Many comedians spend years getting laughs without ever knowing why they’re on stage. As I read in the book Stories of a Street Performer recently, “Many performers have no idea why they have stepped out onto the stage. The audience then assumes that they are there to try to win their approval by impressing them. Sometimes that is all that the performer has in mind. This is the worst possible performing situation. The audience then will sit back and become critics.”
I completely agree! The work continues, “Almost any other goal the performer chooses is better than that. But you have to know what you are shooting for to begin with. You must know what you want from the audience, and you need to know what you want to give to them.” So, that focus on writing better jokes, working on timing, delivery, and stage presence, all of that is important. But it’s a problem if you skip the foundation: asking yourself what your agenda is.
This should be a guiding principle behind everything you do on stage, the reason you’re up there beyond making people laugh, the perspective that shapes which jokes make your set and which ones get cut. Without an agenda, comedians are just a joke delivery system. But with an agenda, you become a comedian with something to say.
An agenda gives your audience a journey to follow and sets the tone and direction of your show. It’s the difference between a bunch of disparate funny moments and a cohesive experience people remember. When I watch comedians without an agenda, I see it immediately because they’re all over the place. Individual jokes land, but the train of logic doesn’t flow and things get hard to follow. The set feels disjointed and the audience laughs but doesn’t connect like they could otherwise.
For some time, as a comedian I suppressed the biggest part of who I am. I’m a Bible Scholar with five degrees and a PhD. That’s no small detail because it’s the core of my identity. But I tried to work without focusing on it because I thought it would limit me, make me less relatable, and box me into a corner. Then a local booker rejected me when she found out I was Christian, and that stung. But a comedian friend said something that helped shift my thinking when asked me, “Michael, how many actual Bible Scholars are comedians?” Honestly, I couldn’t think of one. “Bingo!” he said. That’s what makes me unique.
Once I embraced that, I came to terms with a more pointed persona: “The No-B.S. Bible Scholar.” When that landed, my agenda became clear. I developed a philosophy of comedy, namely, that “everything’s messed up, but those messed up moments are just setups for jokes.” My motto followed naturally: “Laughter is greater than outrage.” Those two things fit together with my persona because I’m a straight shooter who can laugh at the messes in faith, family, politics, and relationships. I’m going to talk about them bluntly, and rather than get outraged, I’m going to find the humor. That’s my agenda, and it shapes every joke I write and every set I perform.
When I teach comedians to find their agenda, what I see most often is that they overthink it or they try to be someone they’re actually not. But the agenda comes when you take comedy seriously, and I mean all of it. Becoming a better joke writer, a better performer, a better businessperson, leveling up, and respecting the art and craft. Your agenda develops as you commit to the work.
If you’re getting laughs but something feels missing, ask yourself what your persona is, what your motto is, and how those speak to your agenda. Answer those honestly, and you’ll stop being a comedian who tells jokes and become a comedian who has something to say. Your agenda will stay consistent even as your jokes evolve. The great comedians I study all have this where their material changes, but their core purpose remains the same. That’s what separates the ones who leave lasting impressions from the ones who just get laughs.
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.