Stand up comedies where the only thing the comic does is ask audience questions and answer sarcastically shouldn't be called stand up comedies, amirite?

There was this heckler guy who at some point got so desperate that he went after people who sneezed. I liked it in the beginning but at a certain point i was turned away from ever going to see him

by Aggressive_Fly_746 1 week ago

I went to a comedy show at the Melbourne comedy festival. Good comedians will take 1/2 people from the crowd, get some information from them, and weave it into their stories. Let's all laugh at this man's job for 5 minutes, and then boom 50 minutes later his job is relevant again for another joke.

by That_Ad4551 1 week ago

Some, not all of course, crowd works are staged. Like youtubers or tiktokers doing "live" interview or pranks but they're staged. I could see it justified as an ice breaker. But there's a handful of comics that really take advantage of it, like many of their promos and routines are just that. It's like whenever the audience is getting cold they go back doing crowd work immediately and their "team" in the audience gotta be ready with the timing. It's an auto "thunderous laugh". A cheat code for comics.

by ReportImmediate186 1 week ago

Irs pretty lame tho, imho. Same as ballet. Takes a lot of skill and effort but im just not into it

by Aggressive_Fly_746 1 week ago

Just not into it ≠ lame

by Anonymous 1 week ago

I'm going to guess this opinion is based on you watching some youtube shorts of comedian's shows. Clips where they explicitly don't put any of their actual material because the point is for you to go to their show to see it.

by Anonymous 1 week ago

Dude... I can barely make people laugh more then twice in a 20 minute conversation. It takes a certain skill to be that funny on a whim.

by Extreme-Pick 1 week ago

🤓

by Anonymous 1 week ago

I've never seen a stand up only do crowd work. It's normally just a small part of the show and often because there was a heckler.

by Anonymous 1 week ago

i actually disagree . if i saw a funny joke and liked it, isnt the logic i would be more inclined to pay and see the full set ?

by New-Watercress127 1 week ago

something like 80/20 split of crowd work to jokes would be doable . im just saying crowd work isnt a good indicator of someones set

by New-Watercress127 1 week ago

No one cares if you disagree, are you a comic?

by Anonymous 1 week ago

Judah Friedlander is hilarious

by mariannenitzsch 1 week ago

Comedians whose act is largely crowd work are simply bad writers. Acuri, Stavros, Papa. All the people you see plastered on social media clips. They are obviously funny and talented, but they are not as good at coming up with original material as they are with improvising with the crowd. I personally think it's a bit lazy or hollow form of stand-up comedy, but a lot of people like it and so be it.

by Dwightokon 1 week ago

I've seen Tony Hinchcliffe kill doing sets of nothing but roasting members of the crowd

by Anonymous 1 week ago

I agree. That's what a comic does when he doesn't have any real material

by Anonymous 1 week ago

True comediens are legends at this and their responses are not just sarcastic bit witty and intellegent. I nearly hyperventilated watching Dara O'brien do this at the opening of his show, it was so clever and hilarious.

by CommentFlashy6692 1 week ago

It's because of censorship, they're too afraid of being cancelled.

by AdventurousTowel 1 week ago

Stand up comedy died like 20 years ago. There are only like 3 people that do it well now.

by Schillercaden 1 week ago

This is called crowd work, and it's absolutely not effortless or easy. If it doesn't match your preferences and you prefer written material, fine, but it still is very much stand up comedy.

by Anonymous 1 week ago

Look up, Jessica Kirson. Trust me

by Striking-Secretary40 1 week ago

Do you have an example where that is all one comic does?

by Anonymous 1 week ago

An Evening with Kevin Smith is exactly this and its amazing

by Negative-Notice-9016 1 week ago

You don't get to that part of your career without some pretty good sets

by Anonymous 1 week ago