Dear Toni,

Hi, my name is Mitch Collier and I am thirteen years old.  I have been doing stand-up comedy for two years in Austin, Texas.  I have been living in Los Angeles for three months and I intend to go home for the Holidays and then come back to L.A. for pilot season.    Could you tell me how I would get started in stand-up comedy and where I might find some good opportunities to study sketch comedy and stand-up?  I would love to do stand-up at a club.

Thank you,
Mitch

Dear Mitch,

That is so cool that you are doing stand-up comedy at your age.  I love working with children who do comedy.  For many years I not only managed children who did comedy but I produced a group of kids from ages 6 to 17 years of age who performed stand-up comedy.  They were called “The Comedy Pups.”  They received national publicity on many television shows and documentaries and in newspapers.  One of my pups appeared on Jay Leno about 15 times.

 Unfortunately, for me, they grew up.  The good thing about the experience was that the kids all gained self-confidence and communication that will aid them the rest of their life.  The only negative aspect I noticed was that most children do not like to practice their stand-up routines.  They would get great laughs after we all worked hard writing, editing and polishing their routines.  The kids would be all excited and happy, but then I found out they wouldn’t continue to work on writing or polishing their jokes anymore.  Most of them felt they could think up material off the top of their heads, then just walk out on stage and be funny.  Guess what?  It didn’t work, they would bomb and then they wouldn’t want to perform their jokes again, so, wherever you study, remember, practice!  Go over and over your material.  This is very important and you will find out, this is the way great comics put together their own acts. 

A comic usually starts with three minutes, and then adds to their material minute by minute.  There is no such thing as doing stand-up comedy without rehearsing I first.  If you want to perform sketch or improvisational comedy then you can get away without having to do a lot of rehearsal. 

There are many schools that have classes for kids in sketch and improvisational comedy.  Two are the LA Connection and The Groundlings.  You have to check what city you end up staying or living in, and contact some of the Parks and Recreation, Junior Colleges and after school programs in many High Schools.  Most of these classes concentrate on improv or sketch comedy.  There are not many stand-up comedy classes for children, because as I explained from my own experience, kids just don’t like the discipline of stand-up.  Comedy looks fun and is really fun to perform, but it does take discipline.   When you come back please contact me and I will help you with your routine.  I just love what comedy does for a child’s moral and confidence. It would give me great joy to help you.  Mitch, you could be the youngest stand-up comic in the world. Here is your opening line. “ Hi my name is Mitch and I am the youngest stand-up comic in the world.  That’s right, I am thirteen and I am standing up!”

I want to say one thing about clubs.  If the club serves food you can do stand-up there.  If a club is only serving alcohol then you cannot legally perform stand-up unless it is on a special day the club puts aside for children.  I know our group performed at The Improv Club on Melrose.  The best spots for a child to do stand-up comedy are at coffee houses and little specialty places like bookstores .

Thank you for taking the time to write.
Toni Attell

Toni Attell is a hypnotherapist and acting coach. For people interested in her acting classes please call (818) 787-8685. For hypnotherapy go to www.hypnosis4you.net