topic if I want to be funny.

What I mean by this?

In front of the blank page ALL our FEARS appear, all our GHOSTS.
This is not funny... I'm not going to be able to... This isn't going anywhere... I'm not good for this...
Etc... etc... etc...
WE ARE ALL GOING THROUGH THIS AT THE TIME OF WRITING.
I'm sorry to tell you that you are not original and your Ghosts, no matter how bad they are, are not
original either. We ALL have the same ghosts. Even if they change clothes. It is the fear of failing,
of not having talent, of not being funny, etc.
It's one of the Karmas of being a comedian...
As the Americans say: “Deal with it!” Or us Argentines: “Bancátelo!”
There is no comedian who has defeated his ghosts to be able to write Comedy.
WE WRITE DESPITE OUR GHOSTS AND MANY TIMES THANKS TO THEM. What we do is
use techniques so that our Ghosts bother us as little as possible when creating.

One of the keys is:

Don't expect to be funny when developing material.
The Themes are developed without judging or expecting a result.
They are simply explored.
We let ourselves be carried away by the topic and allow ourselves to go wherever it takes us without
expecting to arrive at a certain place.

VERY IMPORTANT:
Don't judge yourself when you write material. Don't look for a result when exploring a material. Let
yourself go and be surprised. Sometimes you think you are exploring one Theme and you end up in
a totally different one. Everything is valid and with work it can be good.
The best material takes a lot of work and rewriting. And many times it is nothing like what we
thought when we started writing it.
There are techniques that help us face the blank page and develop a Theme.

Here are my favorites.

1) The Four Basic Attitudes.

This is a technique that I highly recommend.
We take any topic and apply the 4 basic attitudes to it, letting ourselves be carried away by each
attitude without judging. As we have already seen in previous chapters, this technique allows us to
develop any material and find premises very easily. It is a technique that I recommend not only to
face the blank page but to apply to any idea or image to find premises.

2) Mind Mapping
Mind mapping is a technique for developing Themes widely used in advertising and creativity. We
take a blank sheet of paper. The idea is to write the name of the topic in the center of a sheet of
paper and then write all the subtopics that come to mind without thinking or judging. In each
Subtopic we do the same and explore it with everything that comes to mind, always without
judging. If an idea, a concept, or anything arises, we write it down. If a connection arises between
the themes, we write it down. Basically we try to fill the sheet with thoughts, ideas, images,
subtopics, connections between subtopics and anything that comes to mind, WITHOUT
JUDGMENT. Let's see what this would be like, I'm going to do a mental mapping with the
Television topic:
As you can see Mind Mapping is a CHAOTIC technique.
This is how you should work.
In the first instance we explore the different subtopics that arise and write down all the ideas that
appear without seeking an order or a result. Notice how naturally some subtopics gave me
connections that inspired new concepts.
In a second instance we can look for these connections to see if we expand our concepts.
Finally we analyze the entire mapping and separate what seems valuable to us to work on.
It can be an idea, an image, a joke, a premise, whatever. We reread and rescue to continue working
on what inspires us.

I, from my mental mapping, choose to rescue the following:

(This is what rereading my mind mapping inspired me)

1) The actors are no longer the most famous on TV, they now compete with reality show
participants.

2) Contest questions are getting easier. Idea for a routine: in the future by knowing your name you
will win a contest. “Prodigy children were those of before”

3) Televisions are getting bigger. Increasingly

They quickly become obsolete. Very soon they are going to invent a life-size 3D TV so that one can
live inside it.

4) TV is addictive. People prefer to watch life on TV rather than live. My wife prefers to see a kiss
on the soap opera before kissing me.

5) There are more and more cable channels and they are increasingly more specific. Search what a
strange and absurd Hobbies channel would be like.

These ideas, premises or images that I found are going to be the basis of my new material.
This is where I can combine with the 4 attitudes technique if I want.
Or I just have fun playing with what I found.
Basically I take each of these findings and explore them, play and have fun with them, until I feel
like I found a joke, an Act Out or a routine.
The key to finding a joke is not to try to be funny but to have fun and play with what you find.
Exaggerate it, make a change of direction, do Act Outs, look for associations, etc.
Have fun and play!

3) Automatic writing
This is my preferred method, I always use it in combination with the attitude method.
Basically it's about choosing any topic and starting to write automatically, without filtering or
judging anything that comes up.

The key is to set an external limit to write automatically without seeking an end or meaning to what
I write.
For example, we decided to write non-stop for 5 minutes. We set an alarm for 5 minutes and write
down everything that comes to mind on that topic until the alarm goes off.
We can set other types of limits, for example 5 pages, then we write without stopping until we fill
all 5 pages.
It is important that the limit be external so as not to be looking for closure or resolution of the issue.
We simply write everything that comes to mind until an alarm goes off or the blanks we choose to
fill out are fulfilled.
Find the modality that is most comfortable for you.
Some comedians feel more comfortable speaking to develop a Theme.
That's valid too.
I set a limit of, say, 5 minutes, I RECORD MYSELF, and I begin to talk about the chosen topic
without judging myself, saying everything that comes to mind until the established limit is met.
Then I unrecord what I said and write it out.

IN AUTOMATIC WRITING I CAN START DEVELOPING ONE TOPIC AND FINISH

DEVELOPING ANOTHER OR OTHERS.

Anything goes. The important thing is to be free to explore everything that arises, WITHOUT
JUDGING OR SEEKING A RESULT.

It's pretty simple to explain and not that easy to do. It requires training to be able to allow yourself
to explore what arises without judging it. It's worth it, believe me.
Normally you start talking about what you think you want to talk about and end up talking about
what you really want to talk about.

I advise starting with short limits (5 minutes, 5 veneers) and after taking practice, push the limits
further (15 minutes, 10 veneers).
Once I finish the exercise I do the same as with all the methods to face the blank page.
I reread what I wrote and rescue what I like to work on.
It can be an idea, an image, a premise, whatever makes me laugh. This is where I use reason, not
before.
THE PATH OF THE MATERIAL
It's not easy to write good stand up material.
Or rather, when inspiration appears it is very easy but it almost always requires a lot of work to
really have good material.

The key is not to overestimate or underestimate what comes to mind.

Many times we dismiss an idea or a routine without really working on it because we think: “This is
not going anywhere.” Or we write something that makes us laugh and we think: “That's great, it's
ready.”
NOTHING IS AS GOOD AS I THINK, NOR AS BAD AS I THINK.
The key is to work and work and work on the material. Only after working and testing the material
can we decide if it is good or bad.

Let's see what the path of the material is:

1) The blank sheet

The worst nightmare, generally how all good material begins.
We use one of the methods I described before (or another that you like and I haven't described) to
develop a theme. We develop it and rescue material to work with, that gives us:

2) Ideas to work on.

Here we have already rescued and separated ideas, premises, images, etc... We start working with
what we have. We explore the possibilities, we play with the structures... Here we already begin to
try to make humor. We search and search until we find the Bits we can. Sometimes from working
hours, we only find a joke, sometimes a routine, sometimes a complete Set comes out.
We clean it up, analyze it and structure it. Now we have:

3) The first draft.

At this point we still don't have material, we have a draft. Nothing else.
The next step is one of the most important things we have to do to work with a material: “WE PASS
IT THROUGH THE BODY”
Once we have chosen a BIT, we say it over and over again until we feel that that material fits us
comfortably.
WE DON'T MEMORIZE IT, WE PLAY IT.
It is important that when we pass it through the body we can modify it so that it is really
comfortable for us, so that it is true.
Would I say it like that?
Is this my language?
If something new comes up while I'm running it through my body, I try it. If I like it, I add it. The
passage through the body must necessarily modify my material. Once I get a good feel for it, I
rewrite it with the changes I found. Only now can I say that I have:

4) Untested material
This material is a proposal. I still can't know if it's good or bad.

