By Austin Frape
There’s no denying that everyone loves a good laugh. In everyday social situations, you can be in an office cubicle where you always have that person that comes up with a witty zinger or maybe something just so out of the ordinary causes a hearty reaction. In popular culture, you can find laughs snuggled up at home as a cheesy sitcom for light viewing, or in a cinema watching the latest raunchy comedy starring Seth Rogen.
But one example of comedy that is quite unique is stand-up comedy. It often creates a night out in a nicotine and yeast riddled pub as they join in unison with the echos of the crowd’s laughter. However, what makes stand up comedy especially different to movies or TV shows is the person causing those laughs (For better or worst) on stage. If you think about it, they are creating such a daunting situation for themselves. They have found themselves to be funny in their personal lives, that they want to take the risk and perform jokes in front of a group of strangers, unsure if they will successfully make them laugh or not.
I’ve always been fascinated by what inspires a person to want to take that risk and become a stand-up comedian. Did they always want to be funny as a profession? Why perform their jokes in front of a live audience? Throughout this piece, I will explore what makes stand-up comedy a unique experience for both the comedian and the audience.
My first exposure of stand-up comedy came from a series of performances during the Adelaide Fringe. The Fringe is a special time of the year where the capital of South Australia truly comes alive. In colourful venues surrounding the Botanic Parks, people in extravagant and flamboyant attires bring out all sorts of local and international performances, from group shows like the circus to solo acts like magicians. Thomas Green is an Adelaide born comedian who has performed stand-up routines at the Fringe in previous years while working as a primary school teacher.
“Ever since I was really young, I had always loved being funny,” says Thomas Green. “I’ve always found making people laugh such a satisfying feeling. They’re having fun and I’m the reason why they’re having fun. I remember specifically this spark starting in year 3 when my teacher would allow me to perform in front of the class on Friday afternoons as long as I did my work during the week.”
Ian Brodie described the format of stand-up comedy in his thesis as “a form of talk.” To paraphrase, stand-up comedy creates an environment that causes a reaction, participation, and engagement from the topics that are being discussed by the comedian but in a humourous way. He also describes a stand-up routine as a one-sided conversation, as a typical show doesn’t allow room for a proper discussion of a topic between the comedian and the audience. Thomas Green described stand-up comedy in a similar light.
“What makes comedy such a beautiful and special art form is that you can express your own view and opinions,” says Thomas Green. “I think comedians are lucky in that way. We are one of the few types of people in society that will draw in an audience that will be listened to for an hour. The audience may not necessarily agree with the comedian’s opinions, especially when it comes to topics that have such drastic and dividing opinions like race, gender or politics, but they will listen to their views on the world for entertainment.”
In a further explanation, Thomas Green utilises his performances as a way to interact with audiences and engage them with a conversation and to create unintentionally planned comedy.
“I like getting the audience involved because people’s experiences and their stories are funny,” says Thomas Green. “I feel everyone has something funny to tell. I enjoy talking to people while on stage and bringing their funny out. Because you don’t know what people are going to say, you don’t know who they are; it can cause something really unexpected. That’s the great thing about stand-up performances, the jokes may stay the same from the comedian, but the reactions will be different from each performance.”
Stand-up comedy has created a large following across Australia, especially in Melbourne as each year, the Melbourne Internation Comedy Festival encourages people to perform from across the country and the world. Matt Stewart is a comedian who won the 2014 RAW Comedy National Championship at the Melbourne International Comedy Festival.
“Comedy was always something that I enjoyed, but it never seemed like something that I could actually do,” says Matt Stewart. “It always seemed like a different breed of skill sets was needed, even with people in my life telling me that I should give it a go.”
Matt Stewart has also found success in podcasting, being apart of the comedic trivia show, Do Go On, with two other Melbourne based comedians, Dave Warneke and Jess Perkins. Similar to Thomas Green, Jess Perkins comes from a background of stage performances and growing up in a comedic background.
“I come from a funny family, so there were always jokes around the dinner table. My sense of humour was really encouraged by my family, particularly my mum.,” says Jess Perkins. “I was also very keen drama student at school and loved performing, and I would dream of being an actor when I grew up. I don’t think I truly believed it would happen, and the idea of stand up comedy didn’t occur to me until I was in my mid 20’s.”
