Dissecting comedy: How-to improve this forum

[Phil]

It seems that ever since this new sub-forum was created, the amount of participation in stage time related topics has decreased.

What if each week we take one aspect of stand-up and completely dissect it. Topics like absurdism, storytelling, prop comics, timing, crowdwork etc...

Maybe we could extend these topics to include individual performers as well. Like each week we dissect a favorite comic of ours, discuss what makes him/her great, not so great etc..

We'll create a separate thread for each (if OK'd by admins). I know some of you hate dissecting comedy, saying it ruins the fun - but I know many of us find it enjoyable and useful.

Anyone think this is a good idea? If so, which topics should we start with?

[John Santana]

Hi Phil. I like your idea. I turn some people off dissecting comedy, but that's the way I'm wired. I like to see how things work.

We still have lots of the stand up comics reading and posting at "Stage Time" and we are fortunate to have funny guys who aren't on stage all the time like Sammy chiming in too.

[pg13]

Guys, guys, guys...

It's not "dissecting comedy" that people on AST find tedious. Go read the "Tonight Show w/Conan O'Brien" thread to see people dissecting comedy to the interest of an impressive number of comedy fans on this board.

What they find tedious are the seemingly endless basic performance questions that are only truly answerable by each individual going up on stage and performing, where they can see for themselves what their answer should be.

That said...for many people, comedy is personal and instinctive... While you can take an analytical and structural approach to comedy, at some level you have to appreciate that there might be no "answers"--that something either works as being funny to you or to others...or sometimes it doesn't, either for you or for others...

It can be hard for some comedy fans to discuss some topics where people either feel the answers are obvious, the answers are determined individually, or the answers don't matter as much as the personal pursuit of an original comedic voice.

I mean what are you going to say about "absurdism"?

Hey, what's up with absurdism? How do you become more absurd? Do people like it when you're absurd on stage? I've tried to be absurd but it doesn't seem to work as well as when I tell more traditional set-up/punchline jokes...what am I doing wrong? etc.

There's no way to easily discuss the topic in any meaningful way.

Now, if you saw some piece of absurdist comedy that you particularly liked and you posted a link to it in the appropriate thread on the main AST Comedy page to share what you liked with others, you might find others chiming in with their thoughts on that individual piece...some may like it as you did, others might not...

...and if you have a topic that you want to ask about performing comedy, you can post it in this section of the board and you'll always get a response... People here WANT to give you answers, some sort of answers, to even the most unanswerable questions, because AST is filled with good people.

You're not being judged by how many people respond to a thread you start...and you shouldn't be trying to "play" AST like a game... If you're just trying to be the person who posts the most popular threads, well that's rather pointless, isn't it?

pg--"Thread topic: Timing. Post: Yeah, you should have that. End Thread."--seattle

[MJEH]

It seems that ever since this new sub-forum was created, the amount of participation in stage time related topics has decreased.

(Except for Scammy's and MJEH's contributions to the "News Jokes" thread.)

Like each week we dissect a favorite comic of ours, discuss what makes him great...

(How in the HELL does "MJEH" do it?? How is he so goshdarn funny?!?!)

Okay, c'mon, who's with me on this?? C'mon, show of hands people, show of hands!! Hey you, you in the back row, raise that hand!!

[st.raw]

who is mjeh

[Shane]

There was already a little bit of dissection of crowd work in the Comedy and Everything Else forum, we could start there

[MJEH]

who is mjeh

<<<===

Ummm...it's a joke, pal.

[pg13]

<<<===

Ummm...it's a joke, pal.

Hmmmmm...I'm not sure about that.

Perhaps we'd better dissect that effort, you know...just to make certain.

pg--I'm sensing the imminent death of a frog.--seattle

[Alex Mac]

You see, guys, that last comment works because of the literal meaning of the word "dissect" and the high school experiences many of us had. It allowed pg to connect on a larger scale by tapping into something we all shared, meaning that more of us would understand what he meant when he mentioned the frog.

[pg13]

It was also an attempt at reference-based humor...rewarding those who are aware of the following famous quotation:

“Analyzing humor is like dissecting a frog. Few people are interested and the frog dies of it.”--E. B. White

Which is also the inspiration for: www.dead-frog.com which is frequently awesome.

pg--Some Joke--seattle

[klorjne]

pg--Some Joke--seattle

This part of the post is particularly humorous, as the reader comes expecting another sign off like his frog reference, but instead is hit with "Some Joke". It's funny because it almost hints that jokes are interchangeable, and it pokes fun at the format of pg's posts.

[pg13]

This part of the post is particularly humorous, as the reader comes expecting another sign off like his frog reference, but instead is hit with "Some Joke". It's funny because it almost hints that jokes are interchangeable, and it pokes fun at the format of pg's posts.

It was also a reference to "Some Pig" which is what Charlotte spun into her web to save Wilbur in "Charlotte's Web"--which was written by E.B. White.

pg--So many levels and layers, I'm like Doom. Or an onion. Or like Doom on an onion.--seattle