Stand-up comedy

Stand-up comedy is an art form comprising of a style of comedy where a comedian performs in front of a live audience, usually speaking directly to them. Their performances are sometimes filmed for later release via DVD, the internet, and television.

The performer is commonly known as a comic, stand-up comic, stand-up comedian or simply a stand-up. performing his stand-up comedy outdoors in 2010.]]

Format

Stand-up performances are usually short, where the comedian recites a fast-paced succession of humorous stories, short jokes (called "bits"), and one-liners, which constitute what is typically called a monologue, routine or act. Some stand-up comedians use props, music or magic tricks to enhance their acts. Stand-up comedy is often performed in comedy clubs, bars, burlesques, colleges and theaters, but there are no real restrictions on where the craft can be performed.

Many smaller venues hold "open mic" events, where anyone can take the stage and perform for the audience, offering a way for amateur performers to hone their craft and possibly break into professionalism. In North America, many comedy clubs feature the now-iconic brick wall as the backdrop for stand-up performances.

Many stand-up comedians work for years to develop 45 minutes of material, and usually perform their bits repeatedly, slowly perfecting them over time. Actor-comedian Will Ferrell has called stand-up comedy "hard, lonely and vicious".

United Kingdom history

The United Kingdom has a long heritage of stand-up comedy, which began in the music halls of the 18th and 19th centuries. Notable performers who rose through the twentieth century music hall circuit were Morecambe and Wise, Arthur Askey and Max Miller, who was considered to be the quintessential music-hall comedian. The heavy censorship regime of the Lord Chamberlain's Office required all comedians to submit their acts for censorship. The act would be returned with unacceptable sections underlined in blue pencil (possibly giving rise to the term "blue" for a comedian whose act is considered bawdy or smutty). The comedian was then obliged not to deviate from the act in its edited form.

At the end of World War II, many members of the Armed Forces had developed a taste for comedy (stand-up or otherwise) in wartime concert parties and moved into professional entertainment. Eric Sykes, Peter Sellers and the other Goons, and Tommy Cooper all began their careers this way. The rise of the postwar comedians coincided with the rise of television and radio, and the traditional music hall circuit suffered greatly as a result. Whereas a music hall performer could work for years using just one act, television exposure created a constant demand for new material, although this may have also been responsible for the cessation of theatrical censorship in 1968.

By the 1970s, music hall entertainment was virtually dead. Alternative circuits had evolved, such as Working Men's Clubs. Victoria Wood launched her stand-up career in the early 1980s, which saw observational conversation mixed with comedy songs. Wood was to become one of the country's most successful comedians, in 2001 selling out the Royal Albert Hall for 15 nights in a row.

In 1979, the first American-style stand-up comedy club, the Comedy Store, London was opened in London by Peter Rosengard, where many alternative comedy stars of the 1980s, such as Dawn French and Jennifer Saunders, Alexei Sayle, Lee Evans, Rik Mayall and Adrian Edmondson began their careers. The stand-up comedy circuit rapidly expanded from London across the UK. The present British stand-up comedy circuit arose from the 'alternative' comedy revolution of the 1980s, with political and observational humour being the prominent styles to flourish. In 1983 young drama teacher Maria Kempinska created Jongleurs Comedy Clubs, now the largest Stand Up Comedy chain in Europe.

United States history

Stand-up comedy has its roots in various traditions of popular entertainment of the late 19th century including vaudeville, English Music Hall, Minstrel shows, humorist monologues (by personalities such as Mark Twain and Norman Wilkerson), and circus clown antics. Comedians of this era often donned an ethnic persona (African, Scottish, German, Jewish, etc.) and built a routine based on popular stereotypes. Jokes were generally broad and material was widely shared.

The fathers of modern American stand-up comedy, Jack Benny, Bob Hope, Fred Allen, Milton Berle, and Frank Fay all came from vaudeville. They spoke directly to the audience as themselves, in front of the curtain, known as performing "in one". Frank Fay gained acclaim as a "master of ceremonies" at New York's Palace Theater and is credited with creating the style of 20th century stand-up.

