You don't have to be personal to be authentic
How Mitch Hedberg, Steve Martin, and Kristen Schaal get at the truth by making stuff up.
One school of thought is you have to be personal and authentic to be a truly great comedian. I get that and dig that mindset, but I also think there are different (and perhaps not so intuitive) ways to get there.
Take Mitch Hedberg. He didn’t have an infestation of koala bears. He wasn’t a race car passenger. Most of the stuff he talked about never happened. And yet, after you listen to his standup, you know so much about him because you know how he sees life.
He tells you nothing about himself and yet you can’t help but fall in love with him and his worldview. He’s making comedy that only he could possibly make. In a way, that’s as personal as you can get.
And if authentic means “of undisputed origin,” then Mitch’s jokes definitely fit that description. When you hear a Mitch joke, you know it’s a Mitch joke.
Vulture comedy critic Jesse David Fox has written about this notion of “truth in comedy” and how silly/absurdist comics like Steve Martin and Kristen Schaal get at it in different ways here…
No one has ever said, “Steve Martin was a pretty good comedian but what would’ve made him really big was if he told more personal stories.” That’s because Martin’s silliness and form invention were incredibly truthful to who he was as an artist.
…and here too.
Kristen Schaal, for example, doesn’t tell you about her childhood or the awkward times she had one-night stands or whatever real comedy is, but her work 100 percent represents who she is as a being and as an artist.
My new special “Substance” debuts on YouTube on Thursday, Jan. 19 at 3pm EST. Tune in then to watch/chat during the premiere. Subscribe to my YouTube to get an alert (or just for the hell of it). Here’s the trailer: