Make Your Revisions
After you have determined which jokes are good and which need to be removed, you need to review your show again so that you can edit, rewrite, and rearrange your material. This is where the biggest improvements will occur. When you begin to edit a joke, you will find that you need to rewrite another joke as well so that they fit together. Or, you may even find that you need to rearrange the jokes once you add the new and edited jokes so that your routine will be smooth. Once you rearrange you may even need to do some more rewriting. You can see that your revisions will continue to cycle through editing, rewriting, and rearranging until you get the show just the way you want it.
Editing Your Jokes
Being able to relentlessly edit your own jokes is an extremely valuable skill for comedians. Most of the time people want to hold onto to their jokes. They want to keep them whether they are good or bad because they feel they are funny. The more quickly you allow yourself to relinquish your hold on the “alright” jokes, the more quickly your show will improve.
When you realize that a joke is missing the target, then set it aside. Notice that you still need to keep the joke, just set it aside for a later time. If you thought it was funny, then there is something there and it will just need to be tweaked. Take the joke, or even whole routine, out of your show and save it for a later date.
Many times you will find that a joke or routine may not work now, but when you pull it out again later it will work wonderfully. This happens because as you perform and improve your shows you learn new skills, new styles of delivery, or even how to take on a different persona that will help that old joke work. So always save those jokes that you cut from your show because you never know when they will work again.
Another excellent way to hone your stand up comedy routine and performance is to record your show. After all, you cannot improve your show if you don’t actually know what went well and what could be improved. Video recording your show will provide an opportunity to thoroughly review, analyze, and improve your act. It also gives you a chance to post your act online to gain a wider audience.