Nightclubs and resorts became the new breeding ground for stand-ups. Acts like Alan King, Danny Thomas, Don Rickles, and Jack E. Leonard flourished in these new arenas.

In the 1950s and into the 1960s, led by Mort Sahl, stand-ups began developing their acts in small folk clubs (like San Francisco's hungry i or New York's Bitter End). These comedians added an element of social satire and expanded both the language and boundaries of stand-up venturing into politics, race relations, and sexual humor. Lenny Bruce became known as a "sick" comic when he used language that sometimes led to his arrest. Arguably, the history of stand-up comedy in America would be divided into before and after this defining moment, which would give rise to a final groundswell in the era of language prohibition as it applied to public forum, spoken-word performances.

On October 4, 1961, Bruce was arrested for obscenity at the Jazz Workshop in San Francisco; he had used the word "cocksucker" and riffed that "'to' is a preposition, 'come' is a verb", that the sexual context of "come" is so common that it bears no weight, and that if someone hearing it becomes upset, he "probably can't come." Although the jury acquitted him, other law enforcement agencies began monitoring his appearances, resulting in frequent arrests under charges of obscenity. The increased scrutiny also led to an arrest in Philadelphia, for drug possession the same year, and again in Los Angeles, California, two years later. The Los Angeles arrest took place in then-unincorporated West Hollywood, and the arresting officer was a young deputy named Sherman Block, who would later become County Sheriff.

In April 1964, he appeared twice at the Cafe Au Go Go in Greenwich Village, with undercover police detectives in the audience. On both occasions, he was arrested after leaving the stage, the complaints again pertaining to his use of various obscenities.

A three-judge panel presided over his widely publicized six-month trial, with Bruce and club owner Howard Solomon both found guilty of obscenity on November 4, 1964. The conviction was announced despite positive testimony and petitions of support from Woody Allen, Bob Dylan, Jules Feiffer, Allen Ginsberg, Norman Mailer, William Styron, and James Baldwin – among other artists, writers and educators, and from Manhattan journalist and television personality Dorothy Kilgallen and sociologist Herbert Gans. Bruce was sentenced, on December 21, 1964, to four months in the workhouse; he was set free on bail during the appeals process and died before the appeal was decided. Solomon later saw his conviction overturned; Bruce, who died before the decision, never had his conviction stricken. However, following this watershed moment in the craft of stand-up comedy, no comedian was ever again arrested for uttering any spoken word or assemblage of words within the known limits of the English language, on stage. Sweeping American opinion notwithstanding, the argument over the outer-most limits of free speech, as it extended to the craft of stand-up comedy, had been served.

Other notable comics from this era include Woody Allen, Shelley Berman, and Bob Newhart. Some African-American comedians such as Redd Foxx, George Kirby, Bill Cosby, and Dick Gregory began to cross over to white audiences during this time.

Stand-up in the 1970s saw several entertainers becoming major stars based on stand-up comedy performances. Richard Pryor and George Carlin followed Lenny Bruce's acerbic style to become icons. Stand-up expanded from clubs, resorts, and coffee houses into major concerts in sports arenas and amphitheaters. Steve Martin and Bill Cosby had levels of success with gentler comic routines. The older style of stand-up comedy (no social satire) was kept alive by Rodney Dangerfield and Buddy Hackett, who enjoyed revived careers late in life. Television programs such as Saturday Night Live and The Tonight Show launched the careers of other stand-up comedians.

In the 1980s and early 1990s, Bill Hicks took the social commentary of Bruce and Carlin to new heights with his politically charged humor challenging mainstream beliefs. He described himself as "Chomsky with dick jokes."

In 2005, Bill Dana, a graduate of Emerson College in Boston Massachusetts and stand-up comedian, approached his Alma Mater about establishing an archive of comedy to help preserve the lush history of the ground-breaking comics of the last century. Over 60 interviews were conducted and a vast database of comedic information is now on record at Emerson College.

