A spoken category in which one entrant performs a single original comic act with Jamaican content, written to make the audience laugh, recorded on the template as a four-minute entry scored out of 100 and offered in all seven classes.
Speech – Jamaican Stand-up Comedy is the sixty-sixth entry on the Jamaican national performing arts festival template and the eleventh category of its Speech discipline. It follows the sonnets, psalms and Shakespeare class and leads into the poem, prose and monologue class. The festival handbook files it as category 13 of the speech syllabus, with the abbreviation JSC on entry forms. It is the one speech class in which the entrant is the author as well as the performer, and the one in which the audience reaction is part of the brief.
The handbook states the requirement in a few lines. The entrant presents one selection, which must be original and must have Jamaican content only. Absolutely no expletives or offensive material are allowed. Current topical issues are welcome, with appropriate satire and dramatisation of speech, and the item must be geared to invoke laughter from the audience. The handbook gives the time as three to five minutes and lists the solo class for Classes 2 to 6, so the youngest age band is not eligible for this category.
On the day the round is a single act. The entrant walks on, delivers the routine and leaves, and the panel marks it on the four-part table shared by the Speech discipline: voice production, speech, presentation and interpretation. Because the material is the entrant’s own, the panel has no printed text to compare with; it is judging whether the writing is clear and clean, whether the jokes land, and whether the performer can carry a laugh with timing, pace and a sense of character.
The class also has group versions. The handbook lists a Jamaican stand-up comedy ensemble and, separately, a stand-up comedy experimental ensemble for two to six members with a three-minute limit, both under the same content rules. Those are different categories and this item does not cover them. An organiser who wants the solo version needs to be sure the entry is set up as a single performer.
The template records the item as a team entry, both genders together, with English as the language, a four-minute window with the warning bell at three minutes, and a score out of 100, in all seven classes. The handbook describes an individual class for Classes 2 to 6 with a running time of three to five minutes. A four-minute window would cut off a five-minute set, so an organiser who wants to follow the handbook should set the entry type to individual, the age bands to Classes 2 to 6 and the time limit to five minutes. The template records only a maximum time, so the three-minute minimum is something the organiser announces to entrants. Organisers run this class because it gives young people and adults a place to be judged on writing and live comic delivery, which most other speech classes do not test.
Where Speech – Jamaican Stand-up Comedy is run
On eTalenter this item is used in one template, the Jamaican national performing arts festival template, where it is assigned to all seven classes (six age bands from the youngest children to adults aged 20 and over, plus a combined class) in the Speech discipline, after the sonnets, psalms and Shakespeare class and ahead of the poem, prose and monologue class. Stand-up comedy also exists as a separate item in other eTalenter templates, for example in a Kenyan schools drama festival and an Indian university festival, each with its own time limits and rules. This page covers the version defined by the Jamaican festival handbook, with its rule that the material be original and have Jamaican content.
- Jamaica (the national performing arts festival the template is built from)
Key facts
- Abbreviation JSC on entry forms; the handbook lists it as category 13 of the speech syllabus, for Classes 2 to 6, and its awards list names it Best Jamaican Stand-up Comedy
- One selection only, which must be original with Jamaican content only; no expletives or offensive material at all; the item must be geared to invoke laughter, and topical issues with appropriate satire and dramatisation are encouraged
- Time: three to five minutes in the handbook, so a set under three minutes or over five minutes does not fit the stated window
- The template gives a team entry, both genders together, English as the language, a four-minute limit with the warning bell at three minutes and a score out of 100, in all seven classes; the handbook describes an individual class for Classes 2 to 6
- Marked on the shared four-part speech table: voice production, speech, presentation and interpretation, weighted 20, 30, 20 and 30 at auditions, 10, 35, 15 and 40 at parish level and 4, 20, 4 and 22 (out of 50) at the national finals
- Ideas, not rules, for choosing a subject: a school-canteen queue that never moves, a family argument over who controls the television, the mix-ups of a first day at a new job, or the way a bus journey becomes a group conversation. Keep it recognisably local, keep it clean, and check the final script with the organiser
On eTalenter, Speech – Jamaican Stand-up Comedy is filed under On Stage and typically scored with Marks. It appears in 1 ready-made event templates — each one can adjust its time limit, age-group assignment and scoring setup independently.
Across the templates that use it, Speech – Jamaican Stand-up Comedy is most often entered as an Team competition, typically scored out of 100, commonly time-limited to around 4 minutes where a limit is set.
