The Authentic Comedian

Articles

Your fascinating life still needs jokes

1 week ago | authenticcomedy.substack.com | Caroline Clifford

Have you ever noticed that people who do wild adventure holidays are actually very boring people? Oh you bungee jumped while on Ayahuasca in Peru?? I’m literally asleep. And don’t get me started on extreme artists that set their nuts on fire or whatever. It’s cool that you like that but it’s not as interesting as you think. I *need* to be able to relate to something to like it, we all need to connect. It’s your point of view that makes a joke interesting, not the topic.
Re-visiting the power of headings

1 month ago | authenticcomedy.substack.com | Caroline Clifford

This is a re-write of an earlier article. I’ve re-written some bits for clarity. I am always very excited to share this technique with people. It's a simple way to enhance and edit your stand-up material. First I'll give a detailed explanation of the exercise, and a more concise summary will be at the end. When I am teaching my beginners class I always encourage free-form writing. I have lots of writing exercises that encourage quantity over quality, with the mantra “writing is winning”.
Self-deprecation Exercise (free!)

1 month ago | authenticcomedy.substack.com | Caroline Clifford

Hello. All of my exercises are paywalled, except this one right now! Please enjoy as it’s one of my favourites. Read this first:Write a list of things a highly judgemental person would notice about you when you walked in the room. Be specific! We can make this a world where it’s not weird that you’re somehow naked but clothed at the same time. These should all form a list of at least 10 items. Mine is:Short, but not petite, egg shaped?
Do you need to have funny bones to be a comedian?

2 months ago | authenticcomedy.substack.com | Caroline Clifford

If you’re trying to break into any kind of art-form there’s what I call a talent hierarchy, and it’s very unfair if you’re on the short end of it. Some people just seem to be born comedians, they have “funny bones”. They kind of have the right face and body for it, they just ooze comedy. But I do have good news for those of you with serious skeletons - it might still work out for you if this is what you want. You just need patience and grit.
What us the comedy formula?

2 months ago | authenticcomedy.substack.com | Caroline Clifford

This can be a philosophical question, like what is yellow or why are cats? It’s difficult to describe fully. Supposedly its purpose is to help us get through traumatic events. I don’t mean to sound disrespectful, but when my father got cancer we had a right old laugh! We loved him so much, but it was just our way of dealing with the pain. Dad: *coughs while eating a losenge*Mum: (outraged) Oh I suppose you’re going to choke now on top of it!?
Expand your jokes with these afterthought questions

Feb 3, 2025 | authenticcomedy.substack.com | Caroline Clifford

To everyone competing in the Berlin New Stand-Up Award this month - have fun! And move the damn mic-stand! Other handy hints are in this article:Afterthought is a great way to tag jokes to your premises while keeping the style authentic & not too rim-shotty 🥁Here are some afterthought ideas for you. I’ll try the first few with a premise lifted from my own notes. At the end I’ll put al the prompts into a downloadable document.
Why the comedy scene is so male dominated, and what we can do about it

Jan 24, 2025 | authenticcomedy.substack.com | Caroline Clifford |Will Hines

Repost from a year ago. Following on the theme of women in comedy. I'm not going to write another “Are women funny?” article, because it’s been written 1000 times over both ironically and not. Spoiler alert: they are. In fact they're funnier than men. Cats are better than dogs, Jupiter is the best planet and this is how you spell colour. I find the idea of the gender binary pretty dated, but this article recognises it as it’s about people holding on to boomerish views.
Do female comedians talk about sex too much?

Jan 24, 2025 | authenticcomedy.substack.com | Caroline Clifford

I’m going to split this article into: This is an Intro, Perhaps it’s true, Perhaps it’s untrue and How to make a good sex joke. I hear this often [that female comedians talk about sex too much]. I’ve heard it from all genders, and I’ve been given it as a “compliment” how I don’t talk about sex all the time like the other “female comedians”. I hear “wow you’re almost as good as a man boy comedian!”. My gut reaction is, this is just another way to shit on women.
How to stand out at an open-mic

Jan 24, 2025 | authenticcomedy.substack.com | Caroline Clifford

This is follow-up to this recent articleOn the Berlin comedy scene I often reference “Berlin Comedy Bingo”, because there are so many common topics that come up again and again. Not that there’s anything wrong with that. I’m sure your scene has its own bingo card, I’m interested to hear what specific topics always come up. Berlin is special because hardly anyone who lives here is actually from here, including the Germans.
Lessons stand-ups can learn from improvisers #4: Discovery > Invention

Jan 24, 2025 | authenticcomedy.substack.com | Caroline Clifford

Here are my previous articles in this series:Lessons stand-ups can learn from improvisers #2: If this is true what else is true? Lessons stand-ups can learn from improvisers #3: Flashing (+ Exercise)You might notice that many professional comedians have bits of material that starts with a single thought, and this thought avalanches into many creative ideas, heightening and building as it goes along.