One day a talented student arrived a little late for our writing & performance workshop. She apologized and said she was late because she had a 'hand job' that morning. What?!

It turned out she worked as a hand model and while she had been doing funny material about other things in the class, this was the first we'd heard about her day job. And everyone was fascinated.

Emily Aiken is a brilliant strategic consultant known as 'the Brand Dominatrix' who came up with a great phrase: Low-Hanging Content.

That perfectly describes a whole category of potential material that a lot of writers and comedians overlook because it just seems too obvious and too familiar (to them). Too easy.

Over the years we've worked with a lot of very talented people who kept searching farther and wider for material when they had a wealth of great stuff within easy reach. For the writer referred to above it was hand modelling, for another it was makeup (she works at a makeup counter and is obsessed with it in the rest of her life too), and for another it was a job selling cemetary plots.

They all wanted to be working more as actors and/or comedians so they discounted their day jobs as a source of material and a keyhole into a world which holds inherent interest for an audience. For you it might be, dog breeding, your collection of Hummels or your obsession with porn.

Low-hanging content is what you actually spend your time thinking about.

Why not accentuate the obvious? Audiences are almost always interested in worlds they don't know about, and they appreciate it if you can fill them in. And it gives you a constant flow of new material and a potential for ongoing story developments. And it provides interesting connections to family, money, love or anything else you want to talk about. Plus, you know the vernacular and human dynamics involved so you already have the details that make your story (or rant) compelling - and funny.

So before you send out a search party for material about your family or politics or whatever else you think you should talk about, consider the low hanging fruit that's easy, accessible and ripe.