Comedy Special

I have been to a hundred stand-up comedy shows - some in venues as small as 25 seats, others in outdoor theaters as big as 17,000 seats. I have seen first-time comedians and also seasoned stadium fillers. Heretofore are my opinions on the matter.

What I do not like:

Comedians who ramble about on unfunny topics and scramble to recall what they wanted to talk about.

What I do like:

Comedians who have a tight 5/10/hour prepared and run through their bits mostly by memory.

What I do not like:

Comedians who rely on crowd work instead of having actual jokes to tell. Crowd work is not comedy. In my observation, 99% of the time a “comedian” is standing up there and simply interrogating the crowd, they are resorting to bullying the guest and looking for jokes at the guest’s expense. And usually, they are not the first person to perform, have not listened to the prior comics, and wind up asking the same obvious questions to the same people.

What I do like:

Comedians who use crowd work as a quick warm-up and to gauge the composition of their audience.  The best among them manage to query the crowd without objectifying them or trying to get us laugh to at their expense.

What I do not like:

Comedians who use their platform as a free-for-all to say whatever they want however they want all in the name of comedy.

What I do like:

Comedians who offer thought-provoking humor, stretching the audience’ comfort zone and encouraging them to think.

Here’s to a new year full of laughter, education, and not taking anything too seriously!

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Thanks for reading!

Eve