Comedy Obsessed

This episode looks at words. Specifically, words in sentences. The sentence: the essential unit of the writer's tradecraft. Conveying the complete idea. Where would we be without sentences? Up shit creek, that's where.

This episode deals with my personal insecurities about how to approach me when I get off stage. When is it appropriate to give someone positive feedback? Is it always the right choice to be nice, or are you better off skewering me in a forthright, deliberate fashion?

This episode expounds on the virtues of speaking softly and carrying a big stick. It contradicts the advice of the episode immediately preceding it. What can I say? Comedy is full of contradictions.

This episode tackles why stand-up comedy feels the absolute best and also the absolute worst. Emotions run high; how can they be corralled and redirected? Why is something funny to one group of people, but not to another? You're just going to have to let that go. Let it go. It's out of your hands.

This episode investigates the vital importance of projecting confidence on stage without being delusional. You have to get this balance right, as the only things worth saying on stage require confidence.

This episode treats you like a sedated feral cat. If you find that insulting, don't go to a comedy show. Sometimes it's nice to be a sedated feral cat.

This episode is brought to you by Adam Sandler's comedy special 100% Fresh, available exclusively on Netflix. Why is it brought to you by that? Because that comedy special is a perfect example of how to make joyful art. You should strive to make joyful art.

This episode was inspired by an interview with Shia LaBeouf in which he noted his favoritism toward people over plot in stories. Stand-up comedy needs people and plot too, but I agree with Shia that it needs people more. That's where the juice is. Write about people.

This episode discusses overcoming the trickery of the stage and the spotlight in order to protect the integrity of your inner court jester. Are you an entertainer or an artist? Hopefully some mix of both…but don't let it go to your head! The audience is watching.

This episode discusses writing believable characters into your jokes. You can't deliver a performance that feels authentic if you aren't writing authentic human beings for you to tell stories about. Don't write and paint caricatures. Make art like the Ninja Turtles (Leonardo, Michelangelo, etc…)

This episode brings together a motley crew of ideas to help you revise your jokes. Speed bumps breaking up your momentum? Audience getting lost trying to follow your lead? Compromising your character? Feeling like a fraudulent hack? Maybe this will help. Maybe it will just make you more self-conscious.

This episode discusses the relationship you have with your own memory and the art that your brain produces. Got any tips for recalling your own thoughts?

This episode discusses mood setting and tone in stand-up comedy. This isn't the only way to do it, but I've found that it works pretty well for me compared to other approaches. Feel free to completely ignore me and do your own thing.

This episode points out the trouble with interpreting art and trying to communicate about it with other people. We take a trip into the constantly humming and buzzing nervous mind of the apparently calm and collected stand-up comedian on stage. How do you make a one-way conversation not a one-way conversation without disrupting the party?

This episode questions where substance comes from in comedy. How important are the words? If it's not just words being spoken into a microphone, what else is going on? What is the goal of your comedy? Wait…comedy has goals?

This episode calls on Lady Gaga to help you question all of your life choices and push you to say the things only you are capable of saying. Be a little selfish. It's more honest. Stand out a little bit. Vital art grows out of a fire. People aren't interested in what makes you generic, even if more honest, unique art might scare them a little.

This episode discusses why I think going after comedians for their miscues on stage is counterproductive and discourages the risk-taking required for creativity.

This episode discusses my personal experience making slow progress over time as a joke writer, my process for developing jokes, and how to harness restless creative energy and anxiety to produce better art.

This episode discusses the difference between personality and performance, between art and the artist, and how to maintain a healthy relationship between your approach to creative work and to everyday life.

This episode discusses building trust between comedians and audiences, benign violation theory, and the neurological relationship between the genres of horror and comedy.

This episode discusses authentic emotional expression as a key component for connection in comedy, the difference between subjective and objective truth, and why we're so afraid to connect with others even though it's what we want most.

This episode discusses why art is dangerous and isolating and why this is required to move culture forward. Traditional and alternative comedy are compared.

This episode discusses staying the fool on stage, where political comedy goes wrong, the secret sauce of William Shakespeare, famous metaphors from Jesus, and various forms of irony.

This episode discusses the economics of stand-up comedy, the importance of marketing your art, setting realistic expectations, and continuing to pursue your passion regardless of painful negative feedback.

Mike Franke is a stand-up comic. He enjoys discussing the art of stand-up comedy. This episode discusses what it means to be addicted to something, how to maintain motivation without addiction, lying to yourself, and why you should treat your dopamine with respect.Huge shout out to Andrew Huberman and his Huberman Lab podcast. Go listen to it. He helped me make a lot of progress with my insomnia issues. If you have basic health questions, he's awesome. Also, massive shout out to Daniel Z. Lieberman and Michael E. Long, authors of the wonderful book, The Molecule of More. If you enjoyed anything about this episode of the podcast, read that book. It's all about dopamine. It's fascinating. There is also a discussion of other neurotransmitters and how they can help balance out your hyperactive dopamine so you can appreciate the here and now a bit, as they say.

Mike Franke is a stand-up comic. He enjoys discussing the art of stand-up comedy. This episode discusses self-esteem, leadership, cowardice, cynicism, generosity, and Mr. Franke's personal efforts to avoid being an annoying twat with a microphone.

Mike Franke is a stand-up comic. He enjoys discussing the art of stand-up comedy. This episode discusses telling secrets, the interplay between epinephrine and dopamine, romantic poetry's relationship to stand-up comedy, and being hated authentically.

Mike Franke is a stand-up comic. He enjoys discussing the art of stand-up comedy. This episode discusses the moral relationship between artists and their work, how that gets easily misconstrued by the general public, tolerating low quality or even bad art, and our great propensity to see the good in ourselves and the evil in others.

Mike Franke is a stand-up comic. He enjoys discussing the art of stand-up comedy. This episode touches on existential philosophy and how philosophical absurdism might bleed over into absurd humor, Shakespeare, Freud, Ernest Becker, and how to be authentically silly.

Mike Franke is a stand-up comic. He enjoys discussing the art of stand-up comedy. This episode discusses negative subjective experience as a necessary ingredient in forming comedy, a bit of neuroscience and PTSD, how engaging with literature can affect such things, and how the story of Jesus showed us how to write a joke.

Mike Franke is a stand-up comic. He enjoys discussing the art of stand-up comedy. This episode discusses the relationship between the stand-up comedian and his/her audience, whether comedy is a monologue or dialogue, the goal of stand-up comedy, and a wee bit of ancient Greek thought.

Mike Franke is a stand-up comic. He enjoys discussing the art of stand-up comedy. This episode discusses stumbling toward worthwhile work, the simultaneous pain and value of failure, the nervous energy of stand-up, and how to maintain unhealthy delusions of grandeur.