Arts & Entertainment

Gathering Material

Lesson time 11:23 min

Inspiration is all around you if you know where to look. Steve teaches you how to keep your eyes open and reveals some of the most abundant sources of comedic material.

Students give MasterClass an average rating of 4.7 out of 5 stars

Topics include: Educate Yourself • Material Is Everywhere • Mine Your Friends for Material • Find a Vacuum You Can Fill • Use What Everyone’s Thinking

Preview

Become informed. Become intelligent. Learn about things. Every time you learn about something, it's a new subject. And you get a greater vocabulary by learning about things. When I was in high school, I was an OK student, you know, C. When I went to college, I upped it because I got suddenly interested. But I went to this high school guidance counselor and he was the first person who ever said to me, he said, you have interest in performing. And I went, oh, you mean you're actually taking that seriously? He said, you should learn about history. Because-- And I went, that makes sense. You know, to learn the facts about the past and I'd have more subject matter. And so the more you learn about things, the greater intellectual vocabulary and hence comedic vocabulary I think you're going to have in today's world. Because you never know what's going to inspire you. I had a friend, I learned so much from this. It's Charles Grodin and, you know, I've always been-- like you go to a cocktail party or on a movie set and two people get into a fight and I would always be the one, like, how do we stop this? How do we stop this? And Charles Grodin said, oh, when two people get in a fight I just sit back and watch. I thought, what a great idea, you know? Instead of trying to fix it, watch it. Because that's real human interaction. Why abort it? Don't abort your ideas when you're on to something or when there's trouble, let it happen. See what happens. You'd be surprised. If you witness an argument and now you know the shape of an argument in your head. Sometime it's going to come back out. When you're doing your two person bit on stage where you're playing two characters, you've seen the shape of that argument and the volatility of it or the subtlety of it. And you're just constantly gathering information whether you like it or not. You have to think, what's it good for? What circumstance is it good for? Is it good for stand up or is it good for saying at a party or at a dinner table? And it also works backwards. If you say something funny at a dinner table, as a working comedian you have to go, hum, usable? Nora Ephron had a saying that was told to her by her mother who was a journalist and Nora Ephron was more than a journalist, but also a journalist. And her mother said, everything is copy. Which means everything you see, hear, experience is usable. Remember, you are a thought machine. You have a thousand, a million thoughts a day. Just learn to observe them a little bit. And say, oh, is that an idea I could use? A million things happen to you every day. And every one of those things that is a possibility is extremely valuable. To lose something because you didn't make a note or didn't write it down, it's tragedy for a performer. I have a friend in Texas. My friend Tony. And he hir...

About the Instructor

One of Steve’s first gigs was at the drive-in movies. When the audience liked a joke, they honked. In this comedy class, Steve shares insights from performing for cars and humans over a 50-year career spanning sold-out arenas and blockbuster films. Learn how to find your voice, gather material, develop an act, and take your comedy writing to the next level.

Featured MasterClass Instructor

Steve Martin

Steve Martin teaches you everything from finding your comedic voice to nailing your act.

Explore the Class

Get Up To 50% Off