Gossip vids about comedians gets more views than actual standup specials
On tech and standup.
Random thoughts on technology and standup:
The problem is great songs and jokes should be around 3.5 minutes long but the algorithm now requires everything be either 30 seconds or 3 hours.
YouTube vids gossiping about comedians get exponentially more views than actual standup specials. It’s the Bravo-ification of art. Same as First Take and Pat Mac taking over ESPN. We want charismatic fools gossiping about sports more than we actually want to watch the game. They told us software was gonna eat the world but turns out we got ate by tea spilling instead.
Standup comedy is great cuz you get to go onstage every night and tell jokes to dozens of different audiences and learn if a joke is a “banger” or not based on real people in real life (data!) instead of one rando person on social media who mistakenly thinks their pov represents the world.
AI will be great at writing monologue jokes and bad at doing depthful standup because one is formulas that gently soothe and the other is based on a unique pov that delivers slap-in-the-face surprise.
Just set a personal record re: Dr. Squatch. It’s the most content I’ve ever watched sponsored by the same company while I still have zero idea what the hell their product is/does. Don’t tell me...I love the mystery!
One fascinating standup thing is telling a joke that routinely kills onstage, filming/posting it, and then having online commenters say, with total confidence, that it’s actually not at all funny. Feels like a tell on how frequently our timelines and actual reality have nothing to do with each other.
Reddit is comedy nerds who want edgy/dark/niche shit that’s not what most real crowds enjoy. Reminds me of open mics back in the day where only dark stuff or inside jokes would kill.
We need a new word for “person who speaks into a microphone for an hour” that is not standup because I feel like that’s a big part of the confusion nowadays.
“What’s the path to success in comedy?”
Then: “Be undeniably good.”
Now: “Please Mark Zuckerberg, the Chinese government, or Larry Ellison. Alternatively, be clueless about politics while also refusing to fact check your podcast interviewees.”I’m convinced the eventual end game of social media comedy clips is jokes that start with a punchline and then reveal themselves like a Tarantino flick. If you only got 3 seconds to “hook ‘em,” it feels like the inevitable solution.