I’ve written over 10,000 jokes in my career. Some I’ve used and some just sit in the Red Grant vault—I would never be able to use all them. But that’s okay; I would rather have an overflow of jokes than no jokes at all.
Jokes come in and out of my head all day long, but when people ask me how I write them, I say, “Just write five minutes at a time.” I know five minutes doesn’t sound like a long time but on stage, it can feel like an eternity. Writing for five minutes is simultaneously tricky and easy…it’s one of those classic comedy riddles.
The first five minutes I ever performed was horrible. I remember talking about Wonder Woman and her bracelets and how they wouldn’t last long in the neighborhood I grew up in. I thought it was the funniest joke in the world when I wrote it but when I performed, crickets.
After the show, a friend asked, “Why don’t you talk about that real stuff you always tell me about, the stuff that makes me laugh? Why don’t you talk about your family and your friends and all of the situations you get yourself into every day?”
READ: Want to Be a Comedian? 3 Tips to Get You Started
From that point on, I made it my
I’ve written over 10,000 jokes in my career. Some I’ve used and some just sit in the Red Grant vault—I would never be able to use all them. But that’s okay; I would rather have an overflow of jokes than no jokes at all.
Jokes come in and out of my head all day long, but when people ask me how I write them, I say, “Just write five minutes at a time.” I know five minutes doesn’t sound like a long time but on stage, it can feel like an eternity. Writing for five minutes is simultaneously tricky and easy…it’s one of those classic comedy riddles.
The first five minutes I ever performed was horrible. I remember talking about Wonder Woman and her bracelets and how they wouldn’t last long in the neighborhood I grew up in. I thought it was the funniest joke in the world when I wrote it but when I performed, crickets.
After the show, a friend asked, “Why don’t you talk about that real stuff you always tell me about, the stuff that makes me laugh? Why don’t you talk about your family and your friends and all of the situations you get yourself into every day?”
READ: Want to Be a Comedian? 3 Tips to Get You Started
From that point on, I made it my
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