TW: a sincere consideration of stand up comedy as a craft
Everybody’s talking about stand up (recession indicator). As a longtime comic with OPINIONS, I’m wading into the discourse again, perhaps against my better judgment. But unlike when performing comedy, the therapeutic effects I experience by drafting these pieces are real. Let’s dive in!
Heckling Isn’t The Thing To Fear
I’ve never understood the obsession with heckling. Even when I started, I knew enough to fear the sound of silence, not a stranger interjecting during your set. It’s rare that people heckle in a genuinely malicious way, and when it happens, the best strategy is to shut it down a) quickly b) without alienating the rest of the audience, and then segue back into your material.
Now that comics are also expected to be professional social media marketers slash content creators, performers are incentivized to draw out interactions with hecklers — or not even hecklers, just drunk audience members who shouted something out or answered a rhetorical question (editor’s note: I generally dislike when a premise is phrased as a rhetorical because I find it lazy and potentially confusing for non-comedy fans, a.k.a., most people). This isn’t merely uncomfortable for the crowd or self-indulgent; it’s poor craft. So much of cultivating a successful stand up act hinges on compelling people to listen to you talk for long periods of time so they’ll a) understand what you’re saying b) get (and stay) on board with whatever your deal is. Ceding authority to the audience in any way undermines your ability to do that. Which brings me to my next point…
Crowd Work Skills Are Advanced
When I was coming up in the 2010s, pre-comedy bubble bursting, crowd work was considered an advanced skill only to be deployed when necessary. Crowd work comedians existed, of course, but they were a rare breed — some more talented, some hackier and more novelty act-adjacent (which: go off!). Doing excessive crowd work was widely considered a way to prop up weak acts. Sure, it might provoke a good reaction in the room, but it didn’t serve your comedic skillset in the long term. It was seen as almost an act of desperation, something a comic resorted to when the material wasn’t connecting or the audience wasn’t behaving properly. Once the demand to feed various algorithms an endless stream of content became de rigeur, comics had to post material (ideally in video form, the media type that tends to garner the most engagement) that didn’t infringe on potential late night submissions or album recordings. The solution for many: post crowd work clips that didn't burn *any* written material, whether topical or evergreen. In a tail-wagging-the-dog-type phenomenon, crowd work became much more relevant beyond engaging recalcitrant crowds or wrangling rowdy audience members. And as useful a skill as it can be, joke writing and performance fundamentals are much more important to developing a successful stand up act.
(And yes, comics have experienced an uptick in audience members acting out in response to the proliferation of crowd work clips.)
On that note…
Get Up, And Play A Range Of Rooms
If you’re less than 4 years in, trust me when I say that you should be focusing on developing material that works consistently and refining your act by performing regularly at open mics and booked shows. That’s because the industry’s changed, but being funny in the room hasn’t. If you book a festival or TV/late night showcase, you don’t get to hide behind follower counts or engagement metrics. Focus on developing 2-3 good minutes, then 5, then 7, then 10, then 15, then 20 and then half an hour. Forcing yourself out of your local scene and onto the road, whether it’s primarily hosting/featuring at clubs or doing one-nighters in smaller markets, is essential to developing a perspective on your act — especially if you’re intent on making live stand up the basis of your livelihood. Plus, bombing on the road’s an essential rite of passage. Nothing thickens the skin more thoroughly, or more shamefully.
To close, I want to shout out just a fraction of the comics whose work I admire and whom I believe represent the form well — what it’s been, what it is, and what it could be: Gary Gulman, Maria Bamford, Shalewa Sharpe, Andy Sandford, Liza Treyger, Chris Fleming, Joyelle Nicole Johnson, Marcella Arguello, Kendall Farrell, Carmen Lagala, Rachel Feinstein, Jo Firestone, Dylan Adler, Jim Tews, Joe Zimmerman, Courtney Maginnis and Pedro Salinas. Truth is, we’re spoiled with talent. Follow them online, see them live and buy their merch!
Domhnall Gleeson Watch
Mere days after Name Dropping’s last dispatch, Apple TV+ released a trailer for The Fountain of Youth, Guy Ritchie’s upcoming action adventure flick that co-stars Mr. Gleeson alongside John Krasinski, Natalie Portman and Eiza González. It’s giving modern day Indiana Jones vibes and I’m into it. Domhnall plays Owen Carver, a mysterious billionaire who funds the search for said fountain. I’ll be streaming it May 23rd with some wine and a thematically appropriate meal, assuming I get my shit together.
Here’s Something Interesting
You’re Wrong About dedicated an episode to hoax memoirs, which is one of my favorite rabbit holes to go down. The topic’s a lot richer than just James Frey, I swear.
Buh-bye!