Grandomastery Random STAND-UP Activity – Dead-Joke Resurrection Lab for C1–C2+ Comedy Mastery

The most brutal and exhilarating comedy bootcamp in Grandomastery: you are handed three minutes from stage time and just discovered your entire set is made of the worst, most painfully unfunny jokes ever written (dad puns, 2009 memes, corporate ice-breakers). In exactly 15 minutes you must:

• take 5–7 of these dead jokes,

• completely rebuild them through wild exaggeration, absurd escalation, and unexpected punchlines,

• and deliver a tight 3–5-minute spoken stand-up bit that leaves the imaginary audience howling.

No crutches, no “ironic reading” – the material has to genuinely work.

Target Audience

• C1–C2–C2+ (“C3”) learners & native speakers

• Stand-up comedians, toastmasters, corporate presenters, C2 Proficiency Speaking candidates

Mode & Duration

Solo spoken 3–5-minute set (after 15-minute prep) – repeatable daily

Key Skills Developed (True C2+ / Professional Comedy Level)

• Masterful comedic storytelling & narrative transportation from catastrophic material

• Advanced/proficient joke surgery – instant premise flips, rule-of-three mastery, and callback architecture

• Bisociative absurdity generation – turning the unfunniest premise into the hardest laugh of the night

• Risk-embracing stage persona – owning the room while pretending everything is going wrong

• Performative resilience & crowd-work simulation – recovering from “bombing” with charm and escalation

• Timing, rhythm & vocal caricature at native-comedian speed

• Emotional truth inside absurdity – making audiences laugh and feel simultaneously

Core Theoretical Principles This Activity Is Built On

1. Bisociation in Comedy (Koestler) – the biggest laugh comes from violently colliding two incompatible frames

2. Theatresports “Status Play” + Failure-as-Fuel – deliberately starting with terrible material forces fearless creativity

3. Ludicrism + Positive Reframing of Bombing – treating the worst joke as the best opportunity creates unbreakable stage confidence

Used weekly by professional stand-up coaches, comedy-cellar bookers, and C2 examiners as the fastest, most merciless route to near-native comedic timing, bullet-proof stage presence, and the ability to make anything funny.

Your terrible material is waiting – go make it brilliant: https://grandomastery.com/stand-up

#StandUpComedy #C2English #JokeRewriting #ComedyImprov #BisociativeHumour #StagePresence #FunnyFromNothing #Grandomastery