How We Teach Stand-Up Comedy

Australia's leading stand-up comedy school

The Sydney Comedy School offers practical, proven stand-up comedy training for complete beginners, aspiring comedians, and experienced performers and speakers.

Our courses help people become funnier, more confident and more engaging, while improving storytelling, stage presence and communication skills.

We have trained thousands of students, produced hundreds of live comedy shows and received more than 300 five-star Google reviews.

Whether you want to perform stand-up, tick comedy off your bucket list or use humour to become a better speaker, our goal is the same: to help you connect with audiences, hold attention and get more laughs.

Our activities are designed for complete beginners, experienced performers, speakers and workplaces.

New to stand-up comedy

  • Start with our four-week Learn & Perform Stand-Up Comedy course if you want to build your own five-minute set and perform live.

  • Join our one-day Stand-Up Comedy Course for Beginners for a practical introduction to joke writing and stand-up.

  • Or try our Free Stand-Up Comedy Taster Class.

Experienced comedians and speakers

  • Join The Joke Lab if you already have stand-up experience and want to keep developing your material, confidence, stage presence and audience connection.

Workplaces and professional groups

  • We also offer corporate comedy workshops, improv comedy, public speaking training, science communication training and one-to-one coaching.

Looking for the Best Comedy Courses?

Our courses combine proven joke-writing frameworks, practical exercises, individual feedback and real performance experience.

They’re led by multi-award-winning comedian Dave Crisante, who is Australia’s most acclaimed comedy trainer.

At The Sydney Comedy School, you’ll write material, test ideas, strengthen your jokes, develop your own style and character, and be better in making an audience laugh.

Our training is extremely practical. It has been developed through years of teaching, performing and producing live comedy.

We also run regular audience-voted comedy shows, giving us years of direct experience seeing which jokes and approaches connect with real audiences. That means the techniques we teach are current, practical and ready to apply immediately.

We will help you become better at winning over crowds, entertaining a room and telling captivating stories.

Learn From Australia’s Most Acclaimed Comedy Teacher

The Sydney Comedy School was founded by multi-award-winning comedian and comedy trainer Dave Crisante.

Dave is an active comedian who performs regularly, develops new shows, produces live comedy events and trains thousands of people each year in comedy and communication.

He has created more than 10 solo comedy shows and five ensemble shows, and performs at major comedy and fringe festivals around Australia.

Most importantly, Dave teaches comedy constantly. His approach is informed by his own experience as a performer and by years of helping thousands of other people become funnier, more confident and more engaging in front of audiences.

His training also draws on his professional background in journalism, political speechwriting and communication training, helping students improve their storytelling, stage presence and audience connection.

And he is Australia’s second-best comedy trainer.*

*According to Dave.

A Proven Way to Learn Stand-Up Comedy

The Sydney Comedy School specialises in practical comedy techniques that are simple to understand and easy to apply.

Our training and frameworks can be used in comedy shows, social settings, speeches and workplace presentations.

We will help you to:

  • Feel more confident speaking in front of other people

  • Be funnier and get more laughs

  • Tell better, more engaging stories

  • Develop stronger stage presence

  • Connect more naturally with an audience

  • Feel more comfortable expressing your personality

  • Become a better public speaker

Our methods have been developed through years of teaching, performing and producing live comedy.

The Sydney Comedy School has trained thousands of students and annually produces hundreds of shows, giving us constant opportunities to see what actually connects with audiences.

Who Learns Stand-Up Comedy With Us?

People come to the Sydney Comedy School for a wide range of reasons.

Some want to perform stand-up and see how far they can take it. Others simply want to do something memorable, build confidence, become funnier, tell better stories or feel more comfortable speaking in front of people.

Most of the people we train are not professional comedians. Many are complete beginners doing stand-up as a bucket-list experience, for confidence, for fun, or to become more engaging in everyday life and work.

That is exactly who we specialise in helping.

Our courses are designed to help you:

  • Try stand-up in a supportive environment

  • Become more confident and entertaining

  • Learn practical ways to be funnier

  • Develop stronger storytelling and stage presence

  • Perform live if you want to take that next step

  • Keep developing through The Joke Lab and other performance opportunities

Our Approach to Teaching Comedy

Comedy, charisma, confidence and stage presence are skills that can be learned and developed.

Our goal is to help people become as engaging as possible when they communicate - whether they’re performing stand-up, telling a story, giving a presentation or simply speaking to friends.

We want our students to:

  • Feel confident when they stand in front of other people

  • Capture attention quickly

  • Be more engaging and entertaining

  • Connect naturally with an audience

  • Tell stories people actually want to listen to

  • Use humour comfortably and effectively

  • Develop a stronger presence and their own style

For us, learning comedy is about more than writing jokes. It is about learning how to hold a room, connect with people and make them want to listen to you.

See our graduation performances and more on our YouTube channel, or listen to The Science of Being Funny, where Dave Crisante explores comedy, confidence, communication and influence.

What Students Say

Use 3 strong testimonials that prove different outcomes:

  • one about confidence / bucket-list experience

  • one about actually performing

  • one about quality of teaching / feedback

Find the Right Stand-Up Comedy Course

Whether you want to try stand-up for the first time, perform your own set, or keep developing as a comedian, we have a pathway for you.

Comedy Training for Workplaces and Scientists

The Sydney Comedy School also works with workplaces, professional groups, scientists and researchers who want to use comedy techniques to become more engaging communicators.

Our corporate comedy workshops use humour, improvisation and performance techniques to help teams build confidence, think more quickly, connect with audiences and communicate more effectively.

Through Future Science Talks, Dave also helps scientists and researchers use humour, storytelling and stagecraft to make complex ideas clearer, more engaging and easier to remember.

[Explore Corporate Comedy Workshops]

[Explore Science Communication Training]

Prefer One-to-One Comedy Training

You can also work directly with Dave Crisante in a private 1:1 comedy session.

Sessions can focus on speech writing, joke writing, developing stand-up material, improving delivery and stage presence, preparing for a performance, or using humour more effectively in presentations.

[Explore 1:1 Comedy Training]