Let's talk about the prep for this course. So starting out trying to do stand up comedy doesn't require too much. Mostly, if you want to be a comedian that requires you and an audience, you don't really have to have anything else. You don't need the microphone. You don't need the speakers. You don't have to have a mic stand.

You don't need a stage or a stool or anything. You really just need an audience and yourself. And honestly, for a lot of comedians, that audience is themselves. Most of the time when I try to write material, it's because I'm trying to make myself laugh. Or I'm trying to make just a couple of people around me laugh and then that translates to on stage. But for this course, I want to talk a little bit about prep and what you can expect in it.

You're gonna have to go buy a notebook. Now it doesn't have to be anything fancy. I can show you I have more than one notebook, and I'll show you mine right now. This is a moleskin extra large notebook. Pretty simple. I just write in it and you can go ahead and do the same thing with your notebook.

I also have a pocket notebook that I'll show you now and encourage you to buy one of these. This is field notes. I have a fancy little leather case because I'm pretentious. But I also happen to have this pen which is always kept in the notebook. From now on during this course, I want you to always carry a notebook on you, whether that's a big notebook or a small notebook doesn't have to be any certain brand doesn't have to be any kind. And walk up to your local drugstore, probably pick up a whole pack of tiny notepads for $1 or two, and a bunch of big pens.

And honestly, if you have them on you, that's better than even some open mic comedians. But the idea is that you want to be ready to record thoughts that you have. The other thing that I typically use a lot is my cell phone. You can see here it's very broken, hopefully yours is not. But what I like to do is record notes to myself also. So the idea is that in this course, what we're going to be doing is a lot of writing, the comedy people will say is 80% writing 20% performing.

I don't know if it's exactly the case, but the is a lot of writing and there's more than writing, there's a lot of revising, there's a lot of rewriting. And a lot of people will tell you writing is really just rewriting. So in this course, what I want you to do is have a notebook on you at all times. We're going to be practicing writing. We'll talk about that later and practices of writing that you can get into to try to mine for more material. But you don't want to have any thoughts cross your mind or things that you say, or things that other people say or that you overhear without recording them.

So every once in a while you're gonna have a funny thought you're gonna go Oh, Isn't it weird that you know the garbages in New York City are always just overflowing outside they don't have alleyways here isn't that weird? And it's kind of weird considering most of the city was built in modern times and they knew alleyways worked. It's a little weird that they don't have them. Is that a funny thought? Well, it could be, but it might not be yet but if I don't record it, I'll never know. So what I want you to do when you have a thought like that.

Isn't it weird? Or isn't it strange that my dog loves me but hates The mailman. Why is that the case, mailman could give them a treat every day, but he still barks at him. I don't know why that's the case either. But it's maybe worth writing down. I'm not going to tell you what you should write down, but you need to train your brain.

And the point of this course will be to train your brain to notice those thoughts, thoughts that every person has Larry David is famous for saying that he just has the same thoughts everybody else does. And he just records them and keeps them around in case they have an opportunity to come up in a project he's working on. Now, I don't know where David might have different thoughts than the rest of us. But he doesn't know and neither would you if you never wrote those things down. So please keep a notebook on you at all times a pen on you at all times. I would advise two notebooks, a big one and a pocket one, you can go to the store and buy them very cheaply.

Also, keep your phone on you for voice recordings. And really that's all you need. Later. I'm going to be talking about using computers to to make lists, we're going to see that that'll be part of the right And I'm also going to talk about using some things you can order on amazon.com very simply to help rehearse at home and give you the sense of being on stage, but you don't really need those things either. In this course, I'm going to put together a list you'll find it and notes for this video of things that will be helpful and when they'll come in handy in terms of later videos, but for now, just focus on getting those notebooks and those pens and get ready to have a great time as we dive in.