**ILP+Speech**

__ Speech __ Stand-up comedy—  it's pretty much a single person standing in front of an audience trying to make them laugh. Sounds easy, right? WRONG. Being a stand-up comic is a lot harder than you think it would be. In order to be a successful comedian, you need to have enough charisma to get the audience to connect with you. You can do this by telling stories that they can relate to and expressing those frustrations that we all have. That will make people care about who you are, and as a result, will listen to you more intently.   Other things you can include in your routine are jokes, one-liners (which are short jokes that do not need a set-up to be funny), impersonations, and anecdotes. One important trick to being a comedian is putting your own spin on things that make people laugh. Take Jim Carrey for instance; back in 1991, he turned serious issues (like getting old and death) into hilarious jokes by using physical comedy. Physical comedy is another genre of comedy that relies on the body —  facial expressions, exaggerated movements, and more.   The kinds of things stand-up comedians talk about in their acts is a //huge//  variety of things. They can talk about their own lives; we all know how people can laugh at other's misery. They can cleverly make jokes that show their opinion on political or religious issues. They can also make a teasing, good-natured stab at ab audience member. These kinds of things can make you a person well-liked by the audience, because they can agree with your views.   Now, being a comedian isn't all fun and games. There's a //lot//  of pressure being put on the comedian because he or she is expected to keep the audience laughing with a steady stream of jokes. The well-known comedian and actor Will Ferrell described stand-up as “lonely” and “vicious.” This is true, in the sense that you alone are up on stage, and if you don't meet the audiences' expectations, the audience could cut into your routine with crude remarks and, possibly, ruin your act. These people are called “hecklers.”   A lot of comedians actually incorporate hecklers into their acts. However, if you put your heart into it, then most likely, you won't even have to worry about them. Making a routine honest and truthful will make your routine genuine, and will be more funny then just random jokes you think will sound good. Being a comedian means opening your heart and being who you are. That means that you can be as weird or ridiculous as you want on stage! Remember that not <span style="font-family: Times New Roman,serif;">//every// <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif;"> comedian will be extremely popular, but if you incorporate the right elements into your act and put your heart into it, you can make people laugh and still have a great time doing it!

<span style="color: #008080; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS',Helvetica,sans-serif;">Hope you enjoyed it! Please leaves comments in the. . . comments area. [oh yeah it's called discussion]