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Iliza Schlesinger had the experience of asking a man on a date what his middle name was. He told her, but he didn’t follow up by asking hers. This didn’t feel right. How does the bare bones of this become stand-up – and how can you create stand-up out of your own simple observation?

In this excerpt from one of my Zoom stand-up comedy writing classes, I break down the techniques Iliza Schlesinger uses.

See the video and read the accompanying blog

Last night we did the first session in the latest run of the Writing Stand-up course on Zoom. Here are some crowd work tips from the session:

Audience and Crowd Work Insights

• Know Your Audience: Be aware of the typical audience mix (e.g., local vs. international, age demographics) as this informs your material.

• Crowd Work as Material: Actively try to get humour and material from the fact of who is in the room.

• Language and Pace: If performing to an audience where English is a second language, slowing down your speech can improve comprehension and overall performance. And this can also be beneficial with a native English speaking audience.

• Performing to Comedians: Be aware that performing primarily to other comedians can create different standards for laughter (e.g., favouring more extreme or "meta" humour) which may not translate well to a regular paying audience.

This is a classic comedy writing tool. Misdirection and Sudden Twist

• Sudden Twist: The greatest impact comes from a big build-up leading to a sudden, surprising twist, hitting the audience all at once ("boom here's the twist").

• Establish Reality First: For a twist to work, you must "establish some kind of reality at the start that's then flipped."

• Expectations: The set-up often creates an expectation of what is going to happen next which is then subverted.

Here's a video with two examples involving cars! This is an edited extract of my Tools of Comedy Writing Zoom course which stars again on Tuesday!

Course info and booking: https://www.chrishead.com/post/my-online-sitcom-comedy-drama-courses

Hope you had a good Xmas. If you're not sick of the whole thing, you might like to have a look at this festive clip and blog I posted pre Xmas where I break down a Jack Dee clip to illustrate some classic stand-up writing tools. Watch and read

And if you fancy a stand-up course I have my classic Zoom stand-up writing course coming up in the new year plus weekend workshops in person in London and Stroud! Here are all my upcoming classes.

Hope you had a good Xmas. In this slightly late festive blog and video I explore using the 'as if' and 'undercutting' tools in comedy writing plus I look at the comedy of characters behaving out of character. All illustrated by a Christmas Peep Show Clip but the techniques can be used all year round! Watch and read

The video is an edited excerpt from a comedy scriptwriting course I did on Zoom leading up to Christmas. If you’d like to do a comedy writing course on Zoom with me here’s what’s coming up in the new year.

In 2026 I'm doing a series of (almost) monthly live stand-up workshops in London, Stroud and (I think) Bath.

The first three are announced in London, Stroud (both January) and London again (Februrary).

March in Stroud TBA and more soon...

Full info here

In my Xmas/ New year comedy writing course, one of the group nominated this scene from Bridesmaids which led to us working on one-upping as a technique.

Bridesmaids (Engagement Toast Scene)

• Comedy Technique: The scene is a prime example of the comedy tool one-upping or one-upmanship, where two characters try to outdo each other, in this case, through their wedding toasts.

• Scene Structure:

  • The back-and-forth competition is allowed to build pace towards the climax.

  • While economy and tightness is typically prized, on the other hand comedy scenes can benefit from being long enough to breathe and allow the awkwardness to build, based around one very clear game.

Last night was the first session in my Xmas-New Year comedy writing course. A member of the group nominated this Derry Girls clip for us to have a look at.

Here is my analysis of Dramatic Irony, Comic Problem-Solving, and Undercutting in the scenes.

Next stand-up coaching options:

WRITING STAND-UP (ZOOM COURSE)Coming up in January is the latest round of my Writing Stand-up Zoom sessions. You're welcome to come if you're new or if you've been before (it's different each time). Info and booking

STAND-UP CROWD WORK SESSION (LONDON ONE DAY WORKSHOP)

And if you are in London or can get there, I'm running the crowd work session with Geoff Whiting (top MC and master of crowd work). The blog below also discusses persona games in crowd work.

Info and booking

ONE-TO-ONE ZOOM COACHING