Write what you know...unless what you know isn't funny.

For anyone who has been to an open mic night, watched "family friendly" material on TV, or received a forwarded email of a stand up video from their parents; odds are that you have seen a comic talk about how terrible marriage is or complained about how their kids are annoying. While there are famous comics who have done material on these topics, it does not typically appeal to new audiences...mainly because it isn't funny. If audiences wanted to hear someone complain about how terrible life is, they would just watch Fox News. Because most people who go to comedy clubs are younger, they are not able to relate to the material that the sad married guy is presenting, which makes many baby jokes impossible to connect with. Even when seasoned comics like Louis CK and Jim Gaffigan do family related jokes, they are still used sparingly, mixed in with other topics, or used a a reference to other subjects.

As Doug Benson says in Season 1, Episode 2 of The Benson Interruption (which you can watch on Netflix Instant!), "Once a comedian has a baby, they are no longer funny." In this episode, Brian Posehn continues by discussing how he hates it when edgy comedians have a baby and change completely. If you haven't seen this happen to a comedian firsthand, imagine when your cool friend has a baby and from that point on he keeps inviting you over to his house to watch home videos of his son swinging at the park, except instead of boring home movies, he is awkwardly talking to strangers in a comedy club about changing diapers.

I am not saying that good family material is impossible to do, but you have to be smart about it and make it relateable by creating something that hasn't already been heard over and over again on ABC Family. It is important to write about what you know so that you can be yourself on stage, but it is important to "jazz it up a bit". I know a lot about the French and Indian War, but I don't talk about that on stage because it isn't funny...yet.