What judges look at in Speech – Jamaican Stand-up Comedy
What a Speech – Jamaican Stand-up Comedy panel is actually weighing up, and where the marks are usually won or lost:
- The handbook prints one marking table for the whole Speech discipline, so a comedy set is scored on the same four headings as a poem or a psalm; the points below follow that table and are a summary, not a quotation of the rule
- Voice production: audibility, projection, tone, pace and colouring, worth 20 at auditions, 10 at parish level and 4 of 50 at the national finals. Comedy lives on pace. Marks go to the entrant who speeds up for a build, slows down for the turn and stops completely before the punchline; they are lost to one who runs at a single speed so that the joke arrives before the audience is ready
- Speech: articulation, enunciation and pronunciation, worth 30, 35 and 20 of 50. A joke that cannot be heard clearly is not a joke. Marks are lost for swallowed endings and for words rushed together at the one point where the audience needs every syllable, and won by a performer whose set-up and punchline words are crisp
- Presentation: costume, stage presence, energy, style and visual impact, worth 20, 15 and 4 of 50. The panel looks for confident posture, a clear start and finish, and movement that serves the joke. Costume should suit the character or voice the entrant is using; the handbook’s general guidance asks for bright and bold colours and warns against plain school uniform unless the piece calls for it
- Interpretation: comprehension, expression, mood and believability, worth 30, 40 and 22 of 50. For a comedy set this is where the writing is judged as it is performed: is there a clear idea, a build, a surprise and a close, does the topical point have a real satirical edge, and does the performer believe what they are saying. A set that only strings together unconnected jokes scores below one built around a single recognisable observation
- Rule compliance: the material must be original, Jamaican in content, free of expletives and offensive material, and inside the time window. Reusing a joke from a television comedian, adding an offensive word for a cheap laugh, or running over five minutes puts the whole entry at risk, so the safest course is to check the script against the rule before rehearsing it
Treat these as the judging focus, not a fixed rubric: publish your own weighted criteria for Speech – Jamaican Stand-up Comedy under Scoring Setup, or start from the full speech competition judging criteria guide.
How to prepare for Speech – Jamaican Stand-up Comedy
How entrants and their teachers usually get Speech – Jamaican Stand-up Comedy right on the day:
- Read the rule first: one original selection, Jamaican content only, no expletives or offensive material, three to five minutes. Ask the organiser whether the script must be handed in with the entry, how a topical reference should be treated and whether a simple prop or costume piece is acceptable
- Start with one observation, not a list of jokes. Write down a situation your audience recognises, say in one sentence what is funny or unfair about it, and build the set from there, with a beginning that sets the scene, a middle that makes it worse and an ending that turns it
- Write the set out in full and read it aloud. Cut every line that does not move the idea forward, and mark each punchline so you know where the stress and the pause belong. The funniest word usually belongs at the very end of the sentence
- Keep the satire pointed at situations, habits and ideas rather than at named people or at features a person cannot change. If a line would make a listener of any age uncomfortable, replace it; the rule asks for appropriate satire and a clean set
- Time the set with a stopwatch at performing speed, including the pauses you are leaving for laughs. Aim for about four minutes so a slow audience does not push you over five, and keep a shorter ending ready in case you need to cut in the room
- Practise the pause. After a punchline, count a silent beat before the next line; a performer who rushes through the audience reaction loses both the laugh and the speech marks
- Rehearse in front of a listener who has not heard the script. Watch where they laugh, where they look confused and where they look away, and rewrite the second and third of those; do not explain the joke afterwards
- Plan the entrance and the exit as carefully as the middle: how you walk on, your first line, your last line and the moment you stop and step back. A clear stop tells the panel the set is finished and avoids a trailing ending
- After a result, ask for the adjudicator’s comments and note which of the four headings lost marks. If interpretation was low, rework the idea and ending of the set; if speech was low, record yourself and practise the set-up and punchline words until they are clear at speed
Ready-made event templates that include Speech – Jamaican Stand-up Comedy
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| Template | Category | Score label | Competitions |
|---|---|---|---|
| JCDC National Performing Arts Festival (Jamaica) | On Stage | Marks | 7 |
Frequently asked questions
Is Speech – Jamaican Stand-up Comedy judged individually or as a team?
Across eTalenter’s templates it’s most often run as an Team entry, though an organiser can set either participation type when assigning the item to an age group.
What counts as Jamaican content in this category?
The handbook says the selection must be original with Jamaican content only. It does not give a list of accepted subjects, so an entrant who is unsure whether a reference or a joke qualifies should ask the organiser before entering.
How long can the performance be?
The handbook gives a running time of three to five minutes. The template gives a four-minute window with the warning bell at three minutes, which is shorter than the handbook’s upper limit, so an organiser following the handbook should change the limit to five minutes and tell entrants that three minutes is the minimum.
Can I use jokes I found online or heard on television?
No. The handbook requires the selection to be original. Material borrowed from another comedian or from a joke collection is not original, so write your own set and keep a copy in case the organiser asks for it.
Is this judged individually or as a team?
The handbook describes it as a solo class for Classes 2 to 6, and lists the stand-up comedy ensemble and experimental ensemble versions as separate categories. The template records this item as a team entry, so an organiser who wants the handbook’s solo version should set the entry type to individual.
Is this the same as the story telling class?
No. Story telling asks for one story from the oral traditions, five to seven minutes long. Stand-up comedy is an original comic routine whose main aim, in the handbook’s words, is to invoke laughter, delivered directly to the audience in three to five minutes.
Want the full judging picture? Read the full speech competition judging criteria guide, or browse every on stage competition item.
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