(Insert Comic's Name Here)

by Brian McKim & Traci Skene on March 21st, 2008

Is there a template that journalists use to create this stuff?

This time, it’s a profile of comedian Mo Mandel on JewishJournal.com, written by “Jay Firestone, Contributing Writer.” (We put it in quotes because we suspect that it might merely be code for inexpensive software that enables editors to craft an article in a matter of minutes about any comedian merely by inserting the name and other pertinent facts.)

It opens with:

Between finding ways to rebel against his family and being the butt-end of anti-Semitic jokes by rednecks, the young social outcast eventually learned to channel his anger and frustration into comedy.

It ends with:

For Mandel, performing in front of 200 people is more comfortable than talking face to face with someone. He considers stand-up a complete high, better than sex.

It is a cliché sandwich.

Of course, part of the blame lies with the comedian. We’re supposed to be creative people and, for the most part, we are. But we should give some thought to what we’re going to say to a reporter when, inevitably, he/she asks the same five or six boilerplate questions and be ready with something that doesn’t sound like all the other answers.

1. How/why did you get started in standup?

2. What kind of comedy do you do?

3. What’s it like being up on the stage?

4. When did you know you wanted to be a comedian?

5. Were you the class clown?

Approach the interview as a writing exercise. Concoct answers that are as interesting and off-kilter as the material in your act.

And if you think you’re too new at standup or you’re aren’t going to attract the interest of the media, think again. Both the Male and the Female Halves were the subject of interview within 18 months of their standup debuts. (The articles were each rather sizeable and in each case they were the sole focus of the piece.)

And, says the Female Half: “If you think standup is better than sex, you haven’t had very good sex.”

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