Comedy is part of the fabric of every culture around the world, you will find it in much of the best dance performances, in music of all forms, in sports, political analysis, and literally in every part of human culture. It is a fundamental part of human society and individual psychological development. Although each social structure, each culture, has a sense of humor unique to it, comedy itself is universal to all human experiences. It is one of the bridges to achieving a sustainable global structure truly friendly to diversity. Indeed, some people believe that it is the dearth of political humor in much of modern society, particularly in the west, that has contributed to the low level of social sanity in international affairs.

This technology enhanced comedy provides effective commentary on a wide array of social, political, and pop culture issues, as well as useless nonsense.

Today comedy is being consumed and developed in a new, digital-age way.  It’s no longer just the stand up comedian at the comedy club. Now you can watch your favorite funny comedy clips and comedians anytime of the day or night from any location. Comedy today has moved into the digital world big time, or perhaps I should say bit time.

Anyway, comedy, satire, spoofs, parodies and humor generally are excellent vehicles of social development and today they can be found on Youtube, Comedy Central, and almost any other website you visit.

The World Wide Web (WWW) is awash with video presentations of highly creative and entertaining wedding dances. Comedic acts test out their materials using the web and many do their research for material using this technology, hone their presentations and use video and audio technology in their rehearsals so that they can critique their performance.  And these same techniques are obviously useful in procuring engagements.  These techniques are the digital era version of an audition tape or the portfolio of past works.

So, we at Culture View say "Let There Be Laughter and Cultural Understanding."  

Making money being funny isn't easy…..

At all cost avoid naked plagiarism - we all know the story of Milton Berle's legendary use of other performers' material and of course the historic popularity of the "walk this way" gag in the early decades of the 20th century, but your chances of success are greater if you use original material of your own.

Create situations from your life experience or from your general knowledge of life. It is just like any of art form, you will do best with things you know and understand. Remember to be confident in your abilities, because if you aren't confident in your abilities, no one else will believe you have talent.

That is not to say that you cannot use existing material in the public domain as inspiration and a basis for new funny material of your own. This is no different than the many authors and playwrights inspired by Greek classical plays or the works of Shakespeare.

It is a good idea to jot down your ideas and concepts in a notebook or journal. Better yet tape them. Get yourself one of those neat little audio tape recorder and carry it with you. That way you can record almost any spontaneous inspiration where ever you are and whatever you are doing. You should also consider copywriting your material.

Practice the presentation of your material constantly. If possible get a video recorder so that you can evaluate your physical presence as well as delivery of the material itself. Then when you feel confident test yourself in the arena, at a open mike night, for example.

Once you clinch your first gig, do not become discourage if you do not knock your audience dead the first time out. Nor should you interpret a small audience as an indication of the quality of your talent. Persistence is key here; of course, if after a reasonable time you still haven't clicked with your audiences, and then perhaps you should rethink your approach or look for some other career.

One way to help your performance is to invite friends and relatives to your performance. They will be great support - unless they all hate you - and they will also encourage the general audience to respond to your positively.

There are a few excellent sources in both the digital realm and real world. For example you the site Stand-up Comedy is an excellent glossary of terms dedicated to stand up comedy that lists everything from "1st story" to "topical" humor.

And a very good compendium of comedy related faqs, which is chock full of information and offline and online sources for the fledging comedy artist can be found at faqs.org.