The magic of longer jokes
Carlin, Burr, Pryor, etc. Some of the best "over 5 minute" jokes of all time.
Long Jokes Are Good: “In an era when social media has amplified the expectation that jokes told in comedy clubs should be lean, short, and punchy, [Kyle Kinane’s] Dirt Nap shows what else is possible with the form. Not every joke should be 47 minutes long, but it’s important for comedy to be reminded that they could be.”
In the piece, Jesse David Fox also lists some of the all-timer long bits (descriptions/links lifted from there):
Bill Cosby had jokes run upwards of 20 minutes.
Richard Pryor’s story of setting himself on fire — arguably the greatest joke ever told — clocked at around 20 minutes.
George Carlin had a few pieces longer than 20 minutes, including a 21-minute chunk on cars in 1988’s What Am I Doing in Jersey.
Bill Burr often has 15-minute bits where he tries to lose the audience at the beginning and win them back by the end while building to a larger point, such as a joke from 2017’s Walk Your Way Out that starts with him deriding how the word brave is used to describe plus-size actresses, moves to his own insecurities about how he’s seen in Hollywood, and ends with him arguing that McDonald’s serving breakfast all day is what’s wrong with this country.
Tig Notaro’s bits about the many times she met the singer Taylor Dayne and pretending she’s going to bring the Indigo Girls onstage both run about 16 minutes.
Jerrod Carmichael’s 22-minute Rothaniel opener about his father’s infidelity.
Gary Gulman’s 25-minute story about going to Trader Joe’s.
Ali Siddiq regularly pushes 30 minutes by thematically piecing together collections of stories and observations about his life.
Comedians such as Mike Birbiglia also tell long, winding tales, but usually in one-person shows in theaters to an audience that expects that format.
Any other fave long bits?
Related:
I look forward to watching all the examples you provide here. In the meantime, Dave Chappelle's "And then I kicked her in the pussy" might qualify; and Hannah Gadsby's "Douglas" could be seen in its entirety as a single, contrapuntal exposition. In both of these examples the audience is told the endpoint up front but has forgotten all about it by the time the punchline is delivered.
I think Jim Jeffries bit (Bare) on guns in America is around 15 minutes. Gulman, again:), on one of the most underrated specials this century, (In This Economy), does “Bill Gates & Billionaires” that shows up as three separate bits in a row on streaming but together is over 15 minutes. But those are all amazing bits you mention. I love the long bits. Kinane’s recent special is majestic. Thanks for the article! ✊🏼