The way in which one can get a reaction from comic material depends greatly on the material used but also on its delivery. Currently there are comics who frequent workshops like myself to hone their craft so that they can be more credible in front of a live audience or in front of the camera. Working with people who are experienced helps but that does not guarantee you are going to find someone who is not self-conscious about his delivery. Here are some tips that might enlighten the comic when he does some stand-up work so that he does not bomb out.

1. Allow for someone to moderate a number of comics so that there is a steady flow of material being said and it keeps the comic on the move
2. It helps not to get in your head at all once you are on stage; nobody wants to see somebody who does things deliberately or acts as if what he does is contrived. It makes the comic look terribly false.
3. It helps having the comic work in twos or small teams so that he can act off someone else and react off another too
4. The comic might want to try to do some silent improvisation if he is caught for dialogue or cannot fit an answer to someone else’s prompt
5. Often repetition of a word can be effective if the dialogue is incidental to the type of comedy being shown. Here then the person might want to concentrate on following through with a stunt of some sort or a funny gesture that will get a laugh.
6. Tagging another actor in the delivery of one-liners might be an alternative to getting the public react to humour. This is an effective way to drum up the comic beat but if this is improper than one may alter the flow a different way.
7. Learning from previous actors helps in knowing what body language you can use or how far you can go with a gesture
8. Anything full of sexual undertones helps to animate a comic workshop but so do references to stereotypes, including social and political satire
9. When the comic gets stuck on the flow he can save the moment by thinking of something totally unexpected, something that will add shock value. An abrupt change of topic often saves stale humour.
10. The comic should learn to hone his ability to listen to the public’s reaction. That may provide vital information on what type of comic material is more common than others.