Seven Storytelling Techniques from Stand-Up Comedy
- Chris Head
- Jul 28
- 7 min read
Updated: 7 days ago
STAND-UP STORYTELLING WORKSHOP
10.45am-3.45pm, Saturday 28th February 2026
@ Theatre Deli, Leadenhall Street, London EC3A 4AF
Storytelling is a key part of stand-up. Telling a story (usually from your own life) in stand-up is different from telling a story socially. The main difference is a social story (if it's funny) will often build up to one big laugh at the end. In stand-up you need to keep the laughs coming throughout the story. One of the approaches I teach is to speak in both 'voice A/ voice B'. This and 6 other key ways to turn a story into stand-up can be found below.
Storytelling informed by stand-up skills is also great for entrepreneurs and business professionals looking for an edge in pitching and presenting. So, whether you're in business, have a wedding speech to do (or you are in fact a stand-up comedian), stories are fundamental.
SEVEN TIPS FROM STAND-UP FOR GREAT STORYTELLING
Here are seven stand-up tips I share in my coaching and workshops (like this one in London in Feb 2026) for effective storytelling.
1. Embrace Creative License
Your story isn't a documentary or a witness statement. You have the freedom to edit, exaggerate, and even invent elements. Feel free to alter details, heighten certain aspects, merge characters, or even fabricate parts of the story to amplify its comedic or dramatic impact. The ultimate goal is to convey a message, elicit laughter, or make a lasting impression, not to be strictly truthful.
To make a story funnier or more dramatic, up the ante. Exaggerate the seriousness or significance of the situation, the pressure you were under, or the potential consequences of your actions. You can introduce:
Time Pressure: Impose a tight deadline or exaggerate the immediacy of the situation.
Witnesses: The presence of others is always effective in a story, amplifying awkwardness, embarrassment, or struggle.
Significant Context: Transform a mundane setting where the original story took place into a more high-stakes environment.
2. Use the present tense
Telling a story in the present tense is a key technique. While people naturally recount past events in the past tense, shifting to the present can dramatically enhance a story's impact by creating a sense of immediacy and drawing the audience in.
For example, you might have said:
"I was working on a presentation when my boss's PA, with a rather serious voice, told me that Sonia wanted to see me in her office immediately. I was really worried about what I might have done."
In present tense, this could become:
"So I’m working on a presentation - doing the fun bit, adding animations - when the boss’s PA comes up and says ‘Sonia wants to see you in her office, now’. My heart starts pounding. 'What have I done?'”
In past tense, you speak from a position of knowing the outcome. However, present tense places you back in the moment, where the future is unknown, thereby building greater suspense for the audience.
When you narrate in the present tense, you effectively re-experience the story. This process often unearths vivid, engaging details that might have been overlooked in a past-tense rendition. You'll also become more animated and expressive when narrating in the present tense, which in turn elicits stronger emotions from listeners.
3. Use direct speech (aka act-outs)
Note in the above that the original past tense telling of the story featured this line:
"My boss's PA, with a rather serious voice, told me that Sonia wanted to see me in her office immediately."
And notice the dynamism and immediacy that is conjured up when it is put into direct speech:
"My boss’s PA comes up and says ‘Sonia wants to see you in her office, now’.
You don't need to worry about doing an impression of the person, it's about capturing their energy and attitude. Then:
"My heart starts pounding. 'What have I done?'”
Here the direct speech is inner speech.
This can develop into a back-and-forth dialogue and a full act-out can involve a lot of physicality as you act out a situation, but it all begins with direct speech and this will always bring to life what you're saying.
So, don't say:
"As he started the meeting, Alan told us that the fourth quarter is going to be tough".
Do say:
So Alan starts the meeting and he says, "Brace yourselves for a tough fourth quarter".
(That's me attempting some business sounding speak!)
4. Use Misdirection
A core technique in stand-up is to guide the audience away from where you’re really going —this is misdirection. It creates a moment of surprise (which is great for laughter and engagement). Comedians utilise it constantly, yet it's often overlooked by speakers in other contexts. This is a crucial area where I can transform people's stories.
Click here for a detailed discussion of misdirection in jokes and stand-up. For this blog, I'm going to consider using misdirection as you start your story. Often, in general speeches or social anecdotes, speakers reveal the outcome upfront.
"My first ever job interview was a total disaster. Let me tell you the story..."
