In an (old) interview, Aziz Ansari discussed the difference between jokes that just get a laugh and ones that elicit an "I'm glad someone said said it" response.
With my stand-up now, I’ve realized there are two types of jokes. One type is me talking about miscellaneous topics and getting laughs. That would be how I feel my first two stand-up specials come off. The second type is, you get a laugh, but you also get the feeling that the audience is saying, “Thank you for saying that!” I find the second type way more satisfying. I found it in Buried Alive, where after the show, so many people around my age said, “I’m glad you said that, I don’t feel ready to get married, I’m scared of my friends having babies, and yes, it is hard to meet someone you really like.”
With this new material about texting and stuff, this has been even more pronounced. So many people have come up to me and talked about how they and their friends have been going through this same shit. I almost write stuff with two goals now: to have it be really, really funny, but also have ideas that resonate with people. When people come up to me and say, “Holy shit, man, I can’t believe you said that, that’s exactly what I’m going through, and I hate that shit too.” That’s way more meaningful than, “Funny shit, dude!”
Reminds me of something Bill Maher said about George Carlin:
[Carlin’s approach] is what I try to emulate. I try to do a show where if you took the jokes out it would still be an interesting speech. And that's where that comes from.
Good question to ask yourself: Would anyone still care what you're talking about if you took the jokes out?
Isn't this similar to clapter? Maybe I'm not getting it but my preferences for comedy are not usually things that border on lectures.
dear matt,
this is a great question: "Would anyone still care what you're talking about if you took the jokes out?"
and
this is another question (from me to you): have you seen dave attell's new special yet? i think he represents the flipside* of your question above, because in some ways, he's not talking about ANYTHING, and as he is a self-assessed "joke guy," it wouldn't be POSSIBLE to take the jokes out.
he's doing something special and different and impressive.
AND
"Would anyone still care what you're talking about if you took the jokes out?" is still a great question.
thanks for sharing!
love,
myq
* i'm reminded of this niels bohr quote: "The opposite of a fact is falsehood, but the opposite of one profound truth may very well be another profound truth." one profound truth is "it's good to talk about things you care about when you're doing comedy" and the other profound truth is DAVE ATTELL IS HILARIOUS.