title: "Finding Your Voice: From Hack to Original" date: "2023-12-13" author: "Joke A Whenever Team" category: "Practical Guide" excerpt: "Every comedian starts by imitating their heroes. How do you stop being a clone and find your unique comedic persona?" slug:# Finding Your Comedic Voice
Every new comedian goes through an awkward phase. For the first few years, if you close your eyes and listen to an open mic, you aren’t hearing original performers; you are hearing impressions. You hear someone trying to be as manic as Robin Williams, as furiously righteous as Bill Burr, or as neurotically wordy as John Mulaney.
This is natural. We learn by imitation.
However, the ultimate goal of any comedian or humorous writer is to stop sounding like their heroes and start sounding exactly like themselves. This is known as finding your voice.
Your comedic voice is the unique filter through which you view the world. It dictates your delivery, your subject matter, and the fundamental persona you project to the audience. Here is a guide to uncovering it.
The Persona: Amplification, Not Invention
A common mistake new comedians make is trying to invent a character from scratch. They decide they will be "The Angry Guy" or "The Wacky Quirky Girl," regardless of their actual personality.
Audiences are incredibly perceptive. They can smell inauthenticity from the back row of a dark theater.
Your comedic voice should not be a fictional character; it should be an amplified version of your actual self.
- Are you naturally anxious and obsessive? Don't try to be a cool, swaggering truth-teller. Lean into your neuroses (like Richard Lewis or Woody Allen).
- Are you deadpan, slow-moving, and easily confused by daily life? Lean into that (like Steven Wright or Mitch Hedberg).
- Are you joyful, slightly goofy, and easily excited? Be that (like Pete Holmes or Gabriel Iglesias).
To find your voice, you must first honestly assess your dominant personality traits, flaws, and quirks, and then turn the volume dial on those traits up to 11.
The Lens: What Annoys You?
Your voice is intrinsically tied to your perspective—how you filter the world. Comedians are essentially professional complainers or observers of absurdity.
A great way to find your comedic perspective is to ask yourself two questions: 1. What do people constantly accept as normal that I find absolutely insane? 2. What terrifies or annoys me more than it seems to annoy anyone else?
Jerry Seinfeld's voice was defined by an obsession with the trivial, unwritten rules of social etiquette ("Why do we do this?"). George Carlin's voice was defined by a furious skepticism of authority, language, and American culture.
Your unique perspective on mundane things is the engine of your original material.
The Delivery: The Musicality of Speech
Your voice isn't just what you say; it is how you say it. Every comedian has a distinct rhythm, vocabulary, and musicality to their speech.
- Pacing: Do you speak in rapid-fire bursts, overwhelming the audience with information, or do you speak slowly, letting agonizing silences do the heavy lifting?
- Vocabulary: Do you use highly intellectual, SAT-level vocabulary to discuss absurd things? Or do you use blunt, conversational, blue-collar language to discuss complex ideas?
- Physicality: Does your voice require you to pace the stage furiously, or do you stand perfectly still, gripping the mic stand like a lifeline?
You find this rhythm not through writing, but through recording. Record your sets (or even just conversations where you are telling a story to friends). Listen back. Notice where you naturally pause, when your voice naturally raises in pitch, and what kind of vocabulary you authentically use when you are relaxed.
The Crucible of Stage Time
Ultimately, you cannot find your voice alone in a room staring at a laptop. Your voice is forged in the crucible of stage time.
You find your voice by telling a joke you thought was brilliant in the style of Dave Chappelle, realizing the crowd hates it, and then accidentally muttering a self-deprecating ad-lib in your actual voice that makes the room explode.
Finding your voice requires the vulnerability to bomb. It requires discarding the safety blanket of imitating successful comedians and trusting that your specific, flawed, amplified perspective is interesting enough to hold a room's attention.
When you endlich find it, the struggle is worth it. When you speak in your authentic comedic voice, you move from just telling jokes to telling your truth—and there is nothing funnier or more powerful than the truth.al
When you start comedy, you will sound like your favorite comedian. If you love Seinfeld, you'll do observational bits. If you love Burr, you'll do angry rants. This is normal. It's how we learn.
But to be great, you need to find your voice.
What is "Voice"?
Your comedic voice is the lens through which you see the world. It is your unique combination of: * Attitude: Are you optimistic? Cynical? Confused? Angry? * Subject Matter: Do you talk about politics? Family? Pop culture? * Energy: Are you high energy or low energy?
The Exercise: The "Why" Game
Take a joke you wrote. Ask "Why did I write this?" * Joke: "Dating apps are awful." * Why? "Because I feel judged." * Why? "Because I'm insecure about my height." * Why? "Because my dad was tall."
Keep digging. The deeper you go, the more specific and original the material becomes. "Dating apps are awful" is hack. "I resent dating apps because they remind me I'm shorter than my father" is a voice.
Be Authentic
The audience pulls for the person who is being the most honest. If you are a nerd, don't try to be a tough guy. If you are a tough guy, don't try to be whimsical. Lean into who you actually are.