In this episode we chat with Dwayne Kennedy, a stand-up comedian, actor and writer. Dwayne has also written for The Arsenio Hall Show and The Orlando Jones Show. He has played roles in such classic series as Seinfeld, Martin, 227, and Amen. Having done comedy for more than 3 decades, Dwayne is in the unique position to talk about the state of comedy today.  His advice on “being yourself” on stage is a great tip for younger comedians. 

The Funny Muscle Podcast welcomes our first Blue Man in this episode. Which is challenging since the Blue Man Group doesn't talk. Fortunately, this Blue Man is also Nickelodeon Famous. Jeffrey Nicholas Brown is most known for his role as "Jake Hart" on Nickelodeon's Henry Danger. (So, he can talk and does so during the interview) Jeffrey also does stand-up. His advice about getting laughs without talking like he does as a Blue Man is great for new comics. 

Chris travels to Dallas for this one. He joins Mike's comedy office hours on Wednesday at the Dallas Comedy Club to workshop material with students. They talk about crafting comedy bits in a group setting. They also chat about Mike's journey to improve his writing using a challenge: The Ice Bucket Writing Challenge which involves writing Hemingway-like prose or taking an ice bath. (Kidding! Though such prose would look like “I took the bucket of ice. It chilled me to the bone. But a man must endure. A man must prevail.”).  Mike's challenge involved writing 1,000,000 words.  There's great advice in this one for new comedy writers looking to develop better writing habits.

Click to read: Ten Ways the Million Words Challenge Made Me a Better Writer

The Funny Muscle Podcast chats with a comedian, a storyteller, an award-winning radio host, a mom and a comedy teacher in this episode.  And they are all the same person: Magen King. She was a finalist in the World Series of Comedy and a finalist for three consecutive years in the Funniest Comic in Texas. She teaches at the Dallas Comedy Club.  We talk about booking talent in the Dallas area, her tips on writing new material, her comedy lens as a mom of three teenagers, and some advice she obtained along the way from other comedians. 

The Funny Muscle welcomes to the podcast its first guitar.  And accompanying that guitar is comedian and songwriter Tim Cavanagh, who has been in the comedy business for almost four decades. His first CD, “Sounds Like Fun!” was released in 1997.  Tim tells us how he credits deadlines and his weekly segment called “The One Minute Song” on “The Bob & Tom Show” for his ability to create laughs. Tim gives us advice on finding connections for joke writing, turning a premise into a song, and replicating his creative process. We also get to hear the guitar during several of his songs.

To improve their character voices, Mike and Chris chat with actor, musician, filmmaker and voice coach Darren McStay whose Youtube channel “Improve Your Voice” has millions of downloads. 

Darren teaches warm up techniques, why it’s important to commit to a character and tips on sticking with that character.

Maybe the best advice Darren teaches during the episode is how to use physicality and body-focus to perfect your voices. 

If all your characters sound the same, this episode is perfect for you.

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"Cats" is a topic, but it's not until you say something like "Cats bother me as an economist." have you transformed your material into a premise.

In this episode we make that distinction.

We also learn how Mike's comedy teaching classes in Dallas are coming alone. 

And we talk about Mike's aha moment during improv training.

Listen to this episode if you're unclear how to morph a topic into a premise, if you want improv advice, or you want to learn how Mike's brain works when punching up jokes for someone else's writing. 

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We asked each of our last 12 comedy pro guests what they'd tell new comedians to do if they had an hour a day to write jokes. Here's a compilation of their best advice. 

• Lenny Schmidt

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New York comedian and co-host of the podcast “Idiots on Parade” Jake Vevera (@jakevevera) stops by the Funny Muscle Podcast to talk about his upcoming comedy special, which is about to be released on YouTube.  

Jake is full of advice for new comedians like his three-sentence joke writing drill and his advice on stage time.

Find out why Jake also tells new comics to pretend that their audience doesn’t speak English.

(hint: It forces you to work on your cadence and timing.)

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Lenny Schmidt stops by the Funny Muscle Podcast to teach us about the logistics of planning comedy material for 5 nights in a row on a cruise ship (hint: you got to keep track of your call-back jokes).

Lenny, who has been doing comedy since the 1980s, also studied improv in Chicago. You may recognize Lenny in movies like “Joe Dirt” and “The Ugly Truth”, and TV shows; “Castle”, “True Blood”, “Big Love”, “ER”, and “Desperate Housewives.” 

The episode is full of great advice on how Lenny brainstorms, writes, organizes and perfects his comedy craft.

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