How Being a Stand Up Comedian Prepared Me for Writing Radio Ads

by Jen Lap

I’ve been performing stand up comedy for almost six years. In that time, I’ve learned how to deal with hecklers, accept rejection, function on minimal hours of sleep, and shockingly, how to write great radio ads.

As a consumer of media, you probably understand how the general public feels about commercials. Listeners want to get back to the Top 40 or whatever NPR segment they’re listening to. You also know that there is an endless amount of distractions that commercials have to compete with. Most of stand up comedy takes place in the backrooms of loud and crowded bars, for people who probably don’t want to be there. So if there’s anyone who knows how to cut through distractions and win over uninterested listeners, it’s stand up comedians.

You’ve probably heard the saying “brevity is the soul of wit,” and nothing could be more true when it comes to performing stand up or writing radio ads.

One of the most critical parts of a stand up comedy set is the opening joke, also know as “the opener.” The opener determines whether or not the audience will be on board with the comedian. If a comic doesn’t grab the audience from the beginning, the rest of their act will be an uphill battle. Consequently, comedians spend years perfecting their opener.

The same could be said about radio ads. As a radio ad writer, you only have a few seconds to grab the listeners’ attention. It’s your responsibility to tell the listeners about your client, but how can you do that if they’re not paying attention or have changed the channel to something more entertaining? So as with stand up comedy, the first line in your radio ad needs to be attention grabbing. It doesn’t necessarily need to be funny (though that’s always a plus), but it should at least connect with the audience on an emotional level or spark some intrigue.

Stand up audiences have small attention spans. If you write a long-winded joke and take forever to get to the punch line, you’re going to lose them. So one of the first things you learn as a stand up comedian is to cut out all of the unnecessary words. You need to get to the punchline and you need to get to it quickly.

While stand up comedians may have the luxury of a half an hour or more to tell their story; radio ads only give you a minute if not thirty or fifteen seconds. Figuring out how to convey all of the necessary information in such a restricted time frame is one of the most challenging things about writing radio ads. If I hadn’t learned how to practice word economy in my jokes, I would not be as nearly as effective an ad writer as I am today.

Another vitally important aspect of stand up comedy is the closer, the last joke of the set. The closer is the joke that the audience will remember. So even if a comic had a fantastic set, but their last joke falls flat, that’s the impression the audience is left with. The same goes for radio ads. You’ve grabbed your listeners’ attention, you’ve told them about your client, now you need to make them remember you. In the advertising space, this is typically done with a strong call to action (instructions on how the listener can connect with your client) and a witty tagline. Writing taglines is an art in and of itself. Proper word choice, strong word association, writing puns that don’t make people cringe, and more are all excellent skills to have when coming up with taglines (and great jokes).

So if you’re interested in writing radio ads, try writing a few jokes first. Even if the first few ads you write aren’t Seinfeld worthy, the worst that could happen is the listener changes the channel. Trust me, that’s much less painful than being heckled.

Jen Lap is a Creative Director at WriteLabel.com. If you’re interested in becoming part of the world’s largest writers’ room, take the test. Writers we invite to the team earn $10 for their first submission.