The book I'm reading for my book review (which I mentioned in the last post) makes an interesting point about stand-up (and I might argue comedy in general). The author notes that the audience makes the joke. There is no joke if the audience doesn't laugh. He carries this on to say that "[t]o criticize a joke is to miss it" (Limon 12). Compared to other artistic pursuits (like opera and novels), we cannot depend on a critic to tell us what is funny; the audience determines what is funny. If the audience laughs, it is. If the audience doesn't, it isn't. Period. End of discussion. 
This gives the audience a lot of power. I think this is also what makes comedy (particularly stand-up) so risky. Perhaps the people sitting in front of you are the type of audience that will find this hilarious. Perhaps they're not. If not, your show is destined to be a failure. There is nothing that you can do to change that. Perhaps this is the only art that takes this sort of control away from the artist. While a badly-reviewed painter can argue that the audience just doesn't understand his vision, the comic doesn't have the same opportunity. The audience's laughter is the thing that determines success.
We've talked about the relative timeliness of humor in class several times, but this concept of audience-control adds another dimension to it. It's really odd to think about viewing stand-up as a recording created in front of a live audience. We are now the audience, but the comic has no chance to react to us. In fact, in some instances (such as when we watched George Carlin) the comic is no longer living; he will have no opportunity to consider us as an audience. With Chris Rock's compliation presentation we see the same act given in front of three different audiences. They seem to receive it postively in all three instances, but Rock had no way of knowing that they would and I'm sure that the shows were not exactly the same. He had to adjust slightly each time, reacting to the audience's feedback. He cannot react to ours. We are watching it after the fact; his act is permanently trapped as a recording.
I'm not really sure where I'm going with this, but I do think that this has interesting reprecussions for humor. What happens when our audience has the sole power to determine the success of our art? At the very least it makes me respect comics a lot more.
Wow... that does add a new dimension. It also puts even more pressure on our performances in front of the class at the end of the semester. Maybe after reading this, we, as future audiences of one another, will be even more willing to reciprocate with laugther?
ReplyDeleteI had never thought of it that way, that it is the audience that makes the joke. Though we did talk about in class how Bill Burr would repeat certain moves or expressions if it seemed to be working with the audience. That would only add to your argument how it is the audience that makes or breaks the joke.
ReplyDeleteThat's what makes stand up such a tough profession. You really are at the hands of your own audience. But I have also read that people are much more likely to laugh in a group than when alone. So I feel like the stand up comedian, if they have a god audience, isn't at that great of a disadvantage. I think most people go to a comedy club ready to laugh and are willing to unless the comedian really is that awful.
ReplyDeleteGreg, I think you're right about people going to a comedy club ready to laugh, and I hadn't thought about that. It would be a lot harder to start telling jokes in front of a crowd that wasn't expecting anything funny.
ReplyDeleteHowever, my one experience at a comedy club was a little crueler. It was open mic night, and I think that the people there didn't come to laugh, but to criticize. I felt so sorry for the amateur stand-up comics. One guy in particular was practically heckled off the stage.
Kill the Messenger is available on DVD with all three versions separated and then the compilation, which was shown on HBO. Interesting to see the slight differences between the three depending on where he is.
ReplyDeleteIn reading my book review text, I came across an Shakespeare quote apropos of this blog. In Love's Labor Lost (not sure of act/scene/number):
ReplyDeleteA jest's prosperity lies in the ear
of him that hears, not in the tongue
of him that makes it