Thursday, October 26, 2006

Will the real funny comic please standup?

Recently I have developed a fondness for standup comedies.
I have seen Jeff Foxworthy (read his book too), Larry the Cable guy, Adam Sandler, Seinfeld, Ellen Degeneres, Maragaret Cho (God forbid!), etc, etc.
And I arrived at the following conclusions:
1. An essential item for a standup comedy is sex. The more vulgar, the raunchier it is, the better.
2. Family is fair game, the more dysfunctional the more funnier.
3. The audience always have the mental maturity of a juvenile. So one should keep the comedy level always low, pretty low.
4. If you are not married, the more difficult and the more contrived will be your performance. Ellen, for example. She has a great voice but the topics are not always hilarious and she also seems to deliver the punch line with a reluctance.

But I have to agree on one thing, whatever their perceived drawbacks, standup comics provide much needed relief. I cannot but help comparing this to India where humour as a general doesn't exist in the society. We take ourselves too seriously, I think. If I am mistaken, please forgive me. Do not send an auto.

Ofcourse after seeing these American comics,even the British seem staid and tepid in their humour.

What is required to become a successful stand-up comic?
Self-deprecatory humour is a must, I think.
Sarcasm.
Then abilty to build up to a punch line.

Whatever! The ability to make a whole bunch of people laugh at one's jokes must give a huge high for so many people to go into that profession.

8 comments:

Casablanca said...

And talking about stand-up comedy, I am going for one tomorrow :)
Should be fun!

Rajesh &Shankari said...

I always want to watch Jerry Sienfield, but the tickets were expensive. I love to watch him coz he makes you laugh at yourself .....
You are right srini, we take life too seriously and dont know how much to enjoy as Americans

Viewer said...

Never been to a stand up comedy :( sadly this trend has not yet caught up with us Indians... How are u?

M (tread softly upon) said...

I admire people who can make you laugh. And yes being able to laugh at one self and crack jokes at the spouse, in laws really helps.

By Deepa and Supriya said...

Yes we do tend to take ourselves rather seriously and I wonder why? Anyway, I personally believe it's not as easy as they make it look...I mean it is definitley more fun for the ocean of people watching than the guy who is up on stage trying to give people their money's worth, right? and yes, in addition to being able to laugh at themselves, i think they have to constantly be able put a bizzare spin on the issues that surround us.

Jinguchakka said...

@casa - I envy you. You seem to be always on a holiday or party!

@oliveoyl - ? Are you politely putting across a different message? :-)

@shankari - Catch all of them on DVD.

@viewer - I'm fine. Hope to catch you online this weekend.

@m - yes, it's a real tough job making others laugh.

@orchid - You are spot on, Ma'am!

totti said...

Hey..check out the wiki's 100 greatest standup comics of all times..Seinfeld appears on 12 or something..Ellen is also there !!!...

totti said...

Put clinton and wallace on youtube and you will get the videos..