Stand-up comedy around the world

Belgium

Belgium, and particularly Flanders, has a rich heritage of stand-up comedians. Several annual contest are held, with the Canvas Comedy Casino Cup as the most important challenge. Winners of this cup are Xander De Rycke and David Galle. Typical to Flemish stand up is that there is a large influence of British comedy, partly due to a number of emigrated British stand-up comedians who perform now in Dutch. Famous stand-uppers : Gunter Lamoot, Gili, Filip Geubels, Alex Agnew, Kamagurka, Freddy De Vadder, Nigel Williams, David Galle, Wim Helsen, Xander de Rycke, Henk Rijckaert, ...

Estonia

The nascent stand-up comedy scene in Estonia was established through the Tartu Comedy Festival in April 2010. Since that time, stand-up comedy performances have become regular in the Estonian cities of Tartu and the capital, Tallinn. All shows so far have been in English.

Hong Kong

Stand-up comedy in China is an emerging art form. Hong Kong is the only city in China to offer a fulltime comedy club, The TakeOut Comedy Club Hong Kong, which features both local comics as well as leading international comedians such as Tom Cotter. The Punchline Comedy Club also hosts international comedians once per month. A famous stand-up comedy artist in Hong Kong is Dayo Wong Tze-Wah.He is the first who use Cantonese to play stand-up comedy.

Ireland

Ireland has produced many successful and influential stand-up comedians, including Dave Allen, Spike Milligan, Dylan Moran, Dara Ó Briain, Ardal O'Hanlon, Sean Hughes, Ed Byrne and Jason Byrne. Irish and British standups tend to be well-known in the general culture of both nations.

India

Stand-up comedians were very popular in ancient and medieval India. They were known as Vidushak and were known for their witty, intelligent and jestful acts (sometimes as clowns) in the courts of Indian kings. In modern era many artists have come up and become popular as stand-up comedians, often starting from stage/films and proceeding to TV shows. Javed Jaffrey, Raju Srivastava, Sunil Pal , Ahsaan Qureshi, Naveen Prabhakar etc. TV shows like The Great Indian Laughter Challenge proved to be a highly popular platform for various Indian stand-up comedians.

Malaysia

Malaysia in 2009 revitalized the stand-up comedy scene with the introduction of 2 regular monthly shows. Timeout Comedy Thursday hosts monthly shows, which features young comedians and open mics. The Comedy Club KL, the counterpart of The Comedy Club Asia, offers monthly shows and features some of the best stand-up comedians from around the world with the likes of Greg Fleet, Akmal Saleh and Jeff Green. Local stand-up comedians including Harith Iskander, Douglas Lim, Joanne Kam, Andrew Netto, Papi Zak, Phoon Chi Ho, Kuah Jenhan and Kavin Jay are regular performers in The Comedy Club KL. In October 2010, The Comedy Club Asia brought stand-up comedy to a new level in Kuala Lumpur by producing a show called 'Kings and Queen of Comedy Asia' featuring 5 of the best comics in Asia in a sold-out 3000 seater Plenary Hall, KLCC.

Mexico

Mexican stand-up and much of the country's other comedy formats come down from the carpas (tents), which were traveling variety shows similar to vaudeville but with their own roots and traditions; added to this were the traditions of the pícaro (rogue) and Spanish theatre comedy. Stand-up in Mexico includes original material but consists mainly on telling a standard repertoire of many jokes which have remained basically the same over the decades. Rather than the freshness of the material what is important is the style and manner in which the comedian delivers these old jokes. Among the most famous stand-up comedians are Polo Polo and Jorge Falcón.

Singapore

Singapore has a growing stand-up comedy scene with several active venues although there are still no full time comedy club. The Comedy Club Asia offers monthly shows primarily featuring leading international comics such as Paul Ogata, Gina Yashere, Jeff Green and many others.In 2010, The Comedy Club Asia held the 'Kings and Queen of Comedy Asia" featuring the best comedy talent in the region. Kumar, a drag queen who has performed in Singapore for more than 17 years, is Singapore's leading stand-up comedian. In addition, The Comedy Pimp Singapore brings in award-winning headline acts every month.

