--- title: "MayaWritesTooMuch — Stand-up Comedians — Banter — Tough Crowd" description: "Activity from MayaWritesTooMuch in the Tough Crowd Banter forum — posts and comments on stand-up comedy." lang: en json-ld: | { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@type": "WebApplication", "name": "Tough Crowd", "applicationCategory": "MultimediaApplications", "operatingSystem": "Web", "inLanguage": "en-GB", "areaServed": { "@type": "Country", "name": "United Kingdom" }, "description": "The all-in-one workspace for working comedians — capture ideas, build sets, rehearse with evidence-based memory modes, track gigs and grow your audience.", "offers": { "@type": "Offer", "price": "149", "priceCurrency": "GBP", "description": "Annual plan with a free 24-hour day pass." } } --- [ Tough Crowd](/) Write Memory Lab Grow Career Network [Pricing](/pricing) [Login](/login)[Become a member](/register) [Banter](/banter)[Banter](/banter)MayaWritesTooMuch M # MayaWritesTooMuch Seed Stand-up comedian in the Tough Crowd Banter community 5 Posts 5 Comments ## Posts by MayaWritesTooMuch [](/banter/tip/writing-material/do-you-keep-the-line-that-gets-a-laugh-if-it-pulls-the-bit-i) [](/banter/tip/writing-material/do-you-keep-the-line-that-gets-a-laugh-if-it-pulls-the-bit-i)[› Tips · Writing & Material](/banter/tip/writing-material) ### Do you keep the line that gets a laugh if it pulls the bit in the wrong direction? I’m trying to get less sentimental about lines that work. Sometimes a throwaway gets a decent laugh but suddenly the audience thinks the bit is about something I don’t actually want to explore, so the next thirty seconds become me dragging them back to the original premise. Do you keep a reliable laugh and rewrite the route after it, or cut it if it keeps teaching the audience to expect the wrong thing? I’m starting to think “funny” and “useful to this bit” are annoyingly separate tests. 30 Aug 0 replies [](/banter/tip/writing-material/when-you-cut-a-setup-how-do-you-know-you-havent-cut-the-bit-) [](/banter/tip/writing-material/when-you-cut-a-setup-how-do-you-know-you-havent-cut-the-bit-)[› Tips · Writing & Material](/banter/tip/writing-material) ### When you cut a setup, how do you know you haven’t cut the bit the audience needed? I’m very good at being told “get to the joke faster” and then deleting so much context that the punchline technically arrives sooner but makes less sense. When you’re tightening a setup, what are you listening for to tell the difference between dead wording and information the audience actually needs? I’ve started trying to cut one sentence at a time rather than doing a heroic rewrite, but I still find it hard to tell whether a shorter setup is actually a better one. 29 Aug 0 replies [](/banter/tip/writing-material/do-you-write-the-premise-first-or-discover-it-after-the-joke) [](/banter/tip/writing-material/do-you-write-the-premise-first-or-discover-it-after-the-joke)[› Tips · Writing & Material](/banter/tip/writing-material) ### Do you write the premise first, or discover it after the jokes? I keep ending up with three or four lines that make me laugh but no clean answer to “what is this bit actually about?” Part of me thinks I should force myself to write the premise in one sentence before I keep going. The other part thinks that’s how I turn something funny into homework. When you’re building a bit, do you want the premise clear early, or are you happy to let the jokes tell you what the premise was afterwards? 28 Aug 0 replies [](/banter/tip/writing-material/how-many-versions-of-a-new-bit-do-you-keep) [](/banter/tip/writing-material/how-many-versions-of-a-new-bit-do-you-keep)[› Tips · Writing & Material](/banter/tip/writing-material) ### How many versions of a new bit do you keep? When I rewrite a new bit I keep ending up with several versions and then forgetting which change I was actually trying to test. Do you keep every draft, keep one current version plus notes, or just overwrite it and trust that anything worth saving will come back? I want enough history to learn from changes without turning five minutes of material into an archive project. 27 Aug 0 replies [](/banter/recommendation/books/which-comedy-book-actually-changed-how-you-write) [](/banter/recommendation/books/which-comedy-book-actually-changed-how-you-write)[› Recommendations · Books](/banter/recommendation/books) ### Which comedy book actually changed how you write? I’ve got enough general books about being funny. I’m more interested in the ones that made you change something practical — how you structure a premise, cut wording, find an angle, build a longer bit, whatever. If you could keep one comedy-writing book because it genuinely affected what you do at the desk, which one would it be and what did you take from it? 27 Aug 0 replies Tough Crowd The creative workspace for comedians to capture, build, rehearse and perform. 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