I can only say that I find it funny and that I want to share it. It has to go through the true judge, the
only judge: “THE PUBLIC”
Whenever something makes me funny, it's FUNNY. The problem is that perhaps it is not well
structured so that it reaches the public.
I MAY THINK I'M SAYING ONE THING AND I'M SAYING ANOTHER.
I have to test the material in front of the public and be willing to modify it based on the result.
Errors appear in front of the public. Maybe I am making a change of direction, but the direction of
the foot is not very clear... perhaps my material relies on the resource of identification but what I am
feeling is not clearly shown... perhaps I established an association that is not understood …maybe
my foot is too long…maybe…maybe…
It's good for comedians to record their performances whenever they try new material.
Don't be bitter if a material that you thought was great doesn't work at first, it always happens to all
of us.
Your material is not finished.
It lacks the public filter.
I work on the material based on the changes that arose from the public's reaction.
NOTE: Remember that new material is tested in the middle of your material. Try never to try new
material in your opening or closing. I test and modify the material in front of the public again and
again.
NOW I CAN KNOW IF THE MATERIAL WORKS OR NOT. If after trying it several times it doesn't
work, let it go.
Do not waste time. Don't fall in love with material that doesn't work. This is where we really judge
the material. IF IT WORKS, I have:

5) Tested Material.
This is what we comedians call material.
It has gone through all possible filters:
The filter of fear. (The blank page)
The filter of reason. (The structure)
The body filter.
The public filter.
IT IS YOUR REAL MATERIAL.
Congratulations!!

THE DISCERNMENT
This is one of the keys to a good Stand Up comedian.
What Bits I do and what Bits I don't do.
Sometimes I have three good jokes, but two of them are very similar and cancel each other out. I
have to get one. It is better for two jokes to shine than to have three good jokes that don't shine. That
joke that I make is reserved for another context where it can shine. 5 excellent jokes are better than
10 good jokes.
What jokes do I leave and what jokes do I destroy.
There is a time when the comedian has to make these decisions. DON'T FALL IN LOVE WITH
THEIR JOKES.
EVERYTHING can be improved. EVERYTHING can be sacrificed.

Sometimes public reality tells us that some of our bits are not as good as we thought. Sorry, they
need to be modified or die.
The experienced comedian defends his material to death when he is on stage and then, calm at
home, questions EVERY bit he used.
FINAL Practice

Recheck your material.

Pass it over the body. Do you feel comfortable?
Rewrite it as many times as you have to write it.
WRITE NEW MATERIAL.
Write about the Topics you really want to write about.
Or any other topic.
Write new material trying the methods to face the blank page you saw.
TRY THEM ALL. Review your new material. Pass it over the body.
Check it again. Can you improve the Economy?
What RESOURCES do you use? Are you taking advantage of RESOURCES at their maximum
power?
Re-write it.

Find a stage.
It can be a bar, a theater, a private party, whatever.
Find a stage.
Build a Set for that scenario.
Get on the stage.
SHOW YOUR SET.
Record the Act. You don't need to record it on video, it can be audio. Check how it went. Check
every bit. Rewrite them.

Find another scenario.

Or go back to the same as before.
Build another Set with the changes you made.
Have fun.
Get on the stage.
Show your material again.
REPEAT THIS SEVERAL TIMES.
Congratulations!!!!!
You are on the path of the comedian.
 Chapter 12

The Zen of Comedy

This book is called Zen Comedy because I believe that to do Stand Up you have to:
Have an attitude of dedication towards the public and empty oneself of everyday reality and the
ghosts that haunt the comedian on a daily basis.
This has to do with the Energetic essence of Laughter and I am going to develop it more in depth in
the second book: The energy of Humor.
Know, even intuitively, the first and most basic mechanisms that move Laughter.
This is what I have tried to teach throughout this Book.

Let's see if we can summarize them in the most Zen way possible:

1) THE STAND UP IS TO MAKE YOU LAUGH.

This is like this, if you want to be loved, if you want to seem intelligent, if you want to change the
world or whatever you want to do with Stand Up... Never forget that if they don't laugh they won't
listen to you.

2) YOUR IMAGE IS PART OF YOUR MATERIAL.

The first thing the viewer reads about you is the Image with which you present yourself. Sometimes
you can be saying something with your material and denying it with your image. Look for your
image to push and help your material.

3) EVERY JOKE IS BASED ON A PREMISE THAT IS CONFIRMED.

Whenever you are making a joke you are making a definition of reality. Always? Yes always. Even
in the silliest jokes, there is an idea that is confirmed in the Punchline. You can't do Humor if you
don't know what you think about something.

4) I CAN'T MAKE A JOKE ABOUT SOMETHING IF I DON'T HAVE A CLEAR

ATTITUDE TOWARDS THE SUBJECT.
We already saw that behind every joke there is a premise that is confirmed. I cannot generate a
premise if I do not take a position on a Theme. No one can create from disinterest. That position or
point of view is achieved with a clear Attitude.

5) WE BUILD OUR REALITY BASED ON IMAGES.

Everything we think or imagine is built based on images. These have a load that can be measured in:
Emotional, Sensory and Visual. The comedian works with the Images that have the most powerful
charge for what he is looking for.

6) EVERY CONSTRUCTION DESIGNED TO MAKE YOU LAUGH IS A JOKE.

Anything that I put in my act to make people laugh must be respected as a joke and complies with
the laws of: Premise, Footer and Punchline.
7) TO MAKE YOU LAUGH I HAVE TO BREAK WITH THE LOGIC OF THE SPEECH.
The difference between going on stage to pontificate and doing humor is that I demonstrate my
premises and transmit my ideas through a break in the logic of the discourse. Without a break in
logic there is no humor, there is blah blah. To make humor you have to create NEW REALITIES.

8) THE STAND UP COMEDIAN DOESN'T MAKE MONOLOGUES, HE MAKES

MATERIAL .
The monologue is an old structure that comes from a confusion of Stand Up as something theatrical.
We make Material, this means that our Act is alive and can be modified whenever we need it,
including many times during its execution. Furthermore, we are not trapped with either the
Thematic or the Dramatic structure. We build our Set based on the Laughter curve we want to
achieve.

9) THE COMIC'S MATERIAL IS WRITTEN AFTER PASSING IT THROUGH THE

BODY. Even though Stand up comedy is a Hyper-Rational comedy, every joke is written after
passing it through the body and playing it. A perfect joke that I'm not comfortable saying is of no
use. The material has to be said in a way that fits my body comfortably and corresponds to my
Image.

10) CHECK THE ECONOMY OF YOUR MATERIAL ONE AND A THOUSAND TIMES.
The economy of a Material is one of the most important points of the structure. There is no point in
finding a good punchline for Association if the economy of the joke is wrong. Remember that every
joke seeks to produce an effect on the viewer and Economics is the way to achieve it.

11) THE MATERIAL IS FINISHED WITH THE PUBLIC.

This is the great truth. I will never be sure of a material until I test it and modify it based on the
public's reaction.

12)HAVE FUN
The most important law of all, if you don't have fun with what you do, don't expect others to do it.
 Appendix

Comedian's Word
Comedy is not something rigid.
There are no unique formulas.
This manual is a method. MY method. Backed by years of experience and study. But it's just my
method.
At the end of the day every comedian has to find their own method to make people laugh. It is true
that over the years, most of us who work in this field have reached similar waters.
Similar rivers, but not the same.

Each comedian enriches the comedy with his or her particularities and nuances.
In this appendix I would like to share with you some of these peculiarities of colleagues whom I
respect very much.
They are comedians from Argentina, Spain, Chile and Uruguay, whom I admire and many of whom
it has been a pleasure to work with.

To learn a small part of their way of approaching comedy, I sent them three simple questions:
1)How do you face the blank page?
2)How do you work on an idea to get the most out of it?
3)What is your favorite material and why?

In addition to pestering them with questions, I asked these stage bosses to write a short bio to
introduce themselves.
Come get your feet wet in different rivers that are worth knowing...
SEBASTIAN WAINRAICH
ARGENTINA. I'm Sebastian Wainraich. I drive Metro y Medio on Metro 95.1 and I am part of the
Cómico theater group. I have been working in radio since I was 16, and I was an assistant,
producer, scriptwriter, co-host and host. In theater I produced and collaborated with scripts in
works by Fernando Peña, I have been in Cómico for 8 years and I also did a one-man show. On TV
I was a notator of Arde Troya and Indomables and hosted Kitsh, TVR and La Bible and El Calefón.
I wrote two books: I'm Tired of Me and Other Stories and Being Happy Makes Me Shame and
Other Stories.

