Say The Thing is an intimate, in-person comedy lab for comedians who have outgrown joke accumulation and want sharper presence, cleaner instincts, and real-time decision making.

This is not a class built on notes or formulas. It is a room-based practice in attention, risk, and clarity, culminating in a curated live event at The Stand.

What It Is

This is not a class. It’s a small, application-based comedy lab.

A cohort meets over multiple sessions to develop material by listening to what is actually happening in the room, not by forcing jokes onto it. Comedy here is treated as a live organism. You learn how to notice it and trust it long enough to land.

What Makes It Different

Most comedy training teaches what to say.
This lab trains when to speak, when to wait, and how to let the room lead.

You’ll learn how to:

  • Track attention in your body and the audience

  • Catch instinct before it turns performative

  • Interrupt fear when it disguises itself as “craft”

  • Reshape material based on energy, not punchlines

  • Stay present through silence and discomfort

  • Hold a room instead of chasing it

You don’t leave with a list of jokes.
You leave with a repeatable way to make them.

The Work

Each session builds toward clarity through a living sequence:

Truth → Risk → Listening → Editing → Clarity

The focus is presence, instinct, and editorial choice so what you do on stage is actually coming from you, not your habits.

The Live Conclusion

The lab ends with a public performance where selected participants present work that could only exist because of this process.

No recycled sets.
No obligation to crush.
Just real choices made in real time.

This night is about attention, not approval.


Is This For You?

You have outgrown joke accumulation. You are ready for:

  • Presence when the room shifts

  • Instinct before it gets shaped

  • Silence that holds

  • Choices that cost something

If that feels exciting, you’re in the right place.
If it feels unsettling… even better!

Logistics

Cost: $425 per participant (sliding scale available)

Location: The Stand NYC, Main Stage

Schedule: Saturdays, 12:00–3:00 PM

  • Feb 28

  • Mar 7

  • Mar 14

  • Mar 21

  • Mar 28

Culmination Event: Sunday, March 29, 5:00 PM — The Stand Main Stage

Applications Due: Friday, February 13
Notifications Sent: Monday, February 16

Enrollment deadline for accepted participants Friday, February 20

After February 20, any remaining spots will be offered to waitlisted applicants on a first-come, first-served basis.

The room is already telling you what it needs.

The work is listening long enough to answer it.

Say The Thing.

Apply Now:

'Say The Thing' Application