Whether you've never stepped onstage or you're an experienced comic looking to sharpen your material, National Comedy Theatre offers stand up comedy classes in San Diego designed to help you become a stronger writer and performer.
Our classes are taught by experienced professional comedians and focus on the skills that actually make stand up work: developing original material, joke writing, finding your comedic voice, building a set, connecting with an audience and delivering material with confidence.
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Our beginner stand up comedy class is designed for people who want to learn how stand up works from the ground up.
Under the guidance of comedy veteran Tony Calabrese, you'll learn how to develop a tight five-minute stand up set that you can perform in front of a live audience.
The class covers the fundamentals of joke writing and performance, including how to develop a premise, write punchlines and tags, edit and refine material, find your own comedic voice, and connect with an audience.
No previous comedy or performance experience is required.
Once you've built the fundamentals, the advanced class focuses on making your material and performance stronger.
You'll work on sharpening premises, writing stronger punchlines and tags, improving timing and delivery, and developing a more defined stage persona.
The emphasis is on performance: learning what separates a good joke on paper from a strong live set, and developing the confidence and consistency to perform in front of an audience.
This class is best suited to students who already have stand up experience or have completed the beginner course.
Stand up comedy is part writing and part performance. Our classes work on both.
Learn how to develop premises, punchlines, tags and callbacks, and how to turn an idea into usable material.
Learn how to tighten material, remove what isn't working and make your jokes more efficient and effective.
Develop material that sounds like you rather than simply copying the style of comics you already know.
Work on timing, delivery, confidence, physical presence and how to connect naturally with an audience.
Learn how individual jokes fit together into a complete, structured stand up set.
Put the material on its feet and learn what actually works in front of a real audience.
Most people who take a beginner stand up class are not professional comedians. Some have always wanted to try stand up. Others want to become better writers, stronger public speakers, or simply see what happens when they finally get onstage.
The class is structured to be challenging without being intimidating. You can arrive with a notebook full of ideas or with no material at all.
More experienced comics can use the advanced class to refine existing material, strengthen their delivery and develop a more consistent stage presence.
No. The beginner class is designed for people with little or no previous stand up experience.
You'll learn the basics of joke writing, developing original material, editing, delivery, stage presence and how to build a short stand up set.
The classes are performance-focused, so you'll have opportunities to work your material on its feet and develop comfort performing in front of others.
Classes are held at the National Comedy Theatre Rehearsal Studio at 440 Upas St. in Hillcrest/Bankers Hill.
See the next available beginner and advanced stand up comedy classes at NCT.
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