I suppose I could have done some research first: “How to write comedy skits for standup comedy.”

But I decided to wing it, partially because I didn’t want to be influenced — or tainted — by anyone else’s ideas. I bet a lot of comedians and other writers feel the same way. Don’t read Leonard Cohen or you’ll end up writing like him.

But the writing is only part of the job. The delivery on a real stage is the other part, maybe the bigger part. I’m thinking good delivery could make an audience laugh at just about any jokes, good or bad.

I would like to try a standup act sometime, maybe at the Just for Laughs festival. Yes, I want to start big. Smiles . . . I know I would have to be pretty buzzed, though. That’s how Cohen overcame stage fright at the beginning, apparently: a lot of wine. I’d go the cannabis route, though.

I actually have a standup act brewing in my mind. It would be scandalous, of course, in keeping with the theme of slaying sacred cows. I’l leave that there for now . . .

My comedy debut in the preceding post was a pretty straight-forward take on that theme, minus the real-time stage delivery. It’s a script, essentially, with a written laugh track, tapping into a common angst these days among many office workers worried about leaving the safety of their homes to return to offices after some 20 pandemic months.

No doubt, I’ll write more on that theme, but I’ve come to the conclusion that all debate on the return-to-work issue will ultimately be mooted by one word: liability. The only chance of companies mitigating it is to make the return voluntary. That’s a concern for the CEOs, not particular office managers. The wrong decision could cost a company millions in lawsuits and even criminal charges if workers are unnecessarily forced back to offices and catch COVID-19 there.

Crystal ball vision: Yes, there will be lawsuits.

I have more to say on all of this, but I can’t write it here now because of corporate policy, even though it’s not about a corporation I am linked to. But I will lampoon it in my next comedy skit here.

It’s an interesting medium, and I’ll have some fun with it here from time to time. I’d be happy if it brought some more readers here, too. Since I spun off the naturism subject to a separate newsletter on Substack, readership has dropped off here. Guess where they all went?

Still, I write here because I enjoy the latitude I have. Social justice and all that. I’d do it for one reader or one million. No matter.

If you got this far into the post, thanks for reading.

— Jillian