1) How do you face the blank page?

I almost never get a blank page. Unlike other genres, when I sit down to write a monologue, I
already come with an idea, a concept, a joke or an observation. And the task of writing the
monologue is not linear. I write, I stop, I rehearse, in that rehearsal I add, I remove, it goes the other
way and I sit down again to write. This is how it is until it is finished and, when you think it is
finished, you still have to do it and receive the public's response. That may be the moment in which
the monologue is almost finished because finished, it is never finished.

2) How do you work on an idea to get the most out of it, when you know it's ready?
I never know it's ready. As I said in the previous answer, the scenario defines and often surprises
and breaks our prejudices of thinking that such an idea would work or vice versa. To get the most
out of an idea, I leave life. Please, let this not be understood literally but almost.

3) What is your favorite material and why?

I have favorite times, now I enjoy everything that is related to the middle class, with enjoyment and
with parenthood. I guess they are my favorites because they are the ones I like to do the most. Why
are they the ones I like to do the most? What do I know? I don't want to turn this into something
therapeutic.
FERNANDO SANJIAO
ARGENTINA. He is a comedian and scriptwriter since 2003, he studied with Martin Rocco and
Alejandro Angelini, he worked in several shows since that time and since 2008 he worked with the
group Dea1 with which he currently works in Paseo la Plaza in the show #canchero (2012/13) He
performed throughout the country and also performed in countries such as Uruguay, Paraguay,
Ecuador, and even in Spain in 2012 on the Paramount Comedy channel. On TV he appeared in
several of the Comedy Central Latin America specials. His videos on You Tube exceed one million
views. As a scriptwriter he works for radio, television and theater. (Argentores Award 2011 Caja
rolling, public TV) He is currently part of Lalo por fact (Martin Fierro Nomination 2012), on La
100fm, one of the most listened to radio stations in Argentina.

1) How do you face the blank page?

I face it improvising, I stand up, and I start walking around my house, improvising about what I feel
about this topic I choose to talk about, I talk out loud like crazy, walking around my house, when I
find something funny, I run back to write it before it escapes.

2) How do you work on an idea to get the most out of it, when do you know it's ready?
It is said that the joke is a draft that is tested with people, and I very much agree with that idea, you
bring your hypotheses of where the joke can go and connected with the people, you develop it, the
best materials I have They were currently closed above the stage...

3) What is your favorite material and why?

My favorite material is always the newest, from time to time one gets a little tired of sometimes
telling certain things, obviously certain materials that I have have had repercussions on You Tube
and I like it, but always what I like the most is what last thing I'm doing since it has to do with a
present of mine, and I even feel that that connection makes me interpret it better and everything.
PAUL FABREGAS
ARGENTINA. I started doing radio when I was 17 or 18 years old. From there the environment
took me from one place to another. I was a screenwriter, producer, columnist, creative. I went to
television and returned to radio. I currently work at Metro y Medio. One day, back in 2001 or so, I
started producing theater and then writing monologues for third parties and ending up going on
stage. At the moment I am part of the group De A 1 with which we present the show +canchero.

1) How do you face the blank page?

I never let the "white" beat me. I just start writing, things, phrases, ideas that don't go anywhere. I
write a lot until something worthwhile wakes up or comes out almost accidentally. At that point I
delete everything before and focus on the new. If none of this happens, I turn off the computer until
the next day. If it never happens again, I'll sell the computer and buy a toolbox.

2) How do you work on an idea to get the most out of it, when you know it's ready?
Those ideas that seem to have potential accompany me day and night for weeks. They are there,
they haunt me. I think about them and rethink them. I repeat them as if I were monologuing on air.
This is how they take shape. By the time they are finished printed they have already had hours of
grinding while driving, walking or cooking. But fundamentally they had “entire functions” while I
was bathing. Yes, instead of singing in the shower, I monologue. In this repetition and repetition of
tentative routines I am finding their strengths. I'm also discovering something that seems silly but
isn't: what do I mean? Personally, I feel that many times routines fail because they do not have a
strong idea that drives them, that gives them authority. When I repeat them to myself so much it
ends up working like a therapy in which in the end I discover that big WHY.

3) What is your favorite material and why?

It's easy: the one I'm doing now. Not because I think it is better than the previous ones, but because
that is what is happening to me. I depend on the “here and now” to feel like I'm being funny. As if I
couldn't do without my present to go on stage. It doesn't mean that I don't use materials from other
years, but generally, the most recent material is the one that represents me the most, therefore the
one that I enjoy the most.
DIEGO WAINSTEIN
ARGENTINA. Diego Wainstein, actor, screenwriter, comedian, along with Alejandro Angelini,
precursor of stage comedy in Argentina, has performed in numerous Festivals, theaters, and bars in
Argentina, Spain, Venezuela, Uruguay, Colombia. And in various television programs in the same
countries. He also gives stand-up courses for beginners and professionals.

1) How do you face the blank page?

Doing mind mappings, but directly to the handheld recorder.

2) How do you work on an idea to get the most out of it, when you know it's ready?
That is learned over the years, there is less and less margin for error or "burrs", if before I threw 7
jokes on stage of which there were finally two left, today I try 3 and 2 remain, but because there is a
process between creation and delivery with more experience and self-criticism.

3) What is your favorite material and why?

It depends on the stages of my life, at this moment I enjoy talking about sex more, (could it be that I
talk more than I practice it?) anyway, but at other times I am more profound, or philosophical, and I
am more into God. and the stuff about why we came into the world, etc., I don't have material, each
one fulfills a function and I want it as such, otherwise they are not part of my show.
NATALIA CARULIAS
ARGENTINA. He trained in humor working in different theaters on the Buenos Aires underground
circuit. In 2000 she was part of the first Stand-up group in Argentina, a pioneer group of the genre,
being the first woman in Argentina to venture into Stand-up. In 2005 he began working as a TV
scriptwriter. Also as a scriptwriter in advertising companies. He teaches stand-up comedy. Since
2008 he has worked on radio as a comedian. I work with El Chavo Fuks in Continetal, Roberto
Pettinato, Ronnie Arias in 100. Currently working on Rock and Pop, black afternoon with Elizabeth
Vernaci and Humberto Tortonese.

1) How do you face the blank page?

Generally, when I decide to write, it is when I more or less have a topic spinning around in my
head...So, what I do is start throwing out loose ideas, without trying to be funny, or for genius to
come out of one, which for It usually never happens, so that would only make me frustrated.
My tactic is just to throw on a blank page everything that comes to mind regarding the topic in
question, or wherever I want to go, since sometimes the topic in question is just a trigger that led me
to something very important. Better, then why cut it, right?
You have to let it be, without questioning it, without judging it, just letting what has to come out in
whatever form it takes, then there is a lot of time to work on it, polish it, improve it or even throw it
away. I think there is no other way to let the creative moment be, in that moment of inspiration you
only create. If you criticize, judge or try to improve, you only manage to cut off that sacred moment
that you have to make the most of when you decide to come.

2) How do you work on an idea to get the most out of it, when you know it's ready?
I divide the work into three parts, the first is the creative part where I let the ideas come out without
any form, the second is where I clean the material giving it shape, for that I begin to polish the
premise so that it is clear and understood and finally and there It's where I get the most out of it, I
exhaust the possibilities of finishes either to improve the one I have, to reinforce it or add more
finishes if I can think of more... I look for it on the most absurd, ridiculous, exaggerated side and
that's where they appear. It is very likely that although it is not completely finished, I will try it on
the stage where the only truth is, with a real audience where I finish polishing and improving it...

3) What is your favorite material and why?

