What Makes a Good Comedy Routine

Humor is very subjective but there are also universal truths that every person can relate to, unless you don't have a sense of humor which most likely means you are not completely human. It is in these universal truths that a good comedy routine thrives on and is able to transcend culture, race, and even time. So what am I saying? A good comedy routine comes from a believable premise that people can understand or agree on, and usually - but not always - it's about pain.For example, if you are going to do jokes about marriage, then you should find a premise that is believable like "marital sex is the most expensive kind of sex" or "women are weird but men are stupid". Also, you are more likely to get laughs if you are actually married and not pretending to be married. Audiences can somehow sense if the performer is genuine or not.
So, once you have a believable and insightful premise (hopefully better than my own examples), what's next? You create a scenario that exemplifies the statement you just made, or what Judy Carter calls an "act out". It is in this act out where the punch lines come in. You can either exaggerate, compare, or show the absurdity of the premise to create laughter.
In the the premise example I gave, I can create a funny act out:
Women have weird habits, like they will ask you to wear matching outfits so you and her will look like this cheesy couple madly in love walking around for the whole world to see. "Baby, why don't we wear those Mickey Mouse shirts we bought in Disneyland and go out tonight to a comedy club?" Men, we're just stupid because we agree. "That's a great idea!"
Okay, maybe it needs more work but you can see what I mean by acting out the premise to get the funny out of it.
You can apply the same principle to sketch comedy or other forms. The main key is to get the audience to agree with you on the statement you are making. You know you've hit it on the head when your audience says, "That's so true!" And other comedians are thinking, "Damn! How come I didn't think of that?"
Talking about something relatable is just one of the ingredients of a good comedy routine. There are other factors such as timing, stage presence, likability, and so on. The best way to come up with a funny routine is to actually just keep doing it and polishing your skills. There is no substitute for stage experience.
Tim Tayag is a pioneer of point of view stand up comedy in the Philippines and Asia. He started his comedy career in San Francisco back in 1997 and has toured and performed all over the world. You can learn more about him by visiting his site http://www.timtayag.com/ or purchase his comedy CD http://www.timtayag.com/nutritiousstandup/.

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