All language subtitles for Masterclass Steve Martin Teaches Comedy - 7. Delivery

The difference between a good joke and a

great joke is really nothing.

It varies from night to night. Uh your

your good joke can become a great joke

one night. And a and a great joke, you

know, kind of kind of does stand on its

own, but you know, I was thinking of the

line uh it's credited to Groucho Marks.

He said, "I would never be a member of a

club who would have me as a member."

Something like that. I'm paraphrasing

and if you look at it written it's sort

of an epig and it's amusing but I

started thinking like if you put that

line in the mouth of another comedian it

utterly changes

if you gave it to Chris Rock he go I

joined a club and they let me in and I

thought I don't want to be in that club

no way you know it would just change

everything and you just think about that

I'm not an impressionist so you know I

started to go through how how different

people would say it and how that line

would be fantastic or epigrammatic or

just dry. Uh, and it's so much so much

is wrapped up in delivery.

I used to do a joke in my act which was

a little inside early on. I would say

uh

arrogantly I would say I They said,

"You're you're probably thinking, how

can you be so funny?" And I say, "Well,

I have

the gift that many comedians have,

and that is called

timing." Timing timing. Sorry. Timing.

And then Carol Bernett had one that she

did where it takes two people to do it.

And she would say, he'd say, she'd say,

"Ask me what the secret of comedy is."

the person would go, "What's a sego go

timing?"

So, it's probably through a negative

example that that's more uh clearly

understandable what a positive example

is. Uh, you know, timing in comedy is is

uh is a word that's thrown around a lot.

And when I was younger, it was a very

big word because uh Jack Benny was

considered, you know, the expert uh on

timing. And all it meant is he he knew

when to pause

and he knew when to talk and he knew

that he could do nothing and increase a

laugh.

Uh I mean he had a a great gesture if he

was talking to his character and they'd

say something and he would just turn to

camera or to the audience and look and

turn back and it could extend that

laugh. I I the most obvious uh kind of

timing is waiting for the laugh to be

over and knowing when to uh start it up

again. But you don't say your next line

while they're still laughing because

they can't hear it. But you don't want

the laugh to be to completely die out uh

before you start talking again. So

there's just a moment uh

that's instinctive I think for

performers, you know, when to start

again. Um, there's also timing, inherent

timing within

a sentence.

I mean, it's also your p your pattern of

speech. Like if I I I used to do a joke

in our show um when I travel around with

the bluegrass band. I'll say I was um

was backstage. I went into the restroom

and there was a sign that said employees

must wash hands. And I thought,

"Thank God I'm not an employee."

And um it would get a laugh, but you

know, it's how how you stretch that out,

how quickly you say it. And and if you

slow down, you get more attention from

the audience. Uh when you break your

rhythm, your volume is raising and

lowering, you have all these different

colors you can use. It's your tempo.

It's your space between the words. It's

your your your it's your it's your it's

your it's your it's your it's your it's
your it's your it's your it's your it's

your

really negative moments uh when you're

not talking that that that is timing.

Physical comedy is is is on such a

gradient scale. I mean to me in in a

club this is physical comedy, too. If

you're acting out of bed and you're

going, "Hey, move that over there." You

know, that's physical comedy, too. you

know, we think of it as something larger

and it it can be very small. It could

just be thoughtful. I mean, that's

physical expressing

uh a sentence or joke or idea just the

tiny tiniest smallest way.

But I I I always thought of it as

in my act looking back on it is lining

up your body with the what you're

saying.

So you're not just talking. And I'm, by

the way, I'm not recommending this. I'm

saying this it's what I did because

there's so many varieties of comedy.

Just expressing the words at the same

time speaking.

You know, you can hold an audience just

by going, "Oh."

They're they're suddenly they're they're

wrapped. They don't know what you're

going to say.

See this? I got this for five bucks.

Well, you've got to be a wise shopper

nowadays. And uh you see something like

that, you better pick it up because

well, with prices today, I wanted to buy

some carpeting. You know how much they

want for carpeting? $15 a square yard.

And I'm sorry, I am not going to pay

that for carpeting.

So, what I did, I bought two square

yards and when I go home, I strapped

them to my feet.

When you're telling a joke and you've

come to the punch line and you wait,

you're indicating

that you're supposed to laugh now and it

starts to get boring because they're not

really laughing. They they're like

indicating laughs.

And by changing your tempo, like I say,

roll over jokes. Don't wait for the

laugh. Be uneven.

And I found that unevenness gets the

audience attention. they they can't look

away because they're going to miss it.

Blow past the joke. Don't stand there

and wait. Make the audience play

catchup. So that way you're not telling

them laugh now. Uh you're just going by.

And and I found that if you keep moving,

the audience is just that half second or

nanocond behind you rather than a half a

second ahead of you. Um now in practice

you have to look at the mater material

and say will it work for this but it is

a thought to keep in your head. Don't

wait. Don't make a go. Here's my joke.

Here's my next joke. You know, mix it

up.

Um, trick them

into watching you.

One of the, you know, the things that

you have to learn

is in the theater, it's called the

illusion of the first time. say, "This

is the first time I've said that." And

that, by the way, it's not that hard

because we see comedians all the time.

We know they've said it a million times.

But somehow, if you can give it a little

zing, look like you're thinking, look

like you're thinking it up at that

moment, you can

you can learn to fake that. People

really respond to a feeling of

spontaneity. you know, if they if they

say, "Uh,

um, how much did you adlib?" And you

say,"None."

They're a little disappointed because

they're very excited about the idea of

ad living. And if you look like you're

riffing,

uh, that's a little bit of a plus. Uh,

when I watch Jerry Seinfeld, I know he's

not riffing because I know he's very

precise, but it feels like it. It feels

like he's just talking. just talking and

letting these thoughts come out. So, I

really admire that. And there's of

course gradations of it. It can be just

the tiniest little moment that you that

you pretend in a way to occur to you. Uh

especially in in the middle of a joke,

you make it look easy. That's that's

what you're supposed to do. You don't

you don't want to say, "Look how hard

he's working.

See, I have this glass of water on say

it's all part of the act. You know what

I mean? Gives you kind of a balance. You

know it is when you you go to a party

and you don't have a drink in your hand

when you first get there and you feel

real awkward. You can't figure out what

to do with your hands. They feel real

big. You feel like the wife of bozo. You

know, you come in, you're going,

"Hi,

how's it going?" Pretty good. Pretty

good. Oh, I've got

Oh, I don't know. Um, I guess I'm doing

all right.

As soon as you get a drink, it's like

Mr. Cool came to town. You go, "Hey,

thank you.

Hey, Ted. How's it going?

All right.

What happened? Oh gosh, my shoelace is

untied.

Oh, I love playing jokes on myself.