If they asked me this question when I started, my answer would be that any material that does not
have to do with the feminine, since it had a theme with showing that I could make people laugh
despite being a woman, with time of professional maturity and in life I understood that it was my
issue, I guess because of insecurity.
In this genre there is no difference between men and women although people insist on defining
humor as feminine or masculine.......................................................That's ridiculous, humor is
humor......................................If it is well done it makes you laugh and if not, no matter if it is a
man, a woman or a donkey, if it is what makes you laugh why not enjoy it, right? One has to
know what image one gives, to exploit the good and take in one's favor what works against one...
One of the jobs is to make people quickly forget the image and what goes hand in hand with it,
which is the natural prejudice of human beings only with what they see, man, woman, fat, bald,
ugly, pretty, lame.................... And stay with what is said and how it is said, which is what is most
important................................. Women who do stand up talk about any topic as a man would,
without a doubt it will have a feminine vision like everything we do in life.
Today my answer is that I have many favorite materials, but if I had to choose, I really enjoy all the
family material, because I play with the identification of the audience, fundamentally if the topic is
the mother, it seems that you talk about the mother of each one of those who are in the public... He
had a material where he talked about the phrases that every woman repeats when having children...
such as: "How are you going to walk with a torn stocking, see if you have an accident?" ?” I was
looking for jokes about the fatalism that mothers bring to life and at the same time the
ridiculousness in case such a fatality exists. Because you always have to expect accidents and
because you have to expect them to be impeccable, right?
This material also talked about poverty in my childhood, and I even had the luxury of playing with
absurdity and black humor in a clearly dysfunctional family. I loved this material as material and it
was even a way to do catharsis not only without paying a therapist but by charging for it.
MARTIN ROCCO
ARGENTINA. He is a reference for “stand-up comedy” or contemporary humorous monologue in
Argentina. It is a genre that he has been cultivating for 20 years and is one of the most informed on
the subject in the country. He taught this artistic discipline with vacancies sold out for 4 years at
the Rojas Cultural Center of the University of Buenos Aires. He gave seminars in Rosario, Córdoba
and Montevideo, Uruguay. On stage, in 2003 he was nominated, along with his colleagues for the
show Cómico Stand Up, for the ACE Award and the Clarín Espectáculos Award. Since that year it
has been one of the 10 highest-grossing works of the theater season. And it has been on the bill for
10 years.

1)How do you face the blank page?

With a theme in mind. Sitting back and seeing what I can come up with doesn't work for me. An
idea comes to me while walking or wherever and there I sit down to write. Bit. Ideas, jokes. Not
drafted. And I trust. Something is going to come out. If it doesn't come up, I'll leave the topic.

2) How do you work on an idea to get the most out of it, when you know it is ready?
I think of possible jokes. Structures. I leave it and come back to see it another day. I investigate the
topic. I like to play with other paths than the usual ones, the known ones. Try to communicate other
things based on a topic. I never feel like it's finished, but it feels like it's ready to show when I repeat
it in my head and it flows and I like the content. I record myself, polish a little more and I'm going
to try it. Surely later it will have to be polished more.

2) What is your favorite material and why?

I like it when I find the meaning of what I want to communicate in material that is also humorously
effective. Sometimes you focus too much on the jokes and forget what you mean by all that. Today I
prefer empathy with the public than one laugh after another. As for the theme, everyday things in
general.
HUGO FILI
ARGENTINA. One of the Pioneers of Stand Up in Argentina is also a renowned Television
scriptwriter. He is a scriptwriter for the animated segment “Tino y Gargamuza”, in the television
series TVR (Canal 13/ América 2) since 1999. He also wrote the animated strips: “Tito y Pamela”,
“El Señor Gómez”, “La Liga de la Farándula” and “La Banda del Rengo” He wrote sketches for
the different television series of Antonio Gasalla (channel 13/channel 9) between 1996 and 2001.
He was a scriptwriter for Roberto Pettinato in “All on the Diván” (channel 9) during the years
1999 and 2000.

1) How do you face the blank page?

First and foremost: mind mapping. It is the ABC of assembling material. You can't escape that.
Everything that is born thanks to inspiration, welcome. But it's like buying ready-made food. It can
save you sometimes, but sooner or later you have to start cooking. In other words: define what you
want to make jokes about, associate as many images and concepts related to the topic and then start
playing with all those points with the resources that we always use to achieve a comic effect. What I
finally get is a large number of phrases, ideas, premises, etc. Which I then transform into loose jokes
that I end up grouping together under the excuse of the same topic. The order and connection of
those jokes is the least important thing. The internal coherence of a monologue doesn't matter to me
when creating material.

2) How do you work on an idea to get the most out of it, when you know it's ready?
The craft of writing humor gives you a certain intuition that allows you to know when something is
perfect or needs to be worked on more. Also, it depends on the demands of each person regarding
not lowering the level of what is presented on stage or resenting the style. I have a flat: every
sentence I utter has to end. Every joke I throw has to have its own humorous flight. The viewer has
to notice my work. I don't insist too much on the same thing. When I feel like I've hit the nail on the
head with what I wanted, I quickly move on to something else. We do not have to cover a topic
from all possible sides, nor exhaust it, nor leave our absolute and total philosophical, emotional and
political imprint on this or that thing. Two or three accurate darts and hunt another prey.

3) What is your favorite material and why?

I write almost mainly one-liners, so I have favorite jokes. As I said before, possibly my best material
is the one that gets what I want to say right and completes what I want to say once and for all.
Example: “I am an environmentalist. “Today I returned a can of tuna to the sea.” That's it.
I am not going to achieve a more interesting irony than that with respect to what I believe is the
fight to defend the environment.
In other words: my best material regarding that topic would be that one joke. I have several “those
solo jokes” that I like.
Those that manage to give a twist to a classic resource or achieve an effective break are my
favorites.
DALIA GUTMANN
ARGENTINA. Dalia Gutmann is a comedian and presenter. In 2004 he started with stand-up and
currently does the one-man show Cosa de Minas

1) How do you face the blank page?

I generally write down small notebooks or emails that I "self-compose" loose ideas that occur to me
"while I'm living", so the blank page is not so tremendous. I turn over those triggers that arose
spontaneously and try to develop them.

2) How do you work on an idea to get the most out of it, when you know it's ready?
It's good to know "the topic" I would like to talk about. So the material comes together from things I
experience, things I hear about the subject, etc. I also have "friends" who are dedicated to this and I
count on them a lot. I tell them what occurred to me and they help me and give me more ideas. I
think that generosity among friends who dedicate ourselves to this "crazy" work is very important to
grow.

3) What is your favorite material and why?

I have a very lively relationship with my material because I constantly like to polish it. That's why I
don't have a preference for a particular topic. I can't talk much about the material from "the others"
because since I became a mother I can't see much... but every time I go to see a stand-up show there
is always a part of the monologue that keeps ringing in my head and I continues to cause fun over
time. eg Vero Lorca when he refers to light products and says "it wouldn't be working for you",
when Wainraich says "wanking thinking about your wife is like having an empanada house and
ordering empanadas". Angelini (you) "where was LET'S HAVE COFFEE" referring to the conflict
in the Middle East...
MIGUEL IRIBAR
SPAIN. Miguel Iríbar was born in Huelva, raised in Seville, and half of his family is Basque, so he
had to go to Madrid to focus. At Paramount Comedy he has been an editor and scriptwriter for the
shows Nada que Perder, Smonka!, Noche Sin Trugua and Solo Ante el Peligro, where Dani Mateo
and other irresponsible people encouraged him to get on stage, although they now admit that they
did not mean it seriously. He has recorded five monologues on the channel, in addition to the
specials of "La Noche Canalla", "10 CÓMICOS 10" 2012 and "Comedia Sin Recortes".

1) How do you face the blank page?

Running away from her, of course... You have to take any everyday moment as a blank page. If you
go to the beach, to a bar, to your house, and you see something that makes you laugh, or you relate a
couple of ideas and you are surprised, you write it down and the page will be less blank. A
comedian cannot allow himself to be a blank slate, because it would mean that he has lost his sense
of humor and his view of the world. I try to always have something to write down, which now, with
those smart phones, is much easier than walking around with notebooks and pens. Later I see all the
ideas written down and try to give them meaning. That's where I face the fear of the “sheet full of
fragmented nonsense.” And you have to put in quite a few hours. Ah, a piece of advice that, at least,
has been very useful to me: whenever you have an idea, lying in bed, and you say, “I'll write it down
tomorrow,” write it down, because you will NEVER remember.

