How do you remember stand-up comedy? You know each joke by heart. You’ve practiced a hundred times. But still, there you are, staring at the sea of faces from the stage, with a metaphorical tumbleweed rolling through your head. Crap! You’ve got an acute case of stage fright. Stand-up comedian and Hard Knock Knocks co-founder, Ben Horowitz, knows the feeling. As …
Across all of his social media platforms Australian comedian Reuben Solo has over 800,000 followers. His Instagram sits at 235,000 followers, YouTube at 19,000 subscribers and over 560,000 followers on TikTok. He chooses not to be on Facebook. He’s Gen Z after all. Reuben has attracted this enormous following by filming skits, where he often plays all the characters. To …
Generating ideas for stand-up comedy is difficult at the best of times. Just about any topic is open game, but that freedom doesn’t make joke writing easier. If anything, the brain needs constraint to help focus the creative muscle. Here’s four constraints that we use at the Hard Knock Knocks comedy school to help our students generate ideas for stand-up …
Developing your comedy career requires a commitment to stage time. The Hard Knock Knocks comedy school is first to say rehearsal is vital to a successful comedy career. That’s why we encourage our graduates to produce their own comedy rooms. So what’s the difference between open mic and curated comedy rooms, and just as importantly, how do you get gigs? …
Stand-up comedy can be a stepping stone to a career in Hollywood. Many comedic actors have started out performing stand-up comedy before making it big on the silver screen – take for example Jim Carrey, Sarah Silverman, or even our own Eric Bana. In this post we look at how the world of stand-up comedy can open doors and pave …
Spoiler alert! Stand-up comedy is as scripted as a movie. Which is probably why so many stand-up comedians have migrated into TV and movie roles. Just take Jim Carrey, Robin Williams, Australia’s own Eric Bana and more recently Celia Pacquola. All performed on stage before they moved to screen. And the similarity between stand-up and movies doesn’t end there. Academy …
A misconception is that you have to be born funny to be a stand-up comedian. Certainly you have a sense of humour, but the difference between a comedian and a funny person, is that a funny person can make their friends laugh. A comedians can make strangers laugh. So how do they do it? Timing We’re not talking about spontaneity. …
In Australia, we love a good laugh. We’re known for our dry wit and our ability to find the funny side of even the most difficult situations. So it’s no surprise that humour is often used in our presentations. A presentation with humour can help to break the ice and make the audience feel more relaxed and increase attention, which …
It’s the worst kept secret, women love humour. So why don’t men invest more in improving their skill in humour. Here’s 10 ways to win her over using humour: Here’s the first five to win her over using humour. Go test it out. Unlock the next five by sharing your email address here.
