Stand Up Comedy Community Guidelines & Workshop Expectations
Jersey Creative Lab wants every workshop to feel welcoming, creative, and supportive. By participating in a JCL class, workshop, performance, social event, or related communication, students agree to follow these guidelines.
Respect Others and Their Boundaries
Treat fellow students, instructors, staff, venue partners, and guests with kindness and respect.
Comedy writing and performance requires people to try new material, take creative risks, and sometimes share personal experiences. Listen generously and allow classmates the space to experiment without feeling mocked, attacked, or embarrassed.
Students may decline or modify an exercise, writing prompt, discussion, or performance without having to explain why. No one should feel pressured to disclose personal experiences or write about subjects they would prefer to keep private.
Friendships and connections often develop naturally in our workshops, and that is part of what makes the community special. However, students should not make others feel pursued, pressured, or uncomfortable. Repeated romantic or sexual advances after someone has declined or shown a lack of interest are not acceptable.
Harassment, discrimination, bullying, intimidation, threats, targeted humiliation, or intentionally dangerous conduct are not permitted.
Support the Learning Environment
Arrive on time, participate to the best of your ability, and allow the instructor to facilitate the class.
Give classmates your attention while they are performing or sharing material and avoid side conversations or other behavior that makes it harder for someone to work.
Avoid dominating discussions, repeatedly interrupting, heckling classmates, disrupting exercises, or otherwise behaving in a way that prevents others from learning or participating comfortably.
Feedback should be constructive and focused on helping the writer develop their material. Unless invited by the instructor or the student performing, do not repeatedly critique, rewrite, coach, or give unsolicited notes on another student's material.
Students are encouraged to experiment creatively, but humor should not be used as an excuse to target, harass, or deliberately humiliate another student or member of the JCL community.
Follow the instructor's directions and the venue's rules, and do not attend or participate while impaired in a way that affects your ability to behave safely and respectfully.
These expectations apply during classes, rehearsals, showcases, post-workshop gatherings, and other JCL-related activities.
Respect Original Material
Students retain ownership of the jokes, premises, stories, characters, and other original material they develop.
Do not copy, perform, publish, post, distribute, or present another student's material as your own.
Because students may be testing unfinished jokes and ideas in class, please do not share another student's material outside the workshop without their permission.
Feedback or suggestions offered during class do not give the person providing feedback ownership of another student's material.
Similar premises can sometimes arise independently in comedy. Students should nevertheless make a good-faith effort to develop their own material rather than intentionally reproduce another student's jokes, wording, structure, or distinctive ideas.
JCL curriculum, exercises, instructional materials, and class resources may not be copied, distributed, taught, sold, recorded, or publicly posted without permission.
Personal Stories and Sensitive Material
Stand up comedy can involve real people, personal experiences, relationships, workplaces, families, identities, politics, sexuality, and other sensitive subjects.
Students are responsible for deciding what they are comfortable sharing and performing. No one is required to disclose personal or traumatic experiences in order to participate successfully in the workshop.
When discussing classmates' material, focus on the comedy and the work rather than making assumptions about the writer's personal life, identity, experiences, or beliefs.
Material involving another student should not be performed or developed in a way that targets, humiliates, or reveals private information about that person without their permission.
The instructor may redirect material or classroom discussion when necessary to maintain a productive and respectful learning environment.
Protect Privacy and Communication Channels
Do not share another student's personal stories, contact information, photos, videos, social media accounts, unpublished material, or other private information without permission.
Do not use student contact information or class communication channels for unsolicited sales, recruiting, self-promotion, or repeated personal outreach.
Do not photograph, film, or record students, instructors, classes, exercises, or performances without approval.
JCL may occasionally take approved promotional photos or videos. Students will have an opportunity to communicate if they do not wish to appear.
Students may create their own unofficial group chats, but participation must be voluntary. JCL is not responsible for unofficial student-created groups, although conduct within those groups may be addressed if it affects the workshop or community.
Workshop Participation, Practice & Graduation Show
This workshop is designed as a progressive course, with students developing and refining original material over the seven weeks.
Graduation Show Participation
The graduation show is intended to give students an opportunity to perform material they have developed and practiced during the workshop in a supportive live setting.
To perform in the graduation show:
Students should attend at least 5 of the 7 workshop sessions.
Students must attend the final class before the graduation show, unless an exception is approved by the instructor and JCL.
Students should have a performance-ready set that has been developed or reviewed during the workshop.
Final set length and performance order will be determined by the instructor and JCL based on the needs of the show.
If a student misses significant class time or does not have material sufficiently prepared for a live performance, the instructor and JCL may ask the student to perform a shorter set or, when necessary, not perform in the graduation show.
Students who do not perform in the graduation show are still welcome to complete the workshop.
Graduation Show Recording
The graduation show will be filmed.
JCL may use portions of graduation-show footage for social media, website, advertising, or other promotional purposes. Students who have concerns about appearing in promotional content should contact JCL before the graduation show so that we can discuss available accommodations.
Students should not independently record or publicly post another student's performance without that student's permission.
Raising Concerns
Students may bring concerns to their instructor or contact JCL directly.
Reports will be handled as thoughtfully and discreetly as reasonably possible. Retaliation against anyone who raises a good-faith concern is prohibited.
Depending on the circumstances, JCL may respond with redirection, a private conversation, a warning, removal from an activity, or dismissal from a workshop or the JCL community.
Serious conduct may result in immediate removal. Refunds or credits are not guaranteed when a student is removed for violating these guidelines.
Our goal is to maintain a community where people can experiment, write, perform, take creative risks, support one another, and develop their own comedic voice.