2) How do you work on an idea to get the most out of it, when you know it's ready?
Well, I follow a fairly traditional way of working. You have a block, you look for related topics, you
go around and around, you write, you erase, you rewrite and you erase again. There is an almost
magical moment when a gag pops into your head, you know you have something good and you can't
wait to try it out in public. You try it and no one laughs. Everything starts again. The process goes
on like this, until you more or less have it, and then, as you make more and more passes of the same
material, you realize that it is a living thing: the text evolves, the tones change, you remove that
phrase that was left over, you add one last reinforcement gag that took a year to appear... the last
thing you have to do is settle.

3) What is your favorite material and why?

I have a predilection for those gags that do not insult someone specifically, but rather the social
conventions themselves, what we all have inside us and do not want to assume is arbitrary or
downright stupid. In this sense, I really like the “tattoo” gag, where I talk about all those people who
get married, have children, pay for a car, a 65-inch television and a mortgage, and then see a kid
with a tattoo on his arm and He says “Ha, what an idiot, now he has that... for life.” It's a simple
joke that people remember fondly, and they always like that.
I also enjoy material critical of religion, a phenomenon from the past that still persists and seeks its
place in politics and public education, two areas that should not be conditioned by the idea of the
“Beyond” that each one has in mind. his house.
And I appreciate material that provokes a “What a bastard!! You're right".
I think that achieving something like that without being pedantic, just getting a good laugh, is the
best thing that can happen to you on stage.
CARLOS CLAVIJO
SPAIN. Spanish writer and screenwriter, Carlos Clavijo is known for his work as a comedian and
stand-up comedian. After working in the fascinating world of Spanish cinema, he was executive
producer of new formats at Paramount Comedy. There he created and directed the programs
'Cómicos a Domicilio', the sketch program 'Telecompring' and the late night 'Noche Sin Trugua'. In
addition, he was part of the creative team that launched the first season of 'El Hormiguero', he has
published 4 novels of different genres: Chicken Wings, The Fortune Teller, Puentes Volados and
The Son of the Vine.

1) How do you face the blank page?

In a way I consider myself a writer - I have published 4 novels and the 5th will be released soon -
who sometimes writes humor. In general I have never had problems facing the blank page. I come
up with ideas, themes, things that catch my attention. It is much more complicated when that
creativity is very directed and on top of that you have some dates - for example, if you work as a
scriptwriter for a current comedy program: there you have some deadlines, and some topics marked
by news that must be satirized (although those news is not fun). But experience tells you that you
can make humor out of anything. I once had to write a monologue about light bulbs for a lamp
company, and is there anything less funny than a lamp?
I consider the issue of style, or natural voice, to be more complicated. The comedian's way of seeing
things, without imposture. Although it is also a muscle that is exercised, it is difficult for someone
with a very absurd or very white vision to naturally write something sarcastic, or the opposite. This
happens constantly on television, where the success of certain comedians or shows makes the
competition want to do something the same way................. Childish humor may work one season,
and more acidic humor may work in the next. Which forces the comic scriptwriter to become an all-
rounder when it comes to styles.
In any case, we must distinguish between generating material for others (marked by their needs,
affinities) and making material for oneself, created by oneself and with which one feels comfortable.
Louis CK said that he was tired of receiving indistinguishable material (which is what comical
television writers generate for a living), with jokes that anyone could make, and that he has always
preferred material that has a personal vision behind it, a marked form. to see the world. That is,
personality.
I try not to give much importance to the fact of writing, and the fact of starting to stain the page. In
the end it's a matter of sweating it out. There are magnificent days and then come terrible weeks. It's
a matter of being constant and patient. And trying to have fun.

2) How do you work on an idea to get the most out of it, when you know it's ready?
In general, it is the audience that tells you when it is ready, by their laughter. There are many
working methods. There is the systematic comedian, who writes comedy every day. And there is the
one who sits down once every 6 months and writes a monologue, because his subconscious has been
assimilating, taking notes, filling himself with experiences. I have been more of the latter because I
often work in television or film writing more marked things.
Seinfeld thinks that the hours dedicated to writing a text are not synonymous with anything. And I
agree. In the end, writing can come easy, and in several sittings you can get a 20-minute block, or
you can spend months fighting with the blank page, putting too much pressure on yourself, or
obsessing over a topic whose approach in the end is not funny. I am increasingly in favor of the Zen
vibe. At least in my case, the best ideas almost never come to me working. Or at least not
consciously. But above all, they don't come to me if I don't have fun.
Therefore one is not infallible. You may have the feeling that 70 or 80% of the jokes in your text
will work the first time you try it. But sometimes you get surprises, and jokes that you consider
better pass without much glory and real nonsense, very obvious, delivered without any effort, is
very popular.
There are not too many secrets with the way of working with ideas. You reread what you have
written and see if it makes you smile, if it makes you laugh or laugh out loud. If you let the text rest,
time can also act as a filter for you. Three weeks later you may be surprised to see that things you
thought were funny are no longer funny. But it is the public that decides.
When I make texts from 2003 in 2012 and see that they still work, I hit the bullseye at the time.

3) What is your favorite material and why?

I think it changes over the years. We comedians are going through stages, and we are also changing
interests. In my case, my favorite is the latest material that I have created, because there is the
synthesis and learning of everything that came before. And about the person I am now (my tastes,
hobbies, etc.) Sometimes it doesn't make much sense to make jokes about a text from 2001 because
11 years have passed and maybe you no longer find it funny to talk about handjobs. Or maybe you
have 40 studs and it's very funny to talk about handjobs because you thought that at 40 you wouldn't
do them, and you were completely wrong: you do more than at 18 because you've seen a lot more
porn and proportionally you haven't been around as many chicks.
One gets rid of catchphrases or obsessions, or embarks on a new path - I'm going to talk about
myself, I'm going to talk about the Opera, I'm not going to talk about sex, etc. - One also submits to
challenges - I'm going to be more expressive, or more hieratic, or I'm going to do more acting- To
the extent that that represents a challenge for one and meets those objectives, I think it is
satisfactory.
Also here it depends on the background that one drags. Perhaps someone who comes from the world
of interpretation considers that their pending task is to improve their text, or not rely so much on
expressiveness, and someone who does not come from interpretation considers that they still have a
lot to learn out there.
And then there is a question of originality and timeliness of the subject. Sometimes we feel like
getting into a field to be the first. For example, now in Spain there is a legion of comedians who
have discovered Bill Hicks and his criticism of consumer society. That makes them believe that
"that" is the way. But in the long run the path of a comedian is made up of a multitude of changes of
course. Your compass points this year to the apostles and next year to flying with Easy Jet, to
fatherhood or to the necessary hatred of neighbors. In 2001, 100% of your monologue was about sex
and now you only dedicate 10% of your text to it.
For me, the favorite material is the one that comes to you in an easy, almost absurd way. For
example, a few weeks ago I left the cinema to see a drama. The TV in a bar was showing the
Olympics and the announcer was talking about the 3000 obstacle test. I came up with this closing
that then had retweets for days.
"In the 3000 obstacle test they ask athletes to start by setting up a company." Maybe it's a joke that
is only understood in Spain. In any case, I think the humor is that incomprehensible.
MANU BADENES
SPAIN. He was a man fully inserted in society, one more hinge in the machinery that governs our
society, with a conventional and peaceful life, probably like you, dear reader. One day, without
intending to, he recounted his miseries on stage. Although it was a dramatic narrative, the story
generated numerous laughs among the respectable (and the non-respectable). Baffled by the
reaction provoked by what he considered a Shakespearean tragedy, he states that he 'saw the light'
for some reason that his psychotherapist has not been able to detect, and he launched himself into
the intriguing world of Comedy. He is part of the prestigious cast of Paramount Comedy Comics,
and he dedicates himself to trotting the length and breadth of the peninsula. He has worked in TV,
short films and radio, and has traveled more than Charito. He loves to shoot humor in lost joints
and spend the night in seedy hotels but, as he says, it is because he likes it, and he says that this is
pure vice. He loves Argentina, and visits it frequently, where he goes unnoticed, just like in Spain.

