Comedians' first ten minutes usually stay with them the first several years of their career. It's their mission statement. Their disclaimer that lets people know who they are. Or were. It's also a good time to make fun of your name if you have a funny or strange one.
Interpretation
Comedians often establish their identity and style in the first ten minutes of their act.
Bob Saget emphasizes the importance of the initial moments in a comedian's performance, suggesting that these early minutes serve as a mission statement that defines their comedic identity. This period is crucial for setting the tone and connecting with the audience, allowing comedians to make light of personal experiences, including unique names that can resonate with the audience.
In practice
During a comedy workshop, discussing the importance of opening jokes.
As soon as I go into a dark subject, like discussing the people I've loved and lost, I off-road into absurdist comedy perversion. It's both a means of protection and a kind of denial, a blessing and a curse. Wait, it's not a blessing at all. I guess it would be a bad habit and a curse.
My sense of humor has saved me more than a couple of times in my life.
So long and take it easy, because if you start taking things seriously, it is the end of you.
I thought such awful thoughts that I cannot even say them out loud because they would make Jesus want to drink gin straight out of the cat dish.
I have no intention of retiring; I can't imagine not doing stand-up. That's where I started and where I'll be.
Every comedian comes to a fork in the road where they have to decide if they're going to make jokes about other people or make jokes about themselves. I chose myself.
It was a confusion of ideas between him and one of the lions he was hunting in Kenya that had caused A. B. Spottsworth to make the obituary column. He thought the lion was dead, and the lion thought it wasn't.
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