Real-Life Communication
A stand-up comedian makes his or her living being funny, pulling laughs out of people who wouldn't normally laugh so hard. All the best comics of all time were those who knew when to step back on stage and feel out the crowd and when to go in for the kill.
You are in the middle of a 20-minute comic set. On your way to this gig, you bounced around the question: "Should I or should I not use my jokes about the Pope?" You decided to use the jokes. For a full 10 minutes, you tell risky religious jokes. Little did you know, but there were a few Catholic priests in the crowd.
"On stage, you have to be able to communicate ideas fully so the crowd understands where the punchline is and why the idea is funny," says stand-up comedian Greg Phelps. "The joke is constructed as a premise, a setup and a punchline. If you do that right, you're in control of things. If not, well, you're in trouble. The worst thing is to lose control because you can end up doing some things you might feel bad about later."
Only after the show did you find out the whole story. All of a sudden, you feel bad. Insulting people, after all, has never been your style. You don't believe in shock comedy and vowed at the beginning of your career never to stoop to it for a cheap laugh.
Shortly after the end of the show, you leave the building. Outside the front door are the priests. "Son, why did you say such awful things on the stage?" the eldest of them asks you. "You have no reason to hate someone so much."
Here's your chance to set the record straight. Tell them exactly what you think. Tell them how bad you feel now, why you feel bad and why you're going to cut out the jokes from your act from now on.