I’m a language guy. Always have been and always will be.
My fascination with language started early, studying Spanish and French in high school. Then, for a while, I avoided language study—until seminary pulled me back in with Greek, Hebrew, Aramaic, German and French (again). At UK, while earning my Masters degree in Linguistics, I also studied Sanskrit and taught in the Writing, Rhetoric, and Digital Studies program. Later, I taught Latin, and because I’ve been to Ethiopia 7 times, I’ve also learned Amharic, which became the focus of my master’s thesis at UK. I’ve written books on Greek, Amharic, and Latin, and spent years studying, teaching, and obsessing over language in every form.
But even with all my degrees and studies, my obsession has never been just about what words mean—it’s also about how they’re used. Part of me thinks this fascination started with hip-hop. Lyrics pulled me in and got me thinking about rhythm, structure, and the way language can punch or play. Poetry came next, and, of course, jokes have always been in the mix. I even mentioned in yesterday’s post how my friends and I spent most of 4th through 12th grade at the lunch table roasting each other. That wasn’t just fun—it was rhetorical practice.
In fact, rhetoric is at the heart of so much of what I’ve done in my life. I mentioned teaching rhetoric at UK to college students, but I also taught rhetoric courses to high schoolers for years, and during that time, I even wrote a book on the subject titled Introducing Rhetoric: An Illustrated & Interactive Guide. (Shameless plug: You can find it HERE. It’s a pretty fun read if I say so myself.) Rhetoric, at its core, is about persuasion, but it’s also about the creative and strategic use of language. It’s the art of knowing how to say something in the most meaningful (and sometimes most influential) way possible.
When I ventured into stand-up comedy this past year, my love for rhetoric was reignited. Comedy is built on language. It’s not just what you say—it’s also how you say it. Timing, phrasing, structure, rhythm, tone, even appearance—all of it is rhetorical. And the more I study and analyze comedy, the more I see how valuable a grasp of rhetoric is for stand-up.
Here are five reasons that immediately come to mind:
Rhetoric teaches you to connect with your audience.
Comedy isn’t a monologue—it’s a dialogue, even if the audience never says a word. As a comedian, you’re constantly reading the room, responding to their reactions, and adjusting your delivery. Rhetoric helps you understand how to persuade and engage, whether that’s with a punchline, a callback, or a perfectly timed pause.Rhetorical devices are joke-writing gold.
Parallelism, incongruity, antithesis, hyperbole—these aren’t just fancy words for English teachers. They’re the building blocks of great jokes. A well-placed rhetorical device can elevate a joke from funny to unforgettable.It sharpens your timing and rhythm.
In rhetoric, how you say something is often more important than what you’re saying. The same is true in comedy. A slight pause, a shift in tone, or the deliberate repetition of a word can make all the difference between a joke landing or falling flat.It helps you create memorable moments.
Rhetoric is all about leaving an impression. Whether it’s a powerful speech or a killer punchline, the goal is to make your audience remember what you said and how it made them feel. Comedy thrives on that same principle.It gives you tools to experiment.
When you understand the mechanics of language, you can play with it. You can break the rules, bend them, or twist them into something entirely new. That’s where some of the best comedy comes from—pushing the boundaries of what language can do.
Stand-up has brought me full circle, back to my love of rhetoric and language. The connection between words and laughter has always fascinated me, but now I see it through a new lens. Comedy isn’t just about being funny—it’s about being strategic, creative, and precise with language. And for someone like me, who’s spent a lifetime obsessing over words, that’s as thrilling as it gets.
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