Julie Zack

Three years ago, I did something wild: My first stand-up comedy open mic. I was midway through a divorce and trying to figure out who I was outside of a wife and mother.

I had always wanted to try comedy, growing up watching Comedy Central and HBO comedy specials that were anything but age-appropriate. When a new acquaintance invited me to give it a go, I thought, “why not”?

That first try did not go well. I bombed. Hard. I thought I might actually die of embarrassment. (Truly, this was worse than the time I farted in seventh-grade social studies.) Then the next weekend I got up and tried it again.

I’m several years into my stand-up career now, and I regularly get booked to perform 10-15 minute sets.

Here are a few writing lessons I’ve taken from my stand-up career:

1. Be Concise: In comedy, you want to try for roughly five laughs a minute. That’s a lot of punchlines! The best way to get there is to cut any filler. Get to the point (or punch) as quickly as possible. I’ve found this is also true in writing. I aim to have a high ratio of ideas to words to make my writing relevant.
2. Keep it Fun: Even somber subjects can utilize some forms of levity. That may mean playing with diction or finding interesting ways to incorporate keywords. If you’re having fun writing it, your readers will have fun reading.
3. Learn From Mistakes: In comedy, bombing is a blessing. It teaches you what not to do next time. It’s important to try new things, but when they don’t work, leave them. I carefully review editor and stakeholder input on all of my writing to learn any major lessons I can incorporate in future writing.