Career Ladders - Achieving a Comedy Dream
Years ago, you could take a pretty easy swing at predicting what a comedian's long-term goals would be. They'd want to get off the working men's club circuit, do a bit of telly, and hopefully get popular enough to grab a nice game show. Loads of new opportunities were opening up, as the government were rumoured to be launching a fourth TV channel soon, and maybe even letting the stations broadcast during the day. Meanwhile you could make some winter cash in panto, and still do a bit of 'blue' at the holiday camps.
Nowadays it's genuinely tricky to guess where a young comic might want to end up. Some probably still fancy a relatively traditional TV career, maybe a self-named sitcom, or one of the more elaborate chat shows that are now springing up on Dave and Comedy Central and several other channels that have widened the comedy TV landscape.
Until recently the stock response to the 'goals' question was that most comics just wanted to be able to tour their own show, but we wonder if that has changed a bit now, as the comedy world has evolved again. It's hard to really know what people want without utilising some sort of fairy tale-style dream catcher machine, and we can't find one on Amazon anywhere - although for anyone who enjoys an online flutter, here you'll find a Dream Catcher game reviewed by Live Casinos. But you'd imagine those hopes might now be pretty wild.
A lot of relatively traditional comics probably harbour real dreams of achieving massive live success, playing the sort of stadiums usually reserved for a huge rock band. Which might seem a bit materialistic, but the fascinating thing about live comedy is that even middle-aged part-time comics can still dream of that as a not-impossible target, as late bloomers have made it big in recent years. Which is rather nice, really.
In the States, stand-up was often seen as a means to an end, with many acts actively tailoring their sets to appeal to TV producers who might turn that whole routine into a sitcom. From sitcoms you'd get into movies, and then who knows how famous and successful you'd become, without ever having to think about live comedy again. Or that's the cliché.
Actually, the acts who actively embraced and appreciated stand-up arguably did better: the likes of Jerry Seinfeld, Amy Schumer, Chris Rock, Sarah Silverman, who've all done stand-up specials after moving on to other things. Even Steve Martin eventually went back to the stage, usually with a banjo, but on a music-and-comedy special with Martin Short too. Comedy super-producer Judd Apatow has also returned to stand-up in the last few years, and he really doesn't need the cash. Whatever they ended up doing, live performing was in the blood.
That stand-up-to-sitcom thing happens in the UK too, but the live comedy scene has evolved to such an extent that performers can now use it to explore interesting theatrical ideas, which blur the lines between comedy and theatre. Stand-up is also an increasingly fertile platform to explore important issues, personal or political, which may then turn into radio shows and podcasts too. And podcasts are a particularly interesting point: once largely seen as a sort of halfway house for comics who really wanted a regular radio or TV show, they're now launching big ideas, selling out big venues, and changing lives. A goal unto themselves.
It's all a far cry from the old cigarettes-and-suits circuit. Whatever next?