1) How do you face the blank page?

The blank page is stupid, in the broad spectrum that you define: I get up, and it's blank. I go out to
have a coffee, I come back and it's still blank. After eating, after dinner, after fifteen days, it is still
blank. And suddenly, one night, at 5 in the morning, he wakes me up because he is hungry. The
question is how she faces me. But, just in case he decides to call me one day in the middle of the
morning, while the financial markets devastate our lives, I always try to get him to catch me in front
of the computer.

2) How do you work on an idea to get the most out of it, when do you know it's ready?
There are two types of ideas that should be worked with: the very good ones and the great ones. The
rest must be despised or, at least, temporized. You know the very good ones are ready when the
laughter of the spectators, or even their applause, tells you so. You can write it with your maximum
dedication and passion, but only the barometer of the public will save it or send it to the limbo of
“that-gag-that-I-didn't-remember-for-3-years”. But the genius, the sublime, appears when, as soon
as it arises, it makes you laugh out loud. It happens very rarely, but when you laugh at your own
idea... you know it's going to break the show."

3) What is your favorite material and why?

My favorite varies from moment to moment, and that's how it should be: it is the one that you
narrate with your five senses, the one that you "live", the one that "moves your mind." Depending
on the moment it is one or the other, but it is interesting to try to tell it with the maximum passion,
because if you limit yourself to declaiming it, or if you are missing only 10% of the delivery, the
audience will notice it and, suddenly, that material will stop. to function.
MARCOS MORE
SPAIN. BLOGGER, SCREENWRITER, MONOLOGIST AND HUMOR CARTOON.

1) How do you face the blank page?

There is a trick that illustrators use: first smear the paper with charcoal. There is nothing drawn, but
you lose respect for white and it is easier to start. When it comes to writing, I always start from a
note I have taken on my phone, even if it is minimal or bad, to "stain" and I write everything that
comes to mind about it, whether it is funny or not. If you continue, something always comes out.
Then I discard almost everything, but something worthwhile always appears. Anyway, where ideas
really grow is on stage.

2) How do you work on an idea to get the most out of it, when you know it's ready?
I generate as much written material as possible about it, and later discard everything that gives me
doubts. Then I tell it to friends who are not comedians when they least expect it, if they laugh, it
works. If not, I give it a few more chances by rephrasing it or rearranging it in the order of the
routine. Sometimes I share it with fellow comedians and we brainstorm. But there's only one way to
know if it works: by going on stage. And it can still fail. I know it's ready when it works 80% of the
time.

3) What is your favorite material and why?

I'm a fan of Call-back, and creating rhythms with Running gags. Humor is rhythm. If you don't
believe it, start telling a joke and take 20 minutes to get to the funny part. My favorites are the gags
that are reconstructed in the viewer's head, you give them the pieces and they put together the rest.
Son "Ikea Jokes" requires a certain intelligence on the part of the public, but I always count on it.
Regarding the subject, I don't have any hobbies, I talk about everything that interests me,
paranormal phenomena, secret agents, or inguinal waxing. I try to make sure no one feels excluded
and whenever possible I avoid sexual and/or political references, although I recognize that it is a
daily temptation, especially if the audience is tough. The war of the sexes always, always, always
works. Well, sometimes not, especially if you're performing for the XXIII Congress of Ohio
Hermaphrodites. I know what I'm talking about.
LAURA FALERO
URUGUAY. He has taken humor monologue courses at the Club De Comedia school, he was a
finalist in the Patricia Stand up contest, he is part of the permanent cast of "Te lo dice por primera
vez" and "Sindicato Uruguayo de Stand up" at Mess Bar, a bar in stand-up par excellence from
Montevideo, has toured the interior of the country with his monologues, created and participated in
the show “Maratón de stand up”, wrote scripts for the stand-up show “Yo y tres más” in 2013.
Since 2011, he has been part of the permanent cast of the stand-up show at the Sala Teatro
Undermovie entitled “Gente como uno”. Currently she merged her career as a Communicator with
that of a comedian, using humor as a vehicle of communication.

1) How do you face the blank page?

I don't know if I ever have a blank page. Over the years I have acquired a habit that helped me
organize my work and that today is part of my routine. This custom allows me to clean up once a
week or every fifteen days, all the notes I make daily in notebooks, documents, pieces of paper, and
even comments I make on social networks. All this material, whether premises, ideas, concepts,
words that I find funny, comparisons, or ready-made jokes that arose spontaneously, later make it
easier for me to escape the fear and I would even dare to say panic, which the blank page produces
in me. . This allows me, when I go to work, to have a lot of premises and elements to develop,
which motivate me to a not so lonely search on that empty page.
In the case that it is specific material on request, first I do a lot of research on the topic, and then I
do a mental mapping separating it into routines. Later I begin to write uncontrollably, everything
that my brain tells me. In a second instance I begin to recognize the premises, and later I begin the
more complex work, which is to use the technique to verify those premises with humor, that is, to
finish them off. It is a complex job, and it takes many hours of concentration. In any case,
everything has to amuse me, even though when I'm writing it I don't even smile. The enjoyment is
internal. As a comedian, creating routines is one of the processes that I enjoy the most. In my case, I
feel poor in the construction of texts, that is why I work harder than someone who has greater ease. I
believe a lot in acquired practices (in this case I am talking about the text): if your specialty is ham
and cheese pie, surely in thirty years, with practice it will have a unique flavor, even if you are not a
chef.

2) How do you work on an idea to get the most out of it, when you know it's ready?
I work on ideas a lot internally, long before they reach paper. I would say that an idea can take years
to grow, until I finally dare to express it. When I have an idea, I spend many hours thinking about it,
and evaluating what it really means as honestly as possible. Then I discuss it with others, which is
when it is truly born, when the word organizes it (I also tend to talk a lot alone).
Then begins an intense work of expressing and transgressing my own thoughts, values and notions
of the world, in order to be able to play with it, and in turn play with myself, something like testing
myself against my own idea, it is the only way I have found so far. the moment, to feel free in the
construction of the material, to test myself. This can take a long time until that idea hits the stage.
Then comes the more technical process, which is building the structure of the idea to turn it into
something that makes you laugh. That's hours of work, searching for different paths within the
technique of writing jokes, I think about it a lot, consult with other comedians I trust, until I manage
to organize the words to my criteria in an effective way. Next comes the most difficult stage, which
is accommodating them, and that happens on stage. The idea is finally tested on stage. It is also the
audience that often tells you what you really want to say, many times the audience acts as a guide,
you have to perceive with your five senses, and in my opinion exercise them every day as a
comedian.
You could say that an idea is ready when it fulfills its objective, in this case to make people laugh.
But with the passage of time and experience I have verified that ideas are not static, I never finish
checking if they are ready or not, they always surprise me. Because ideas also mature with one, I
don't think I could yet say that any of my ideas are ready, that's what I have proven in my artistic
experience as a comedian. I can only affirm that they have given me great unforgettable moments
and they will surely continue to give them to me.

3) What is your favorite material and why?