Philippines

Philippines stand-up comedy scene was mainly composed before of comedians who would engage in popular forms of humor in the country. This would include performers re-telling well-known jokes with more exaggerated situations, poking fun at audience members, celebrity mimicry and comedic song and dance routines. Bars like Zirco, that feature this kind of comedy, are very popular and have a very big following. Of late, however, the western style of comedy, has been catching on. The Silly People's Improv Theater or SPIT has risen to prominence as Manila's foremost improvisational comedy group, performing around the country and becoming a very popular hire for corporate event organizers in the know who have seen them at their regular bar shows. Mike Unson is the leading force in Philippine point-of-view stand up comedy. There are other stand-up comedy groups like "the Comedy Cartel" But Tsokolait, Pooh, Pokwang, & Funnyman Erik are the pioneers of Philippine Stand Up Comedy!

Poland

Poland stand-up scene is mainly composed of 20-something college grads with backgrounds in media, philosophy, poetry, writing, and film. Currently the scene is limited to a small group of stand-up comedians performing on a regular basis. Almost all stand-up comedy shows are performed in Warsaw, Poland the country's capital. In October 2010 the first season of the Polish "Comedy Central Presents" had its premiere.

Pakistan

Some famous Pakistani stand-up comedians are Shakeel Siddiqui, Kashif Khan and Sami Shah.

Taiwan

Comedy in Taiwan is mostly sketched based with a lot of physical humor. In 2007, Taipei's first comedy club opened. Most of the acts performing there are sketch comedy and improv comedy. A group of expats also performs there regularly, including Torch Pratt (singer), Tom Levene, and ventriloquist Matt "The Puppet Guy" Bronsil.

Comedy festivals

Stand-up comedy is the focus of four major international festivals: the Edinburgh Festival Fringe in Edinburgh, Scotland; Just for Laughs in Montreal, Canada; HBO's U.S. Comedy Arts Festival in Aspen, CO, the Melbourne International Comedy Festival in Melbourne, Australia, and a number of other festivals, most prominently The Comedy Festival in Las Vegas, the Vancouver Comedy Festival, the New York Comedy Festival, the Boston Comedy and Film Festival, the New York Underground Film Festival and the Cat Laughs Comedy Festival in Kilkenny, Ireland. Radio hosts Opie and Anthony also produce a comedy tour called Opie and Anthony's Traveling Virus Comedy Tour, featuring their own co-host, Jim Norton as well as several other stand-up comedians regularly featured on their radio show. There is also a festival in Hong Kong called the HK International Comedy Festival. The festival format has proven quite successful at attracting attention to the art of stand-up, and is often used as a scouting and proving ground by industry professionals seeking new comedic talent.

Other media

Many of the earliest vaudeville-era stand-ups gained their greater recognition on radio. They often opened their programs with topical monologues, characterized by ad-libs and discussions about anything from the latest films to a missed birthday. Each program tended to be divided into the opening monologue, musical number, followed by a skit or story routine. A "feud" between Fred Allen and Jack Benny, was used as comic material for nearly a decade.

HBO presented comedians uncensored for the first time, beginning with Robert Klein in 1975, and was instrumental in reaching larger audiences.

Continuing that tradition, most modern stand-up comedians use television or motion pictures to reach a level of success and recognition unattainable in the comedy club circuit alone.

Since the mid-2000s, online video-sharing sites such as YouTube have also provided a venue for stand-up comedy, and many comedians' performances can be viewed online.

See also

Comedy festivals

Improvisational theatre

List of musical comedians

List of stand-up comedians

Manzai – style of stand-up comedy in Japan

Open mike – live show where audience members may perform at the microphone

Rakugo – Japanese verbal entertainment

Situation comedy

Xiangsheng - Chinese traditional stand-up comedy

References

Watch Stand Up Comedy Videos

Bibliography

Double, Oliver, 1997, Stand-up, on being a comedian, Methuen, London

Double, Oliver, 2005, Getting the Joke, The Inner Workings of Stand-up Comedy, Methuen, London

Stebbins, Robert A. (1990) The Laugh-Makers: Stand-Up Comedy as Art, Business, and Life-Style. Montreal and Kingston: McGill-Queen's University Press.

Category:Comedy genres Category:Performing arts