Introduction: Learning Language through Laughter
Activity 3: Tell a Personal Story
Activity 4: Observe and Marvel
Activity 6: Build Your Memory Palace
Activity 7: Practice, Present, Record
Activity 8: Transcribe and Correct
Activity 9: Iterate, Condense, Revise
Activity 10: Arrange and Refine
Activity 11: Perform, Improvise
Activity 12: Discuss and Document
Conclusion: Produce Your Special!
We’re all familiar with language study: learning grammatical structures, memorizing vocabulary, conjugating verbs, writing short compositions, doing roleplay, inventing dialogues, and having conversations. We’re also familiar, at least somewhat, with stand-up comedy: funny people stand on a stage and tell jokes, do humorous impressions, and share amusing stories. How can we learn language through laughter? And, more specifically, how can we learn language using the toolbox and methods of stand-up comedy?
Writing and performing a stand-up comedy routine in our native language, let alone a foreign language, would seem to be a daunting and impossible task. But before actually performing a stand-up set, what are the skills and steps that a stand-up comedian needs to master through practice? And how might we explore and adapt the particular toolbox of stand-up comedy for the purpose of developing foreign language proficiency?
The goal is not simply to perform stand-up in a foreign language (not that doing so is simple!), but rather to mine the process of stand-up comedy development for the sake of learning and improving language skills. What this actually means is that if we shadow a stand-up comedian through all of the preparatory steps required for composing and performing a comedy routine -- and if we mimic these steps in a foreign language -- we will, in effect, be covering precisely each of the elements that make up the broad range of grammar, vocabulary, memorization, pronunciation, revision, and presentation which, together, lead to proficiency.
The steps themselves, not just the final product, are where the language learning happens. At the end of the day, upon completion of the steps, we very well might have the enthusiasm, confidence, and ability to get on stage and perform a stand-up set in a foreign language! That is not the goal -- but if, just for now, we pretend that it is, then I think we’ll be surprised by how much we’ve learned in the process. And, if we’d like, the option to actually perform stand-up is always there!
This is, believe it or not, a twelve-step program. In each step, we will engage with one of the essential steps in the process that every successful stand-up comedian completes, and we will explore how each of these steps furthers a specific skill-set or practice that is critical to successful language learning. These twelve steps can be implemented as lesson plans, with one or two class sessions (and corresponding homework assignments) devoted to each step. Each step is presented as a separate chapter of this handbook. The title of each chapter is a key verb, and each chapter -- like this introduction -- opens with a key question that frames the approach.
One of the first things that a stand-up comedian does during a performance is to “call the room.”
As explained by David Nihill in his book Do You Talk Funny?, “Acknowledging the obvious is known in comedy as ‘calling the room.’ It means vocalizing exactly what’s going on in the room or what people are likely thinking. . . . Vocalize everything that’s happening in that moment, everything that is being shared between you and the audience. It can be comments on lunch, the setup, the room temperature, someone arriving late or leaving early, a loud noise, someone sneezing, a fire alarm going off in the background, etc.” (Nihill 87-88).
In other words, “calling the room” means describing not only the physical space but also what is going on in that space, with particular attention to idiosyncratic elements. It occurs not only at the start of a performance but also during it, especially for the purpose of acknowledging and addressing disruptions immediately. Calling the room breaks the fourth wall, or at least creates the illusion that the stand-up performance is a free-flowing improvised dialogue even though it is usually a well-rehearsed, mostly scripted performance. It also makes the audience feel closer to the comedian.
Here is an example of “calling the room,” from a performance by the legendary comedian Joan Rivers.
common objects (chair, lights, floor, wall, paper, mirror, etc.)
types of people (person, woman, man, child, adolescent, etc.)
Interaction (talk, converse, shout, argue, listen, play, etc.)
Movement (arrive, enter, stay, get up, sit down, leave, exit, etc.)
gerunds (-ing form)
Prepositions (on, in, above, between, etc.)
“Call” your current room -- include not only the space but also what’s happening in it
“Call” an imaginary room (objects and movement: what’s there and what’s going on
“Working the crowd” is another key stand-up skill that is particularly helpful in the context of language learning. As Stephen Rosenfield explains in his book Mastering Stand-up, “Successful crowd work at the opening of a show can stop the audience from talking among themselves and get them focused on the MC. The conversation moves from the audience to the stage. People have to pay attention to the person in the spotlight when that person is talking directly to them.” (Rosenfield 66). Nihill also describes crowd work, though he uses the term “riffing” to describe it: “Riffing is when a comedian interacts with an audience by asking them questions, either to the group as a whole or an individual, making stuff up on the spot and appearing as spontaneous as can be” (Nihill 94). Crowd work, or “riffing” on interactions with audience members, entails a back-and-forth conversation between the comedian and the audience. Like calling the room, it breaks the fourth wall and creates a sensation of immediacy. Unlike calling the room, it is a two-sided (or many-sided) conversation, as opposed to a monologue.