Well, it interests us but we know where it's going and so you've lost the element of surprise. Instead, make us assume it's going in the opposite direction. For example, going into a negative story about your first job you might say:
"I was really excited to finally start earning my own money. So I prepared hard for my first ever job interview".
Even better:
"So I'm 16 and I'm really excited to finally start earning my own money. So I prepare hard for my upcoming first ever job interview".
This emotional start will also grab the audience AND it hides where it's going. It makes it seem like a positive story and the fact I've added the detail about the extensive preparation makes it feel like things are going well - it misdirects. So, when it all starts to go terribly wrong it creates a surprise twist in the story (rather than being the thing we knew would happen from the start).
5. Embrace Vulnerability
In my book, A Director's Guide to the Art of Stand-up, stand-up coach Logan Murray told me, "Stand-up is not so much about the story. It's more about the idiot in the story." And that idiot is you! Comedy frequently stems from the storyteller's own inadequacies, struggles, or the absurd situations they find themselves in. Playing "dumb" and highlighting your own flaws is a powerful strategy in stand-up and storytelling.
It's also highly effective in business speaking; sharing a story where you made a mistake in the past is incredibly engaging, demonstrates vulnerability, and dynamically highlights a better approach to such a situation. And the fact that it's in the past allows you to talk about it from a place of greater knowledge and experience.
The above example of the first ever job interview going dreadfully wrong is a case in point if this story then leads onto what you learned from the experience.
6. Integrate Regular Laughs
A common pitfall for novice comedians is telling a lengthy story that only delivers one laugh at the very end. If laughter is your objective, you need to pepper your narrative with jokes throughout.
I recommend identifying "afterthought" moments within the story. Think of it as having "Voice A" (your sensible voice) and "Voice B" (the cheeky, undermining, self-deprecating comments that undercut voice A). Voice A says the straightforward part and Voice B comes in with the cheeky afterthought.
"I bought a new suit for my first ever interview."
With an afterthought:
"(VOICE A) I bought a new suit for my first ever interview. (VOICE B) It was 100% polyester and so it was like being in a sauna."
While some of this can be pre-planned, many of these spontaneous additions arise when you're in the right mindset and flow during delivery. Rehearsing with the intention for voice B to keep interjecting can find these spontaneous moments. Incorporate the best ones into the telling of the story.
7. Structure Your Story with SHEP
I suggest you generate an early version of the story without worrying too much about its structure. We are natural storytellers and so it may well come out in an effective shape.
To make sure it's in the right structure, when you come to finesse it you can turn to my acronym for a storytelling structure SHEP (Set-up, Hook, Escalation, Payoff):
Set-up: This is where you introduce the context, characters, and essential background information for the story. It forms the foundation upon which the rest of the narrative is built.
Hook: This is what grabs the audience's attention and makes them eager to hear more. It creates intrigue, suspense, or a question that the story will answer. It's what makes the audience sit up and pay attention. In stand-up, the hook is usually funny, but even there, it doesn't always have to be; it just needs to captivate the audience and make them want to continue listening. It can be a question, a mystery, or a problem the audience becomes invested in seeing you resolve.
Escalation: This is where the story gains momentum. Things become more complicated, the stakes rise, and the situation grows more absurd or intense. It's the part of the story where conflict or tension steadily increases.
Payoff: This is the punchline or the resolution of the story. It's the moment where tension is released, the climactic joke lands, or the central point is made. It's the satisfying conclusion that makes the audience feel the story was worth hearing.
A stand-up set or a presentation can contain multiple SHEP structures within it and you can usefully look at the whole as a SHEP too. It’s SHEPS within a SHEP!
Those are seven of the key tools from stand-up that I coach any speaker with. I work stand-ups all the time, but (as I write) this past month I've also collaborated with business professionals in Chelmsford and a keynote speaker who addresses headteachers and senior school leaders.
While they all appreciated the use of humour to build rapport and break the ice, being funny wasn't their main objective. However, they all told stories, and by applying stand-up techniques, I was able to help them restructure, sharpen, and make their narratives more engaging and memorable.
Actually one of the people I coached was rather lacking in stories and so by identifying and sharpening potential stories her speaking was greatly enhanced.
STAND-UP STORYTELLING WORKSHOP
10.45am-3.45pm, Saturday 28th February 2026
@ Theatre Deli, Leadenhall Street, London EC3A 4AF
Want help with your storytelling as a speaker? Have a look at how I can help you here. Or if you're a stand-up, head here.
