Stand Up Comedy is a funny art form – not just because of the jokes.

It’s hard to teach someone to be a stand up. In real life comedy events we do not run workshops because it often just gives people false hope they can do it. Comedy Estonia has developed the culture that you need to stand on the stage and deliver a set by yourself. You need to have the balls (or lady balls) to push yourself up there. I only have 2 requirements for this

• You stick to your 5 minutes
• You try again

I don’t care how bad your set was, TRYING AGAIN is the only thing which matters in stand up.

We do however run Stand Up Comedy writing workshops for company events. There is a whole theory behind stand up and joke writing. Setup – Punchline – Tag. Surprise, indirection. What makes a joke? What makes a story? Can you joke about anything? The harder the topic, the better the joke needs to be. Finally, why is “sillyness” the X-factor which can break all those rules.

In this event for Pipedrive, I gave a workshop which outlines the basics of Stand Up Comedy, we went through some theory, then we watch some stand up clips and break down why they work or don’t work.

On the day we held a small open mic for a few brave participants who wanted to test themselves on the stage. In front of your work colleauges is a great place to try, because the team is already on your side.

Even for those who don’t perform, the workshop has value by giving fundamental lessons about communication. By learning about stories and jokes we can find many lessons about how we can communicate better in our work and the workplace.