Comedy 4 Life - Episode 4: Dynamic Delivery: Using Acting Secrets to Shape Your Routine

Hosted by: Walt Frasier

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Episode Summary:

Welcome back to Comedy 4 Life! In Episode 3, Walt Frasier dives deep into the art of comedic delivery. Forget just saying the words – learn how to bring your routines to life with dynamic shifts in attitude, pace, volume, and pitch. Walt reveals powerful techniques borrowed from classical acting training: Inner Monologue and Subtext. Discover how understanding what your comedic persona is thinking and truly meaning can organically transform your performance and make you significantly funnier on stage.

In this episode, you'll learn:

• Why Delivery is Crucial: A recap of the idea that how you say something (the 93%) is often more impactful than the words themselves (the 7%).
• The Tools of Dynamic Delivery: Identifying attitude, pace/tempo/rhythm, volume, pitch, and pauses as key elements to play with.
• Acting Secret #1: Inner Monologue:
  • What it is: The character's/persona's internal stream of thoughts and feelings.
  • How it helps: Organically drives your attitude and emotional delivery.
• Acting Secret #2: Subtext:
  • What it is: The underlying meaning or intention beneath the words.
  • How it helps: Influences pitch, pace, emphasis, and adds layers like irony or sarcasm.
• Connecting Techniques to Delivery: How focusing on Inner Monologue and Subtext naturally creates authentic shifts in your vocal dynamics and stage presence.
• Making it Organic: Moving beyond mechanical delivery by letting the internal state shape the external performance.

Practical Exercise:

1. Choose a short section (3-5 lines) of your own comedy routine.
2. Define the Inner Monologue (specific thoughts) for each beat.
3. Define the Subtext (underlying meaning) for the section.
4. Practice delivering the lines out loud, focusing on thinking the thoughts and meaning the subtext. Let the delivery emerge naturally! Record yourself to observe the difference.

Resources Mentioned:

• Walt Frasier's Book: Stand-U  Comedy- Dive deeper into these techniques and find more exercises. Available at: AMAZON 

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B09GL94XK5?binding=kindle_edition&ref=dbs_dp_awt_sb_pc_tkin

Connect & Engage:

• Tried the exercise? Share your experience or questions with Walt on @waltfrasier
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Thanks for listening!