Post by funnybones on Mar 11, 2014 20:36:53 GMT
I know we are reading Steve Martin's book 'Born Standing Up' in a couple of months, but I have one idea I want to share from reading Zoglin's book.
It seems like Martin was ahead of his time. like he was being silly and ironic and joking about celebrity and showbiz for ten years while everyone else was doing 'serious' stand up about social issues and war and the turbulent radical times of the late 60's and early 70's. It wasn't until the mood of the country caught up to him that he became an overnight success. He spent so many years bombing. Totally Bombing! Being told by everyone to give up his standup and stick to writing....Yet he pretty much stuck to his ideas of funny and kept refining his act until the national mood started to sync-up with his sense of humor.
Now remember that during that time there were hundreds of comedians that were popular at the clubs and colleges. Hundreds of comedians doing whatever flavor of standup was popular, and all those hundreds of comedians (most of them) are completely forgotten. They might have sold out shows and been super studs of their little worlds, but they are lost to history because they are not important.
So I want to tell about the little comedy scene I am in. It is in a small city with 3 comedy clubs and half a dozen 'rooms' that come and go. I go to lots of open mics and showcases of local talent and usually nothing stands out as new or original or piss-myself funny. But there is one guy who shows up pretty often who is different. No dick jokes, no poop, nothing gross or shocking, no this-is-how-I-look jokes, not topical stuff, not regional flavor stuff, he is not observational or lous ck wanna be or identity politics stuff. not Steve Martin meets the hipster stuff and not even a storyteller.
I don't even know what kind of comedy he is doing. But he does new material almost every time and I almost always end up with sore cheeks and a stomach ache from laughing. But here is the thing: I am usually the only one laughing! nobody else seems to get his humor. some of the other comics say mean stuff about him. One of the club owners likes him, so at that club there are two of us laughing. The guy basically has been bombing for (at least) 3 years.
And I think he might be one of the only comedians around here that will transcend the regional comedy circuit and eventually be someone who ends up in the comedy history books.
It seems like Martin was ahead of his time. like he was being silly and ironic and joking about celebrity and showbiz for ten years while everyone else was doing 'serious' stand up about social issues and war and the turbulent radical times of the late 60's and early 70's. It wasn't until the mood of the country caught up to him that he became an overnight success. He spent so many years bombing. Totally Bombing! Being told by everyone to give up his standup and stick to writing....Yet he pretty much stuck to his ideas of funny and kept refining his act until the national mood started to sync-up with his sense of humor.
Now remember that during that time there were hundreds of comedians that were popular at the clubs and colleges. Hundreds of comedians doing whatever flavor of standup was popular, and all those hundreds of comedians (most of them) are completely forgotten. They might have sold out shows and been super studs of their little worlds, but they are lost to history because they are not important.
So I want to tell about the little comedy scene I am in. It is in a small city with 3 comedy clubs and half a dozen 'rooms' that come and go. I go to lots of open mics and showcases of local talent and usually nothing stands out as new or original or piss-myself funny. But there is one guy who shows up pretty often who is different. No dick jokes, no poop, nothing gross or shocking, no this-is-how-I-look jokes, not topical stuff, not regional flavor stuff, he is not observational or lous ck wanna be or identity politics stuff. not Steve Martin meets the hipster stuff and not even a storyteller.
I don't even know what kind of comedy he is doing. But he does new material almost every time and I almost always end up with sore cheeks and a stomach ache from laughing. But here is the thing: I am usually the only one laughing! nobody else seems to get his humor. some of the other comics say mean stuff about him. One of the club owners likes him, so at that club there are two of us laughing. The guy basically has been bombing for (at least) 3 years.
And I think he might be one of the only comedians around here that will transcend the regional comedy circuit and eventually be someone who ends up in the comedy history books.
