Be authentic.
The worst thing to watch is a bland, obviously rehearsed comedy act. Comedians who give a performance that’s deemed rehearsed or memorized, are boring and awkward. You want to be comfortable with your audience as if they were your childhood friends that used to laugh their asses off to…well…you. An authentic performance is joking around with your friends. A good comedian will make the audience think that they’re just coming up with the jokes on the spot.
Use personal anecdotes and stories.
Keep a notebook and pen with you always. Be sure to write down anything that strikes you as a potential joke. Write down anything out of the ordinary that you see in your daily travels or any odd thought or observation that happens to you – funny or not. You may develop your best material this way. This goes along with being authentic. Most of the time, the material will present itself to you, instead of you searching for it. That’s as real as it gets.
Practice makes perfect.
You don’t get good at basketball by watching Michael Jordan, you get good by practicing and practicing and practicing some more. The same is with comedy. Of course, watching Eddie Murphy is great and demonstrates a well routine, but nothing beats going out there and doing it yourself. Start off with an open-mic. The room is usually full of other amateur comedians that won’t heckle, but help you along the way. This can be where you find your best material because you get to perfect the punchlines and delivery.