Finding your Comedy Character - the next step on how to become a Stand Up Comedian!
Creating a comedy persona can be a fun and rewarding experience. But it’s not something that happens overnight — it takes time, practice, and patience to perfect.
A comedy persona is like an exaggerated version of yourself - it's a character you create on stage as part of your comedy show. Your comedy persona should be immediately recognizable to the audience – they should know who you are and what kind of comedy you do when they see or hear you on stage. By building a comedy persona, you'll have a better sense of the material that works for your style and will enable you to consistently deliver great jokes night after night.
The first step in creating your comedy persona is to define who you are onstage. What’s your comedy angle? Are you a storyteller, an observationalist, or an improviser? Once you’ve identified your comedy genre and style, it’s time to start building your comedy persona. What kind of character do you want to be when you’re onstage? Do you have an alter ego that comes out during performance? You can use these questions to find the answers that will help shape your comedy persona.
You will need to work on how the persona is portrayed as soon as you come on stage in as few words/actions as possible. You need the audience to get you straight away and buy into your character. The simpler it is to portray and understand for the audience, the sooner you will get them on board and laughing.
Next, look at how your comedy persona interacts with the audience. Your comedy persona should have a distinct way of interacting with the crowd - this will give them something familiar to latch onto when they see your show again. If you make jokes about popular culture or current events, consider creating comedy bits tailored to the audience.
A good tip is writing jokes for your comedy persona, imagine they are a character in a sitcom. What around them annoys them? What funny scrapes could they have been in? What is their opinion on the latest goings on in the news?
Finally, practice your comedy persona and hone it over time. Make sure you’re comfortable with the character you’ve created and that it feels natural when performing. Take note of what works and what doesn't during comedy shows, as this will help you improve your comedy persona over time.
Creating a comedy persona can be a great way to stand out in the comedy scene and build an impressive comedy career. With some creativity, research, and hard work, you can create a comedy persona that’s unique to you!
The best example of a comedic persona is Alan Partridge - watch him in detail and pick out the intricacies that make him such a compelling and iconic characteristic here
Want to see how it's done before you venture onto the circuit? We've been touted as one of the best comedy clubs in London, so if you're keen to see the pros in action, slide on down to one of our shows! Buy tickets for Comedy in Your Eye on our main page here!
If you want to learn more about how to become a Stand Up Comedian, check out our other articles here.