20 things about standup
Comedy brain dump on audiences, crowdwork, bombing, the attention economy, and more.
Some thoughts on standup:
The wisest path to standup success now: Start a beef with someone in the Rogansphere and hope one of those YouTube gossipmongers clips it up.
“The lottery is a tax on the stupid” is one of the finest jokes ever written.
Ever spend your entire life seeking validation based on childhood trauma only to realize it decades later, but at that point it’s too late, so you just say, “Whatever, might as well keep it going?”
Standup is crazy because you can spend decades doing it, yet the drunk “it’s my night without the baby” lady in the front row who keeps shouting stuff gets the same level of respect from the audience.
Broke crowds are way more fun. Why? Rich people live in fear – anxious about status, who’s watching, and if they’re the target. Poor people don’t give a damn and just wanna have a good time.
Sometimes I watch bad comedians and I’m like: Just talk about something you actually care about. It’d be infinitely more interesting than this.
The problem with all ages comedy shows ain’t the kids, it’s what they do to the room/vibe. Parents: “I’m fine with my kids being there.” That’s not the issue. The rest of the crowd is gonna act weird when some guy onstage is talking about his strange kinks and your 12 year old is in the front row.
“This didn’t have to be a song. But if I had just said it, it wouldn’t be that funny.”
-Musical comedyI wonder if TED Talk speakers get nasty comments saying, “Nice standup special.”
Me, to myself, while bombing:
10 more thoughts below…
