May272005
Oh I Get It, Rock and Mock Rhyme!
Filed Under Stand-Up Comedy
Comedy in alternative venues is starting to get mainstream attention with a story in the NY Post today. An interesting point made by Christian Finnegan was how much harder you have to work with an alt audience because “You get a lot of bemused chuckling and wry smiling - like, ‘Oh, I see where you’re going.’” Previously I mentioned that comedy clubs surrender up a stink of desperation that make most smart audiences put up a wall between themselves and a performer, naturally making getting laughs harder. But it seems things aren’t easy all around.
Of course, if an audiences is that aware, they’re already a step ahead of seeing comedy in a venue like the Tee-Hee Teepee. They’re at the alternative venues, using their savvy to make Christian’s job harder. Other audience that might be less discerning faithfully head to the Chucklehut, willing to endure the flopsweat. Still, not every hipster loves this trend and working with in rock clubs isn’t necessarily any easier (as anyone who’s seen David Cross take a half hour to pack his bag on the “Let America Laugh” DVD
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I’m still not sure why comedy needs to be ‘in a new context’. Man wants to hear jokes, he goes to place that features people telling jokes, if he can avoid drinking to the point of blacking out, he receives jokes and the transaction is ended. Nobody ever says ‘anything that puts buying food in a different context is a good thing’.
I know, I know. It’s ‘art’. Whatever comedians want to do is fine with me. I just get frustrated when the only way to see a comic I like is to stand around with a bunch of teenage emo losers in a setting more appropriate for shoegazing shit-rock than alternative comedy.