Ten New Year's Resolutions for Stand-up Comedians

As a professional clean corporate comedian for 25 years, I've learned that starting the year out with New Year's resolutions will help to propel your career forward.  Here are ten New Years resolutions that provide a definite boost to monthly bookings.

1.  Write ten new minutes of clean stand up comedy to be used for auditions, showcases and live taping opportunities.

2.  Open a constant contact account for monthly comedy newsletters.

3.  Start a comedy mailing list by printing postcards and sign up sheets shows.

4.  Keep social media current - Twitter, Facebook, Stumble Upon, Reddit, Digg, Tumbler,  Squidoo, etc.

5.  Videotape all shows - review them, edit them, post them on YouTube.

6.  Blog regularly

7.  Submit press releases

8.  Write a book, record a CD or DVD

9.  Update your site regularly - maintain a professional look

10.  Promote, promote, promote!

Teach Yourself to Smile

 

 A Christian Comedian Learns to Smile

     As a Christian comedian who enjoys studying human nature, I am firmly convinced that there are two types of people who wander the earth - (1) natural gifted smilers who willingly and effortlessly smile throughout the day and (2) those who don't.   The gifted smilers are the people to whom you are immediately attracted because a big smile is a sign of acceptance. Gifted smilers tend to make friends easily.  They’re most often outgoing and fun extroverts.   Those who are not natural smilers feel like they are smiling, but guess what – they’re not!

     I was not a gifted smiler and my husband, Bert, made it very clear I had to make the effort to learn to smile if I wanted to be a successful performer and an approachable female Christian comedian.  

     Smiling and happiness do not go hand-in-hand. I know many very happy people who don't show their internal happiness through facial expression.  I recognize these people because for twenty-five years, I was one of them. Happy on the inside, I had no idea it wasn’t reaching all the way up to my face.  I really thought I was smiling and I was shocked to find out that I wasn’t.

      My husband, who is also in the comedy business, insisted I teach myself to smile. I began forcibly making myself smile on stage and in the company of friends. It was a major and constant initial effort.  It felt completely unnatural and insincere because I was always thinking about forcing a smile and it seemed contrived.  I felt I was putting on an act and not truly being myself. However, I quickly realized the irony!   If I feel happy on the inside, a smile on my face is actually a truer reflection of my spirit.  It was time to catch up to the gifted smilers and to discover what it felt like to portray true happiness.  The effect was instantaneous!

     I immediately found putting a smile on my face changed my interaction with friends, family, acquaintances and even my Christian comedy audiences!  As I learned to smile my confidence grew in both my personal life and on stage.  People more willingly approached me and I experienced a notable influx of positive energy.  Smiling also provided a tremendous improvement in communication skills.  Making the effort to smile has made me more comfortable in my own skin.

      Do you know someone at work or in your neighborhood whose expression rarely changes?  Don’t be too quick to judge these people.  They may feel joy on the inside and do not realize they’re communicating gloom and doom on the outside.  A stock line of the comedy club comic is “Sir, are you having a good time?  …. Then why don’t you tell your face about it!”

     Smiling is a gift from my husband and I am incredibly grateful for his lessons. I no longer envy the natural smilers and their inherited gift. I believe smiling is a genetic blessing and it also can be a learned behavior. How wonderful we can learn to smile as easily as those who are gifted! It is a positive way to live and grow.

     Look in the mirror.  If you’re happy on the inside but you see no smile on the outside, you might want to tell your face about it!

The Secret to Staying Happy in Your Comedy Career

I've been performing stand up comedy for twenty-five years and this is long enough to see comedy careers go up and comedy careers go down. Simply checking out a comedian's timeline on Facebook will give a quick peek at the cycle of stardom and the toll it takes on a performing career.  The most desperate/depressing posts are generally by comedians who made it "big" at the start of their career and feel it will never get that good again.  They spend the rest of their life floundering as they try to regain that feeling of greatness achieved by way of a coveted television spot or sitcom.  Of course, there are also the comics who feel they've never really "made it" and traveled a misguided road only to be met with one disappointment after the another.

How is it possible to stay happy and focused without encountering a lifelong roller coaster ride of those ups and downs?  I can tell you that I see that answer with complete clarity.