Here is an example of crowd work, as performed by comedian Mike Birbiglia.
Relationships (parent, mother, father, child, son, daughter, sister, brother, spouse, partner, husband, wife, friend)
Professions (student, teacher, doctor, salesperson, manager, waiter, etc.)
Present tense (I study, I work, I am)
Question words - who, what, when, where, why, how
Work in pairs. Ask your partner a question. Then, instead of asking a totally different second question, “riff” on the first question by commenting on your partner’s answer, offering interpretations and judgment (exaggeration is encouraged!), and asking follow-up questions related to the first answer.
Telling personal stories is one of the ways that a comedian captures the attention of the audience and draws them into the comedian’s world, whether real or imagined. By telling stories, comedians can make their act seem personal, relatable, and authentic. As Rosenfield explains, “Funny stories that comedians perform in clubs are called anecdotal stand-up. These stories can be based on real-life experiences or they can be made up” (Rosenfield 22). Stories, or anecdotes, are memorable and are usually among a comedian’s funniest “bits.”
Here is an example of a personal story in stand-up, as told by the Chinese comedian Joe Wong, who began his comedy career in the U.S. before moving back to his country of birth.
common locations (library, store, school, office, hospital, house, apartment, restaurant)
objects in daily life (money, pants, sidewalk, etc.)
Preterite (simple past)
Imperfect
Think of something funny or amusing that happened to you recently. What was funny about it? Tell the story not in chronological order, but rather focusing on the funny elements and building on those. Then tell the story to a partner and ask for advice about structuring and developing it.
As Joe Randazzo explains in his book The Definitive Guide to an Unpredictable Career in Comedy, “The observational approach is “to notice everyday things and point out to an audience what they have overlooked about those things.” The aim is “to do this in such a way that the audience’s worldview will shift, however imperceptibly, for a brief moment in time, either pertaining to our society or to missing socks” (Randazzo 144-145).
As Rosenfield further describes, observational comedy “has been employed by generations of comedians to give shape to their comic ideas about big issues, small issues, issues we experience at a comfortable distance, and issues that are the most intimate and urgent matters of life” (Rosenfield 19). Observational comedy is not necessarily personal; it is not necessarily rooted in personal stories, but rather is more about perspective, description, and interpretation.
Here is an example of observational comedy, from the late Bostonian stand-up comedian Patrice O’Neal.
Present tense
Conditional form of verbs
Think of something that, at some level, confuses you. Why do people do something that they do? What is the origin of a habit or custom? What is an odd convention, and why do people follow it? In a paragraph, write about that thing. Then, read your paragraph aloud to a group of classmates.
Some of the biggest laughs that comedians get are from impersonations or imitations of others. These monologues or dialogues often include mimicry of voices, accents, mannerisms, and word choice. There are countless examples. Here is one from comedian Sam Jay.
Quotation is also, of course, a key component of academic writing and everyday conversation. There are a number of words and grammatical structures that are necessary for direct and indirect quotation, and the language learner must master these in order to communicate effectively.
Verbs: to say, to state, to claim, to argue, to complain, to cry, to shout, to explain, etc.
Past tense (said, explained, shouted, etc.)
Do you remember someone saying something bizarre, annoying, unusual, or characteristic that was amusing to you? If so, what? Describe it. If you can’t think of anything specific, then describe a stereotype, present it (either by explaining it or imitating it), and then explain what, if anything, you find problematic about it.
After a comedian comes up with a bunch of stories, observations, and imitations, how does the comedian remember all of these things to tell them on stage? One method, as described by Nihill, is the “memory palace” approach. In this method, the key is to map ideas onto a physical space, so that during the performance, recalling the information works almost like finding objects in a familiar location, such as one’s own apartment.
Here is the process, as outlined by Nihill, for crafting one’s “memory palace”: Decide on a blueprint Define a route Identify specific items and storage locations along your route Memorize the memory palace Place things to be remembered in your palace Explore your palace and see everything you created (Nihill 73-74)
For example, if the location is one’s own apartment, one might construct the memory palace as follows: “When I enter the apartment, I see keys on the hook by the entrance; the hook reminds me of my opening story about fishing. Then I take a left and enter the kitchen; on the stove is pasta and sauce, which reminds me of my second bit about my trip to Italy.” And so on.
Household objects
Present tense Prepositions (in, on, above, below, next to, etc.)
Take three “bits” from the previous activities -- for example, one story, one observation, and one imitation -- and map them onto a memory palace of your own creation.
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