On the one hand, as a woman, I feel an ambitious responsibility to try to modify the discourse that in
essence and tradition is masculine and show a vision of the world from feminine sensitivity, and
perhaps also from the tragedy that this means. And this is a very personal vision of the matter, since
I am tragic and dramatic, and this is how I live it and this is how I tell it, it doesn't come out any
other way. Feminine discourse is less than fifty years in development, and very few of them have
transgressed. Today more and more women are encouraged to say what they think and surely we are
going to like many of those speeches more than others, just as happens with male speech. The
objective is simply that the feminine point of view also accompanies the evolution and construction
of society's values.
That is what motivates me the most, to start encouraging women to dare to say things and men to
listen and respect. That is why the material that I like the most is that which speaks to everyone
equally but from the feminine discourse, driven by the concept of “anima” understood as the images
of the model of the feminine in the unconscious of a man. The material that I enjoy most today is the
material against misogyny, but not from hatred, but from reflection.
At the same time, I am a Communicator, therefore I am interested in all those materials that try to
generate a critical reading of the individual in the media, in terms of the information we receive as
unique and true. I enjoy creating materials that invite you to think and create your own ideas.
On the other hand, I am Uruguayan, a country where humor died with the dictatorship, and is only
now trying to find itself. The Uruguayan hides for fear of being envied. It is a country of older
adults raised with Christian values despite being a secular State. With maturity I have been led to be
interested in the themes that address this concept of the introverted oriental, the fear of everything
and link it with the tradition of cultured, intellectual humor but made by men, for men from which
we come, which as a result hides a machismo that is not questioned.
For all this, my favorite material is that which addresses themes that lead to reflection on that social
tradition because in this way and only in this way do I consider that we will be able to evolve.
SANTIAGO REYES.
URUGUAY. He worked as a freelance journalist at La Diaria and 180.com.uy and today works
independently. Comedian actor member of the cast of the stand-up show Gente Como Uno, second
and third seasons (2012 and 2013) and of the cast of the play Bulimia written and directed by Leo
Maslíah (2013). He has been doing stand up since 2009 in the cycles I tell you for the first time and
the Uruguayan Stand Up Union. He won the first stand up competition organized by Patricia in
2010.

1) How do you face the blank page?

What I do is carry a notebook everywhere and (try to) not repress ideas at any time. If I don't write
them down at the moment, the ideas go away and I don't get them back. Sometimes I'm left thinking
"no, how did I miss that idea and didn't write it down, it was very good!". On the days I have a
show, I review my notes in the afternoon and I have come up with my best routines and punchlines
hours/minutes before the show. I guess that's why the brain works so much better under pressure.
I'm not proud of my lack of discipline, I would like to feel under pressure many more days before
the show to get more elaborate material.

2) How do you work on an idea to get the most out of it, when you know it's ready?
Working on an idea for me is carrying it out several times in different ways and with different
elements until I find the best way. When I try a joke I'm sacrificing that audience because it might
not work. I'm experimenting with them. I consider an idea finished when the audience laughs in
unison, all at the same time, as if they were organized to do so. That doesn't stop me from thinking
of more ideas that can be added to that routine or change some details to improve. Sometimes I want
to add information that isn't funny. That it can be presented in a funny way is part of the job to get
the most out of it. In other words, it is very difficult to finish an idea, that would mean that I no
longer have anything to contribute, and that would be very sad. On the other hand, it is necessary to
close circles to continue with others.
Sometimes I have something I like, I know I want to use it. I like to use interesting things like feet.
The auctions are coming. I think it's much harder to find an interesting caption than a funny punch
line.

3) What is your favorite material and why?

The last one, always. I guess it must be because of a connection to the present. I am currently talking
about my admiration for veganism. I'm trying to make material that informs through humor. A
material that invites debate about the slavery suffered by animals. It is my favorite material because
it is the most ambitious thing I have considered from a stand-up routine: to generate debate and
contribute points of view that can lead to an active change in people. And all that, through humor. I
share a segment:
"They tell me Santiago, animals don't reason. They don't reason! What a nice argument for killing
someone, cutting them into little pieces and eating them. No? Because he doesn't reason. Should we
eat mentally retarded roast? (pause) I'm not making fun of the mentally retarded, I'm making fun of
the argument that justifies killing someone because they don't reason. What would it be like
otherwise? 5x plus 2x? (pause) 7x right? (pause) (asks someone from the audience and brings the
microphone to them) 7x divided seven? (pause) roast with you. You didn't reason. Cut in the
jugular, hanging by the legs up, to bleed to death... and in your last moments of life watch how your
brothers die... (pause) x... seven x divided seven (pause) x. The value of X does not matter."
RAFA COTELO
URUGUAY. I work as co-host of Hola Vecinos on Channel 10, Segunda Pelota on Oceano FM,
Cámara Celeste on Tenfield. I was part of the murga Agarrate Catalina Murga and Asaltantes con
patent. I participated in the training and all seasons of De Pie, I coordinated Mucha Cháchara 1
and 2. I joined Unprevisto 3 and today I make Rafa Cotelo itself. I published the book Do you know
who I am? with the character Edison Campiglia.

1) How do you face the blank page?

When I ask “open document” there is already at least one note, a note in my mind or on my cell
phone. Many times there are even documents that are just unfinished notes, inconclusive ideas,
specific observations or undeveloped concepts. At some point I get my hands on it and try to give it
a minimum of development, like a kind of plant tutor. In other cases I do exactly the same thing on
tweeter, which can serve as a platform to test (?) a certain degree of effectiveness.

2) How do you work on an idea to get the most out of it, when you know it's ready?
Honestly, many times ideas are stretched based on a need: completing a space. It is much more
difficult to get a good idea than to stretch it when it appears and you basically train that chewy
muscle. It is still impossible to know if the idea “is ready” until it becomes whatever it is in front of
an audience on stage. That instance is as implacable as it is defining and you are usually surprised
by the “verdict.”

3) What is your favorite material and why?

Someone else's, always. Of my crap, I enjoy a certain approach to the absurd. The path seems a little
more original to me, the result more satisfactory and its expiration date more distant. However, it
doesn't match what people prefer about me, or at least that's my perception.
ERNESTO MUÑIZ
URUGUAY. I have worked in the media since 1996: radio, television, press, Internet. I have done
production, hosting, scriptwriting, humor, journalism. Nothing in the media is foreign to me. I have
been linked to Stand up Comedy since 2008, I was Angelini's assistant in the courses he gave in
Montevideo and then I took over. I am the only Uruguayan stand up teacher.

1) How do you face the blank page?

I never had problems with a blank page, neither for stand-up, nor for creating scripts for radio or
TV, which tend to be more complex (you don't work from the first person and you are not always
interested in the topics you are writing about). My method would be a mixture of Mind Mapping
with Automatic Writing method. I think about the topic, the subtopics that involve it, and I let the
creative thinking flow. I write without much censorship and more or less woven ideas begin to
emerge. I don't know if it's out of habit, but the premises and its future jokes are outlined there.
Then I work on a second reading and there I go to the humor, I look for the jokes, the structures.
For me the big issue is to avoid the blank page, that is, to constantly create as an existential method,
to write down on paper, on your cell phone, on a recorder, wherever but write down. Then when
you sit down to write, you have already done the creative work and you only dedicate yourself to
recreating and polishing.

2) How do you work on an idea to get the most out of it, when you know it's ready?
I have the feeling that ideas are never ready, they simply reach a point where they reflect you. Ideas
are children of thought and thought fluctuates and changes and grows and expands and is
influenced by moods. Being a professional in creation means delimiting, giving you a margin to be
able to cover them. I take advantage of an idea until it's no longer funny to me. It's ready there.

3) What is your favorite material and why?

It is a small routine that I use when the public is very dispersed or tends to atomize, those moments
when many sectors of the public want to be the center of attention. He begins by saying “Is it just
me or is this cute for an orgy?” The reaction is instantaneous and two things can happen: they
explode into laughter, which confirms that they have high sexual energy, or else there is a silence of
puritanical ladies, which confirms that Freud was right about what they said. sexual repression. In
both cases I achieve my goal of having them be with me. The rest is material by comparison of
what an orgy is with other more common activities such as Facebook. And I like!
JUAN PABLO OLIVERA
URUGUAY. My name is Juan Pablo Olivera, I am a presenter, comedian and director of “Club De
Comedia”, the first Stand Up Comedy production company in Uruguay. I have produced 3 seasons
of “Gente como uno”, for 5 years we have been doing “Te lo dice por primera vez” and “Sindicato
Uruguayo de Stand Up” with rotating comedians and for 2 seasons I have been producing “Yo y
tres más” a show stand up that became a television program on open TV and prime time. At this
moment we are opening the “Club De Comedia” school in Santiago de Chile.

