requested #4
Reader: Tell me about the world of stand up comedy.
Me: The world of stand up comedy is a small one. It is made up of the performer, which anyone can be, and the audience, which we all are. Somewhere in the middle sits the world of the interlopers, those who would call themselves a part of it. They are made up of bookers, club owners and talent agents, who's only job is too make money off everyone for nothing whatsoever.
The performer is someone with the courage to stand and deliver in front of strangers. It feels a lot like being introduced at a party that is in full swing and you show up late and the host stops the party to introduce you. For a brief moment, everyone is watching. First impressions. Sizing up your appearance, your personality, all from what you give them. In order to be funny, you have to either look funny, sound funny or have something entertaining to say.
Stand up is less and less about jokes. It's more about a "show". Entertaining an audience so they feel like they got their time and money's worth. There are a ton of entertainment options and seeing a live comic is not high on anyone's priority list unless they A) secretly want to be a comic and this is as close as they can get to a stage or B) are dragged in by friends or C) were given tickets. Sensing this as the formula, clubs have taken to hiring former sit com stars that have name recognition, but no talent. The tickets are expensive and the audiences leave with a bad taste in their mouths.
The up and coming comics are infalliable. Or so it would seem. They walk around like a man possessed ( I say man, because females have a tough road to travel in this trade, unless they are a lesbian or a fat housewife ) and they take no shit and don't need advice. They are bringing something so new and original that the comedy world will have to bend the rules for them. They don't and these kings of men quietly fall into a slump, which will consume them. Thank allah.
For those who make it past what is called the three months blues, the point at which your material abandons you and you have no direction to travel and no friends to talk too, they see a light and swim through a sea of foul smelling shit for months before someone gives them the time of day. This is what other industries call, "earning your stripes". It entails, bad gigs for no money. Bad gigs that are ten hours away. Bad gigs with other bad comics and then more bad gigs with bad audiences. This is where the entertainer in every comic dies and he/she becomes resolved to kill everyone, smoke pot, drink excessively, screw with reckless abandon and make everyone pay for their pain. IF they live through this, they get to step four or three....
Career. By this time, the entertainer has become part of the fabric of mainstream entertainment. They see that stand up is not the end, but a means to an end, and that a writing gig or an acting career has to be found, otherwise, it was a nice pipe dream while it lasted. The drinking, pot smoking and philandering continue.
For those who miss their shot at fame and fortune, there is always ass kissing. Becoming friends with bookers, agents and club owners who will be willing to keep you alive by keeping your irrelevent ass working at their venues. Audiences bore of them quickly. The entertainer becomes a shell of a human and spits out venom and glorious tales of the "good old days" when comedy paid and everything was free. You would think that some television show missed their shot at this prize, not the other way around.
For those lucky enough not to base their ego on whether or not they are funny and not to set value to themselves based on what an audience, their peers or the industry thinks of them, there is hope. A life with family, home and other pursuits. For those who do emphasize these things, there is always booze, another hotel room, more tiny bottles of shampoo. More long drives. It's heaven.
For me, I look at comedy as an extended vacation, which eventually had to end. The comedy road took me everywhere and it was nice to see some of these places... once. The third and fourth time. Not so much. All that alone time, all that seperation anxiety that sets in when you have to say goodbye to someone you worked with all week, all that happening, week after week, month after month. It wears on you. You miss friends, familly, favorite restaurants, favorite haunts. You spend every holiday away from everyone and you miss out.
But, damn, making people laugh is the best feeling in the world when you want it to be and can remember it.
Me: The world of stand up comedy is a small one. It is made up of the performer, which anyone can be, and the audience, which we all are. Somewhere in the middle sits the world of the interlopers, those who would call themselves a part of it. They are made up of bookers, club owners and talent agents, who's only job is too make money off everyone for nothing whatsoever.
The performer is someone with the courage to stand and deliver in front of strangers. It feels a lot like being introduced at a party that is in full swing and you show up late and the host stops the party to introduce you. For a brief moment, everyone is watching. First impressions. Sizing up your appearance, your personality, all from what you give them. In order to be funny, you have to either look funny, sound funny or have something entertaining to say.
Stand up is less and less about jokes. It's more about a "show". Entertaining an audience so they feel like they got their time and money's worth. There are a ton of entertainment options and seeing a live comic is not high on anyone's priority list unless they A) secretly want to be a comic and this is as close as they can get to a stage or B) are dragged in by friends or C) were given tickets. Sensing this as the formula, clubs have taken to hiring former sit com stars that have name recognition, but no talent. The tickets are expensive and the audiences leave with a bad taste in their mouths.
The up and coming comics are infalliable. Or so it would seem. They walk around like a man possessed ( I say man, because females have a tough road to travel in this trade, unless they are a lesbian or a fat housewife ) and they take no shit and don't need advice. They are bringing something so new and original that the comedy world will have to bend the rules for them. They don't and these kings of men quietly fall into a slump, which will consume them. Thank allah.
For those who make it past what is called the three months blues, the point at which your material abandons you and you have no direction to travel and no friends to talk too, they see a light and swim through a sea of foul smelling shit for months before someone gives them the time of day. This is what other industries call, "earning your stripes". It entails, bad gigs for no money. Bad gigs that are ten hours away. Bad gigs with other bad comics and then more bad gigs with bad audiences. This is where the entertainer in every comic dies and he/she becomes resolved to kill everyone, smoke pot, drink excessively, screw with reckless abandon and make everyone pay for their pain. IF they live through this, they get to step four or three....
Career. By this time, the entertainer has become part of the fabric of mainstream entertainment. They see that stand up is not the end, but a means to an end, and that a writing gig or an acting career has to be found, otherwise, it was a nice pipe dream while it lasted. The drinking, pot smoking and philandering continue.
For those who miss their shot at fame and fortune, there is always ass kissing. Becoming friends with bookers, agents and club owners who will be willing to keep you alive by keeping your irrelevent ass working at their venues. Audiences bore of them quickly. The entertainer becomes a shell of a human and spits out venom and glorious tales of the "good old days" when comedy paid and everything was free. You would think that some television show missed their shot at this prize, not the other way around.
For those lucky enough not to base their ego on whether or not they are funny and not to set value to themselves based on what an audience, their peers or the industry thinks of them, there is hope. A life with family, home and other pursuits. For those who do emphasize these things, there is always booze, another hotel room, more tiny bottles of shampoo. More long drives. It's heaven.
For me, I look at comedy as an extended vacation, which eventually had to end. The comedy road took me everywhere and it was nice to see some of these places... once. The third and fourth time. Not so much. All that alone time, all that seperation anxiety that sets in when you have to say goodbye to someone you worked with all week, all that happening, week after week, month after month. It wears on you. You miss friends, familly, favorite restaurants, favorite haunts. You spend every holiday away from everyone and you miss out.
But, damn, making people laugh is the best feeling in the world when you want it to be and can remember it.
posted by Daniel Loomis | 5:30 PM
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