Should Comedians Laugh At Their Own Jokes?

The Answer Might Surprise You (Comedy Mindhacks #77)

After my show last weekend, a couple came up to me and said, “You know, the jokes were great but what really made this so much fun was you were having a good time yourself. It was fun to have you laughing with us.” A couple days later, after having posted some clips from that show on social, a student of mine said, “You were almost laughing more than the audience.” This, for me, brings up a question that many have discussed in comedy circles for a while now: Should comedians laugh at their own jokes? Really, I don’t like that question and, since this is my site, I’m going to tweak it a bit. Here’s a better question: Should comedians laugh while they’re on stage?

Here’s my take: if it fits your persona, go ahead and laugh. The opposite, of course, is, if it doesn’t fit your persona, don’t do it. Really, this principle goes for anything on stage. If a type of joke or act out or bit of crowd work doesn’t go with your persona, don’t do it. Now, this isn’t a hard and fast rule. And it isn’t a universal one. This is my personal “rule of thumb.” Frankly, I think most of the “rules” of comedy are just that because, at the end of the day, every comedian needs to do what works for them.

Many of the spoken and unspoken rules people have come up with in comedy are stupid. I think the “don’t wear shorts” rule is ridiculous, for instance, especially if you’re performing in a hot climate like Hawai’i. Similarly, the “never laugh at your own jokes” rule can be silly. But it gets repeated so often that, to some, it’s become gospel. The logic seems to be: if you’re laughing at your material, you look unprofessional.

Jerry Corley has talked about this issue before, too. He says, “There’s a difference between enjoying the material and ‘laughing at your own jokes.’ I think that rule is better applied to those comedians who laugh because the joke doesn’t get laughs.” I agree. Corley mentions Craig Ferguson as someone who “blasts that rule to smithereens” because “he has a great time and is always laughing at himself.”

So, really, the issue isn’t the laughter itself. It’s whether a comedian is laughing with the audience or alone in their own world. That’s half of it at least. The other half is what I said above: does it fit your persona? My persona is laid back. I want it to feel like, even though I’m talking the most, it’s me and a bunch of friends sitting around joking. So, in my case, I actually think “not” laughing would be the fake move.

I’ve mentioned it numerous times on this site before but, among comedians, Kevin Nealon is probably my all-time favorite. He’s a master at joke writing. I’ve seen him live twice and watched as much of his stuff as I’ve been able to find. Nealon’s persona requires emotional restraint. If he started cracking up at his own material, it would impinge on what makes him effective. Of course, he laughs on occasion, but my point is: different personas require different approaches.

To me, audiences want authenticity. I’m a super generous laugher. I love laughing. I asked a college student last week how she would describe me as a professor and she said, “Ummmm….you’re the laughing professor.” I’ll take it! That’s me. It’s who I am. I laugh a lot in real life and so, to not do that on stage, it just wouldn’t be me. Here’s the other side of that: the moment a comedian’s laughter feels manufactured, they’ve lost credibility. Forced laughter absolutely kills performances. So does laughing when the joke doesn’t call for it.

Let me point something out here: it’s possible to use “that’s just my persona” as fallback, a lame excuse to avoid writing strong(er) material. One can always make excuses. But I’ve resolved that, when I step on stage, I’m going to have a good time regardless. If the audience joins me, great. If not, that’s their choice. I control what I’ll be like on stage. I never control what the audience will be like. Put another way, I choose to focus on the constant, not the variable. Should I laugh at my own jokes? Again, the answer: if it fits my persona and it’s genuine, absolutely.

Just below are a couple instances where I laugh while I’m on stage. Note, I’m not really laughing at my own jokes here. I’m laughing because I’m having a good time or because I think the issue is funny. Sometimes, when I look out and see others laughing, I get a kick out of that and laugh, too. Lots of things can trigger laughter for me. That’s just who I am.

JOKE WRITING COURSE: By the way, if you have any interest at all in learning about your persona, how to write some jokes, or doing stand-up comedy, check out my online joke writing course, “The Joke Writer’s Lab,” HERE.

JOKE MEMORY COURSE: My companion course to “The Joke Writer’s Lab” is now live: “The Comedian’s Memory Lab.” Learn how to conceptualize, organize, and memorize your entire comedy set. This method works for 10 jokes or 100, a set that’s 3 minutes of 1 hour. You can get it HERE.