It only took this comic 7 months and 13 performances to write 60-seconds of mediocre jokes about his allergies.
Have you ever thought of what it would be like if you created a bit of comedy, performed it in front of an audience, and ended up with an hour of mediocre jokes? If you did, that means that you are thinking too highly of yourself. This comic has been working on his comedy for over 7 months, put on over 13 performances, and had more than 100 of his jokes recorded, and all he has to show for it is an hour of mediocre jokes about his allergies.
I’m thinking I can finally get a good reporting about working on that since November someone’s talking to us on the stage, we prefer it to sound conversational like it’s being improvised or invented in that moment, but for most comedians most joke ideas turn out. Not to be funny so creating material is actually a process of trial and error.
The first time that I tried to Do jokes about my allergies. It was mostly error, so when I’m in a restaurant – and I ordered gluten-free – my friends are like. Oh, you were like one of those trendy people and I’m like.
No. I have cix disease. If I eat gluten it’ll destroy the feeling in my small intestine, now highschool biology called it wants its vocab back then, and over time I will starve to death starvation.
Always a great source of comedy yeah like not eating gluten. It’s Not a lifestyle choice. It’s a choice! I make to stay alive.
Do you hear that that was the sound of no one laughing this problem in our culture of overachieving parents making up like long lists of fake allergies for their children and that observation led into one sentence that people actually laughed at Timmy’s allergic to gluten and food Dyes and shellfish and globalization – you see my face there, that’s the face of a comedian who’s like Yeah, so suddenly found something that makes people laugh and over the next seven months. I would perform this bit 13 times rearranging sentences, trying new ideas trying to get one minute of solid material that I could ultimately post on Instagram in this video. I’m gon na take you through that entire process and then show you the final one-minute product.
So I’m allergic to water, willing people. This obviously creates a lot of questions with that they just yell out Their question spontaneously, which technically is heckling but early on. It was kind of helpful because it showed me what I need to explain better in retrospect watching this video, I would say to my former self: no not too soon, that’s a very insightful example, but yes also way too weird.
So the first thing I realized was that before I made jokes about having the water dollar, because then they start thinking, wait is in your body made up of like 90 % water as he Allergic to himself. That sounds more like a mental health problem. I needed to clarify this important point: [ Music ].
Oh the silence that awkward silence people laughed for just a second, but it was more like polite titters and then nothing I’ll fish and food coloring and globalization. Gender normativity gives a terrible hi. Okay, that’s a pretty decent joke, but you know that your comedy is Nerdy when the word and the punchline is 17 characters.
Long as this a comedy show or an SAT prep course. I’ve also been asking audiences to yell out their weirdest allergy comedians call. This crowd work, it’s when you’re interacting with the audience.
It can be a great source of comedy, because it’s actually improvised in the moment, so we’re more likely to laugh freeness before I wouldn’t mainstream. It’s sold out. It’s like thank you to those two people who Laughed, but it almost makes it worse because if nobody laughed, I could have just kind of pretended that it wasn’t a joke and, like I wasn’t hoping people would laugh, but I got to pity laughs and now we Know, oh, that joke really bombed who died vegetables.
I noticed that people tended to ask the same questions about the water allergy. You probably have a lot of questions, for example like what would be your first question yeah. How do I shower good question? Just immediately went to nudity so just like yeah, like medicated lotion I put on before and after showering it’s over time.
I tried different answers with the hope that I might find something fun enough, that it would make it into the final bit. Yes, yes, what do you do in the rain? What do you do in a race to which I would say like what do you do when it me? Neither do I in front of that audience. The answers I gave to those questions got really huge Laughs, which made me think.
Oh, maybe this is stuff that I can put in a bit because it seems to be working really well, it’s got ta, be the most aggressive bomb in this whole video, especially the contrast between how loud I was being while I’m acting out, shawshank redemption’ for them And the utter and complete silence in the room turns out that whether or not we laugh at a joke is highly dependent on the situation that we are in. Put that same person who sat in that Audience, maybe and laughed very loudly, take them to a corporate event and sit them beside their boss at 9:00 a. m.
everyone’s wearing suits and all of a sudden. There is this check in your mind when you hear a joke, where you think is this appropriate or not to laugh at, but Aiden here he’s allergic to food coloring to gluten to globalization and even if it’s a perfectly clean and appropriate joke, just the fact that You paused and thought about. That means you Don’t laugh, though.
I asked for help. I emailed a comedian mentor friend of mine, and he was kind enough to write me back with several ideas in turn gave me a few new ideas that did ultimately make it into the final. Yet my son Forrest here he is allergic 12th performance of this bit was last month I was M.
Seeing a banquet were filming. I thought this is going to be perfect to get the video that ultimately I can put on Instagram. He is allergic to Gluten and non-local honey.
I’ve got ta, be honest. I thought the non-local honey line would get a huge laugh, but then I got all distracted in my head and I messed up the order of the water allergy jokes watch. You can see the exact moment on my eyes and on my face here when I realize that I messed up the joke.
If this recording is gon na be no good, it is to be clear. It is a I’m gon na try and do my allergy bit on it. So many times keep tweaking and keep drinking it.
I think I Think it’s good actually after seven months. I think this bit is good, not great, which is why I think now is the time to record it posted online and then retire it. I’ve got a guy named Noah who’s gon na be filming from right up there, and I’m gon na try and shoot a like secondary angle from here on stage over cheating.
Parents think that their children are allergic to literally everything. My son Aidan here he’s allergic to Gluten and food colouring and globalization news gives him a terrible rash. I am allergic to gluten, but for real.
I have celiac disease and I had it like 10 years ago way before it was cool and trendy to be gluten. Free, I am OG gluten free, eggplant shellfish dust, mites cockroaches and one an allergy where I’m allergic to water. If it touches my skin is not a super severe allergy.
You probably couldn’t murder me with a Squirt gun, but my allergist did say you should be careful when you go swimming because you could drown. That’s the medical opinion that I’m paying you for to tell me that I’m not Aquaman cool. Tell me in the comments what you thought about it, but also tell me in the comments about this.
What you’ve seen here, obviously, is a new format of video that I’ve never tried before. I wanted to take you behind the scenes who the process of creating material is. Did you Like it? Should I make more videos like this? Would you like it to be a series number two: do you have sort of questions about the process of creating comedy material or motivational speech, type material that I could explore in future episodes and number three, do you have ideas for the title of this series? I’ll see you in the comments and I’ll see you in my next video thanks for watching.
We should hang out sometime .