First, ask yourself, "What is a comedian?"  The answer most people give is quite obvious. "A comedian is someone who makes people laugh."

It is not complicated.  A comedian is not described as a "star"; a comedian is not described as someone who has their own sitcom; a comedian is not described as someone who has the most YouTube hits or followers on Twitter.

A comedian is someone who makes people laugh.  If you take your own ego out of the equation and appreciate the fact that you were given the awesome gift of making people laugh and feel happy, you will learn to appreciate and love your craft regardless of ups and downs.  A comedian changes a person's life for the better.  How fortunate we are as comedians to be given this gift.  Comedy is about your audience.  They are the true stars of your own show.  If a comedian can appreciate this very basic concept, they will always feel successful and blessed and no longer be a victim of their endless internal struggle.

The sweetest sound to me are the words, "I haven't laughed this hard in years!"  That is truly the sound of success.

Female Clean Comedian - Sally Edwards
ComedyBySally.com

Shopping Jokes

Friendship Christian Reformed Church, Byron Center, MI (+playlist)

Female Christian Comedian performs clean comedy at Friendship Reformed Christian Church in Byron Center, MI.  Fun and Funny!

Dogs That Make a Comedian Laugh

I'm a longtime dog rescuer, foster and adopter but it wasn't until this weekend that I realized that some dogs have a superior ability to make me laugh.

My name is Sally and I am a dog-aholic.  It seems I can never get enough interaction with my canine friends.  Owning four dogs and visiting the nearby 65-acre dog park five miles away on a daily basis should confirm anyone questioning how much I just love to be around dogs.  I find them endlessly fascinating and almost always gentle.  And even after this type of daily submersion, I still found myself wandering into a local animal shelter on Saturday imagining that day I could set someone free.

The weather this past weekend was beautiful and after my two trips to the Wauconda Dog Park with my pack I wanted to see more.  I had just fostered a beautiful white pit bull named "Beau" who I had nursed back to health from a severe case of mange.  However, when she began to feel spunky she decided that extra strength could send her to the head of the pack.  After numerous scuffles and eventual attacks, I made it a priority to get her into a dogless home.  Now I was feeling the emptiness of her absence which caused me to head to a nearby animal shelter.  I needed the "fix" of a young dog's exuberant company that would bring me joy like Beau did.

The first dog I brought out to the play yard was a Tree Walker Coonhound known for their gentle disposition and their love of running.  This coonhound had arrived at the shelter three weeks prior after serving two weeks on death row in Southern Illinois where he had been picked up as a stray. To say that this dog, "Beech", was untrained would be a vast understatement.  As I led him to the play yard, he whirled and swirled on the leash, over-powering me at every step.  As I took firm hold of the leash, he scrambled between my legs.  Regarding myself as a sure-footed dog trainer, I couldn't help but double over laughing as I saw my reflection in one of the shelter windows.

When I brought Beech into the play area, he was off like a flash full of energy and excitement.  I wasn't even able to remove the choke chain and leash.  I didn't stand a chance against this boy. For ten minutes he ran like an insane creature who was blinded by the light of day.  I sat on a bench and let him roll. Beech's next trick was to find a ball and throw it to himself endlessly. Throw, jump, catch.  Throw, jump, catch.  Boy would I love to see this guy play in the snow!  With every throw and catch, I burst into laughter and he'd stop and look at me.  It was very apparent he saw himself as a genius fellow who could act, and get a reaction, with every step.

Not to be completely dominated, I did throw in a quick lesson of "sit" - a major feat with this free spirit.  Grabbing a hold of his leash, he threw me off-balance.  The joy in his moves was inspiring.  I hadn't laughed this hard since Beau left our home.

The next dogs I took out for exercise were a gorgeous well-behaved American Bulldog, a snow white senior husky mix who was scheduled for eye surgery and a pitbull/lab mix.  Each dog had fantastic traits in his or her own way but none of them brought me to my knees in laughter.

What quality do these dog-clowns have that is generally under-appreciated by humans?  It has been 24 hours since I saw this wild uncontrollable former stray and I just can't stop thinking about him.  The fact that his presence in this senior pet/cat household would be nothing short of totally insane has yet to deter me from imagining the fun.

Beech