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Why do you like going to comedy gigs? Page 2
Quote: ComedyFan @ 23rd June 2015, 11:07 PM BSTI think it is hard for a comedian to reproduce the same act night after night to different audiences
You couldn't be more wrong.
It's a doddle to do (more or less) the same act night after night.
A comedian with a tried and tested (and successful) act is likely to stick with it until its success starts to wane. In the days before TV, a good act could last a comedian for years and years as he toured venues all over the country playing to a different audience every night. In the world of stand-up perhaps more than in any other field of performance, you should think twice before attempting to fix something that ain't broke.
Similarly, in this modern day and age when the competition for a stand-up comedian has never been more intense and the rewards for success have never been so fabulous, there's no good reason to change a winning formula. Having said that, changes do have to be made sooner or later because even the best formulae become stale and need tweaking a lot more frequently than they did in days of yore.
The fact is that now as then, if you change a winning formula, you're either very good indeed at your job or you're a bloody idiot.
Firstly, I think we need to remember 'stand-up comedy' can encompass many types of gigs, from Ricky Gervais in the O2 arena to an amateur comedian doing it as a hobby in the back room of a pub. So no opinion on the comedy experience could possibly ring true for every occasion.
Perhaps the bigger, television stand-ups could more or less repeat their performances night after night as the audience generally come as fans of the stand-up and know what to expect so 'get' every joke (I think this is your point). Still there is the prospect of this not happening just due to the audience being different (if you look at online reviews, some performances on any given stand-up's tour are rated better than others). Also stand-ups often taylor performances to the city they are playing in, incorporate local references etc. Moreover many improvise around a skeletal script. Also audience members can heckle. All of these things make each comedy show different, meaning it is not a simple case of repetition for the comedian.
Compare this with a band, the songs are most often all planned and scripted, as are the costumes and set changes (the only musical genre I can thing of with any sort of spontaneity is jazz). The audience can dance, sing along, and clap but otherwise cannot affect the performance. Music is music regardless of the audience, comedy is not comedy unless there is an audience there to laugh. Or is it (there's a philosophical question)?
Snowflakes - are they all different from each other or do they all look pretty much alike?
The answer is, of course, yes - and yes.
And a comedian's act from one night to the next: does it vary or does it remain pretty much the same?
Again, the answer is yes - and yes.
It's all a matter of degree.
Many years ago, Welsh comedian Max Boyce used to tour the UK telling every audience at the outset of his act that he was born in the town/city in which he was performing that night.
Is that tailoring his act? Well, you might say so but changing one single word of his act isn't really 'tailoring' it in any meaningful sense. Tailoring his opening line? Yes - but his act remained 99.99% the same from night to night.
My point is that it's NOT hard for a comedian to reproduce the same act night after night to different audiences - as long as we're tolerant about the meaning of 'same'.
Snowflakes, grains of sand and a comedian's performances from one night to the next tend not to vary very much even if, in fact, each one is technically unique.
Quote: ComedyFan @ 24th June 2015, 9:00 PM BSTCompare this with a band, the songs are most often all planned and scripted, as are the costumes and set changes (the only musical genre I can thing of with any sort of spontaneity is jazz). The audience can dance, sing along, and clap but otherwise cannot affect the performance. Music is music regardless of the audience, comedy is not comedy unless there is an audience there to laugh. Or is it (there's a philosophical question)?
I think they're more similar than that. Improvisation in music isn't limited to jazz, and there can be greater audience input than you indicate; think about the times the singer holds the mike out to the audience, who then sing the words.
While it's true that when you write a joke you think might funny, you only know it 'works' when an audience laughs, couldn't it also be said that don't know if anyone will like your music until you play it to them?
And what about an artist like Beardyman, who uses the audience's input in order to improvise a song, often with laughs thrown in?
I don't think gigs by a single act, whether solo or gang, work. They're usually very hit and miss, with misses generally outnumbering the hits. I've seen a fair few big name acts and have left thinking, 'well that wasn't £25 worth of entertainment'. I prefer to see a selection of good comics doing 10 minute slots on shows like Live At The Apollo. Sort of the same with live music. Better seeing 3 or 4 acts over 3 hours than marathon sets like Bruce Springsteen does.
There is just something special about being live. The energy from the crowd.