Steve Martin’s 6 Tips for Aspiring Comedians

Steve Martin is an award-winning comedian, writer, and actor. He began writing for The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour while in college, and in 1969 won an Emmy Award for his work on the show. Steve cultivated a small but dedicated fan base in the 1970s as a stand-up comedian, but it wasn’t until his 1976 appearance hosting Saturday Night Live that he became a renowned comedian. Following his breakthrough, Steve cemented a reputation as a blockbuster movie star with films like The Jerk (1979) and All of Me (1984). To date, Steve has acted in more than 45 films and written over 10.

Punchlines, payoffs, and one-liners—if you’re looking to make people laugh, here are some of Steve’s tips for becoming a successful comedian:

1. 1. Talk about comedy. “If you’re at the very beginning of even thinking about being in comedy or being in show business or performing, I would get with your best friend or your smartest friend, and start talking about comedy,” Steve explains. “I don’t mean for a lunch, for an hour. I’m talking about days, days, into the night.” This is a great way to build confidence and to learn how to generate material. You’ll start pitching jokes to each other, learn how to phrase things, and when to pause. “You’ll be surprised at where you end up five days later from where you began. You'll already be more sophisticated and more knowledgeable about yourself.”
2. 2. Study your influences. Steve learned a lot about comedy by studying his favorite comedians, like Jack Benny, Jerry Lewis, Abbott and Costello, and Steve Allen. “Also, there are so many people in my life who influenced me who were not famous comedians they were just funny,” says Steve. “There's so many funny people that you pick up things from. Little attitudes. You can really gather comedic style by just being aware of the people around you and the professionals who have learned how to shape their comedy into something substantial.”
3. 3. Share the laughs. Stand-up comedy isn’t the only way to be funny—many comedians work on sketch or improv shows with a large group of comedians. Steve’s recommendation when doing group shows is to let other performers get laughs, too. “If you're even around a laugh it’s also reflecting on you,” he says. “It's the greatest feeling.” When you work with other comedians, don’t be afraid to share the spotlight. Think of the performance as a team effort.
4. 4. Think about your context. “When I was performing in the late ’60s and early ’70s,” Steve explains, “the climate was very political. … If I played a college all I had to do was mention Richard Nixon and the place would uproar with funny. [For my routine] I had really long hair, and I had turquoise jewelry and kind of a hippy look.” Steve knew that the hippy routine was funny with audiences, but one day he had a thought: maybe audiences were craving some laughter that wasn’t political. “That was probably the most important moment of my professional life, that understanding,” Steve says. “I cut my hair, and I shaved my beard, and I put on a suit, and suddenly by doing nothing to the act rather than being at the tail end of an old movement I was at the front end of a new movement.” That’s his recommendation for young comedians: ask yourself, “What is the state of the nation? What could I do that would be unique and unusual?” Steve says, “It doesn’t even have to be that unique, just a slightly different statement.”
5. 5. Record your ideas. If you’re having a hard time coming up with new material, Steve says that the best place to look is all around you. “Remember you are a thought machine,” he says. “You have 1,000, a million thoughts a day. Just learn to observe them a little bit, and say, ‘Oh is that an idea I could use.’” Record these ideas someplace, and you’ll soon start seeing how to piece them together into comedy material. “A million things happen to you every day,” Steve says. Take advantage of them.
6. 6. Perform. In Steve’s experience, performing a show is the best way to become a better comedian. “Do it every opportunity you can,” he says. “You just have to get out there and do it. That’s the thing that's going to mean the most.” If a show doesn’t go well or if you have a few hecklers, that’s okay. “Don’t be depressed by bombing failure,” Steve says. “Just the sheer amount of performing and the sheer amount of failure is honing you. You’re learning something.”

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