Through her experiences, Jess Perkins found encouragement and a sense of community in the comedy scene.
“I volunteered at a radio station Student Youth Network, where I hosted a long-running show called In Joke where we go and see shows and talk about comedians. I also I met a bunch of comedians through my web series ‘First Date with Jess’, and it all kind of resulted in me signing up for RAW comedy and having a go at stand up.”
Jason Rutter found and describes a formula in his thesis that comedians tend to use for their performance. To paraphrase, a comedian would often bookend their show with specific types of jokes. To start off strong, the comedian begins with their second best joke. This allows the comedian to grab the audience’s attention almost straight away. To finish the show, the comedian would end their show with their best joke. This creates a memorable experience as the audience leaves the show still buzzing from the laughter and creates an enthusiastic reaction towards the show. In between those two bookends would be different types of jokes that would revolve a certain theme or idea.
When discussing what material each comedian uses for their shows, their own personal stories and experiences are often shared.
“I am a storytelling comedian, so my life experiences influence my material for my shows,” says Thomas Green. “I’ll look back on recent events or even stories from my childhood that I personally found funny. I use those stories to connect around an overarching them for my hour.”
In a further explanation, Matt Stewart described using personal experience as a way to create a relatable environment for the audience who may or may not share similar memories.
“I think audiences like a good humorous life story that can tie into a theme without necessarily describing every single detail,” says Matt Stewart. “If people have a similar experience or know someone that had that experience, it can make it much funnier.”
The structure of a joke comes from the set-up and the punch line. The set up creates a contextual space for the audience. The comedian sets the mood for the story they want to tell and eventually builds to the punch-line, which is an important part of the joke. The punch-line comes from the unexpected. On the other hand, if the audience can predict the punch-line through the build-up, then the joke is unsuccessful. A potentially negative side effect of sharing experiences can come from using the comedian themselves as a punch-line as the audience may find it uncomfortable.
“I think when I started out, I was pretty self-deprecating in my stories,” says Jess Perkins. I don’t do that as much now, and I think that’s probably because of audience reactions when I would be putting myself down as a punch-line. As I got better at performing, I think I would appear more confident to the audience and therefore it didn’t work as well if I put myself down.”
Humour often comes from the unexpected and communication from this response comes out of laughter. Humour is the most difficult part of performing comedy as it is quite subjective. Something that is found as funny to one person may not be seen the same way to another. Especially with particular topics that may cause controversial reactions like politics, gender, or race as opinions have changed quite drastically. In his book, Oliver Double describes laughter from a live performance stand-up comedy “not as individuality, but as a sense of community.” This means that humour can be found more easily in a group environment during a live performance. When using different world topics as humour, it can be tricky as a broad demographic may not find the joke as appropriate based on political or world beliefs.
“I don’t necessarily think our humour changes, I think our experience of the world changes,” says Jess Perkins. “For example, if someone made a joke about race 20 years ago, it might have gotten a good response. But we have a better understanding of the world now, and if a comedian made the same joke, they’d lose the audience pretty quickly.”
An important aspect of stand-up comedy that is often agreed upon is the intimate connection made between the comedian and the audience. Through the shared interactions and laughter, it creates a special dynamic in a room that often can’t be recreated in that very moment.
“It’s definitely an experience that can’t be captured when watching a comedy at the movies or on TV,” says Matt Stewart. “Both the comedian and the audience are sharing an interaction that is quite exposing. One person is up on stage engaging a large group of people and they get to see their response, in both a positive and negative way.”
Jess Perkins further elaborated this exchange through the perspective of the comedian, as it can offer a rewarding experience when their show succeeds.
“Stand-up is really intimate, and relies heavily on being able to connect with the other people in the room,” says Jess Perkins. “It’s also instant gratification. You know immediately if a joke is good or bad. It can be incredibly challenging and also so rewarding. I think you can liken it to people who chase the perfect wave or any kind of adrenaline rush. Because when it’s good, it’s SO GOOD and makes the bad gigs worth it.”
In the perspective of the audience, Thomas Green describes stand-up comedy as a means of escapism through the entertainment that the comedian provides.