1) How do you face the blank page?

At first I started with a specific topic to play around with “basic attitudes” and see what good things
could come out of it. About a while ago I started taking more specific and “economical” “notes” on
my cell phone, seeking to replicate the “essence” of what amuses me at that moment… almost
sketching one-liners.
2) How do you work on an idea to get the most out of it, when you know it's ready?
When the time comes to work on an idea on “paper,” I already come with an emotional bond with
what I have written, a kind of vector that indicates where to go… what I do then is look for the best
images and the best way to tell what I say. wanna. Then the public does its thing and from there
everything begins again...

3) What is your favorite material and why?

For me, the favorite material is one that continues to work perfectly despite time. That honest
material, which -almost- no matter what conditions it is made in... always helps to connect or at least
bring closer to a difficult audience.
RODRIGO VASQUEZ MENA
CHILI. He founded the theatrical comedy troupe “Agáchate que los Indians Coming”, I was part of
the theater troupe “La Machina”, performing in various international festivals, I am currently
doing stand up in Chile Argentina and Uruguay… I am also finishing writing my first film “
Between the ropes

1) How do you face the blank page?

I like to write, I always write the worst of myself, I really confess who I am, I fill the page with
many impure feelings... after that I rest my mind for a few minutes, and then return to the load more
sincere, more conflictive, and very prejudiced , only then do I look for what really makes me laugh,
like this almost every day... or 3 times a week...

2) How do you work on an idea to get the most out of it, when you know it's ready?
I am very demanding when I think that the idea is good and even more demanding when I think that
the idea is bad, but I always and without exception develop both... I still believe that a good and
effective idea is ready when after many draft arrangements, or rehearsals, The result begins to repeat
itself or no matter how much you want to correct it, you arrive at the same thing, just there is the
idea for the real filter… the public.

3) What is your favorite material and why?

I really like material with conflict, I don't care what the topic is, if I see a conflicted person, with
problems and giving away their feelings, I laugh a lot. I think that without conflict there is nothing,
whether from a loser to a winner... that's why I also like to watch new or virgin materials, because
you can see the real conflict of the comedian, trying to make people laugh... but that's my problem...
that It has nothing to do with the question.
SERGIO FREIRE
CHILI. My name is Sergio Freire, comedian from the program "El Club de la Comedia (Chile)"
Program where I also have the position of head of script. Actor, scriptwriter and creator of several
programs that have already been and others that are coming (SCA (Society of Comedians
Anonymous), Duro de domar, Salta si puede, Killer Karaoke), writer of A book called "Se Han
Fijado?" Actor in the comedy film "Barrio Universitario" and captain of the humor troupe ship
"Los Piratas"

1) How do you face the blank page?

I leave the blank page on the table, then I go to bed and wait for the magical comedy elves to do
their work while I sleep... But since magical elves do not exist, forced to work. Usually when I sit
down to write I do it with ready ideas, ideas that I write down on my cell phone during the day, as
advice: Never sit down to write without ideas, it's depressing, you feel like the most insipid human
being in the world, You question your career and end up leaving a resume in some political
position.

2) How do you work on an idea to get the most out of it, when you know it's ready?
I usually write from a theme, for example "The Drunkards" from there I get everything I can in
terms of types of drunks, before and after a drunkenness, famous drunks, etc. Then I do the work of
discriminating (with the pain of my soul I take out what seems boring to me and throw it in the trash
can) and as the last stage I try to summarize all the jokes to be told in the fewest possible words,
when I achieve it, I am happy and I can see my girlfriend's face again.

3) What is your favorite material and why?

My favorite material is the simple joke, the one that was always visible to everyone but no one
thought to tell it, usually that joke is the one that crosses all ages and leaves you standing anywhere.
That joke that you haven't finished closing yet and people are already enjoying it. Those jokes are
my favorites because I'm sure that those same jokes will accompany me the day I decide to travel
the world.
FABRIZIO COPANO
CHILI. He is a Chilean comedian, actor, screenwriter, television presenter, and columnist. In
January 2009 he joined the writing team of Chilevisión's El club de la comedia. During the summer
of 2010, he acts as an ant on the Chilean version of the Spanish program El Hormiguero. He
currently hosts a late show comedy program titled 'El Late con Fabrizio Copano'. He is also the
Chilean representative of Comedy Central's (Latin America) online campaign titled "Continente
Comedia", where he develops short monologues based on Twitter Trending Topics on a weekly
basis. Then in 2012 he was selected by the Spanish version of this channel Paramount Comedy to
appear at the Joy Slava in Madrid as the only Chilean representative at the "Central de Cómicos
Internacional" festival.

1)How do you face the blank page?

I try to never come across one and if I see it, I burn it. I'm writing down before in a notebook and
now on a cell phone the ideas that talking to people, going out, sleeping and eating give me. Then
with that I start with a base material, but it can really be put together by continually testing it to find
the right shades. I hate blank pages.

2) How do you work on an idea to get the most out of it, when you know it's ready?
When the premise makes me laugh. If I don't get rid of it, if it doesn't cause anything to me, even
knowing how effective it may be, I prefer to give up and let it go away. I never think they're ready
either. When I create them lists, they even bore me and I start to change them, say them in a
different way or I definitely delete them.

3) What is your favorite material and why?

My favorite material is that which is like a good pop song. It's popular, everyone can listen to it, and
they like it, but if you pay a little attention to it it has something to say. It is finally like a magic
trick, trying to trick the listener into laughing without realizing the barbarity or the great truth they
are facing. I think that when that is achieved (very rarely) the comedy advances a thousand years.
 THANK YOU
Thank you for choosing this book!!
I hope it has helped you guide you in the world of Stand Up Comedy.
If you want to know more about me: www.alejandroangelini.com
Until the next book or the next show!!
 GLOSSARY
LIVING WATER:
jellyfish
Jellifish

BERRETAS:
Berreta, colloquial way of calling something of little value.
False, doubtful.
In English: Hack.

BIRRA:
Colloquial way of calling beer in Argentina.
Choripan and beer is a typical food combination in Argentina.

BOLUDA:
Colloquial form of insult in Argentina.
Of little light. Silly. Moron.

BONDI:
Colloquial way of calling public transport in Argentina.
Bus.
Collective is another colloquial way of calling it.

GROSS:
Of little light. Silly.
Singular: Gross.

CHORIPAN:
Very typical type of sandwich from Argentina.
It's a chorizo between two breads.

TAKE:
Make love.
Fuck.

COIMA:
Bribery.

FERNET BRANCA:
Very popular alcoholic drink in Argentina.
It is a bitter and dark-colored appetizer that is usually prepared mixed with Coca-Cola.

GALLEGOS:
Colloquial way of calling Spaniards in Argentina.
Native of Galicia.

MAMMOTH
Prehistoric animal, father of elephants.
Much larger than a modern elephant and with enormous tusks, it cohabited with the first men.

MORISQUETA:
Make a ridiculous face or an absurd and exaggerated gesture.

POLOTUDO:
Idiot, Fool, Stupid

PINEAPPLE:
Colloquial way of saying punch in Argentina.

FUCKING:
Homosexual.
“Sing everyone fucking” is a typical exclamation that fans make in soccer stadiums during a game.

KIOSK:
Small place or business on the street where candy, cigarettes, drinks, ice cream, etc. are sold.

NEWSKIST:
Who works in a Kiosk.

SUBWAY:
Underground, Metro. Metropolitan.

TINELLI:
Very famous television presenter in Argentina.
Their programs have a reputation for being cheesy and tawdry.
He is accused of exploiting women and always falling into easy humor.

Table of Contents
Chapter 1 Image of the Comedian
Chapter 2 Premise
Chapter 3 Attitude
Chapter 4 Starting to create different realities
Chapter 5 The Jokes
Chapter 6 The stand-up joke
Chapter 7 Structures of Humor
Chapter 8 Economics and Numbers
Chapter 9 The Material
Chapter 10 Economy
Chapter 11 The path of material
Chapter 12 The Zen of Comedy