“For an hour, the audience doesn’t have to think about anything else apart from the show and what the comedian is saying,” says Thomas Green. “They can just leave whatever problems they have going on in their lives and enter a world that the comedian creates with their stories and jokes. I think it’s a beautiful connection, which I know it’s a ridiculous thing to say, but for an hour, a comedian can create an atmosphere where people can just come and have fun.”
Stand-up comedy has a strong presence from a cultural and social standpoint. It allows for a brief escape and distraction for audiences as they can just focus on the comedian and find laughs in a communal environment that also want to share the same experience. The comedians themselves also seem to be aware of what a live stand-up performance can bring to the audience as it can draw in a personal connection between them and the people that they are bringing out the laughs, which furthers their experiences of being professionally funny.
Works Cited
- Brodie, I (2009), Stand-up Comedy as a Genre of Intimacy, Ethnologies, Vol. 30, Issue 2, pp. 153–180. Viewed 28 May 2019. <https://www.erudit.org/en/journals/ethno/2008-v30-n2-ethno2776/019950ar/>
- Double, O (1997) “Chapter 9: What’s the secret of great comedy?” Stand Up: On Being a Comedian, Bloomsbury, pp. 243-261. Viewed 28 May 2019. <https://books.google.com.au/books?hl=en&lr=&id=TWtjAgAAQBAJ&oi=fnd&pg=PP1&dq=stand+up+comedy+audience+response&ots=kfqTWiRx2W&sig=AhBTRzikN3FWqEvUUHqV22wxsLs#v=onepage&q=stand%20up%20comedy%20audience%20response&f=false>
- First Date with Jess (2015) Matt Stewart – First Date with Jess. YouTube. Viewed 28 May 2019. <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HJsI8lLcK3s&w=560&h=315&ab_channel=FirstDatewithJess>
- Hot Water Comedy Club (2019) Thomas Green – I Used to be a Teacher. YouTube. Viewed 27 May 2019. <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kUxwVEDOHkw&w=560&h=315&ab_channel=HotWaterComedyClub>
- Lockyer, S & Myers, L (2011)‘It’s About Expecting the Unexpected’: Live Stand-up Comedy from the Audiences’ Perspective, Participations Journal of Audience & Reception Studies, Vol.8, Issue 2, Brunel University, pp. 165-184. Viewed 27 May 2019. <https://bura.brunel.ac.uk/bitstream/2438/8584/2/Fulltext.pdf>
- (Image) Milbrand, L (Year Unknown) 9 Secrets to Telling a Great Joke, According to Stand-Up Comedians, Readers Digest. Viewed 28 May 2019.<https://www.rd.com/funny-stuff/secrets-to-telling-a-great-joke/>
- Mintz, L. E. (1985) Standup Comedy as Social and Cultural Mediation, American Quarterly, 37, No. 1, Special Issue: American Humor, pp. 71-80. Viewed 27 May 2019. <https://www-jstor-org.proxy.library.adelaide.edu.au/stable/2712763?origin=JSTOR-pdf&seq=1#metadata_info_tab_contents>
- Oliar, D & Sprigman, C (2008) There’s No Free Laugh (Anymore): The Emergence of Intellectual Property Norms and the Transformation of Stand-Up Comedy,
Virginia Law Review, 94, No. 8, pp. 1787-1867. Viewed 27 May 2019. <https://www-jstor org.proxy.library.adelaide.edu.au/stable/25470605?seq=5#metadata_info_tab_contents> - Rutter, J (2001) Rhetoric in Stand-up Comedy: Exploring Performer-Audience Interaction, Stylistyka, ESRC Centre for Research on Innovation & Competition (CRIC), pp.307-325. Viewed 28 May 2019. <https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Jason_Rutter2/publication/273903766_Rhetoric_in_Stand-up_Comedy_Exploring_Performer-Audience_Interaction/links/556f109208aeab7772282a55.pdf>
- TheMelbComedyFest (2014) 2014 RAW Comedy National Grand Final – Matt Stewart. YouTube. Viewed 30 May 2019. <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qrqGOJu_HEc&w=560&h=315&ab_channel=TheMelbComedyFest>
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