Is it hack?

[Cupid Stunt]

Nobody wants to be a hack.
I am making this thread for us newbs.


There are certain jokes/things that I would like to put in my act that walk the thin line between "hack" and "inspired by"

I need clarification from the internet before action.





Nonspecific examples:

Does incorporating musical instruments into one's act make them a hack for ripping off Galifianakis, Sandler, Conchords, and Martin (Demetri and Steve)?

I've seen many comics do the "quick impressions" bit a la Galifianakis, Kyle Cease, etc.......I've even written a few for my act. If one does the whole structure the same (say title, repeat title, 2 seconds, *audience laugs at how stupid it is*)


Is it hack?

[suavepebble]

I used to have a flawless poker face... but then I got into a card accident

[DiscoInferiorityComplex]

How are you going to incorporate the music?

I'd say providing a live music bed over which you tell your jokes is a hack move. It's become a talent so connected to certain comedians, it will come off as unoriginal.

Performing comedic songs isn't necessarily a hack move (though some veterans still will sneer when sharing a bill with a "guitar comic"). However, I would say it should be avoided unless you are at least a decent musician or songwriter. There's nothing worse than a comic who closes their set with a hookless, meandering song as he clumsily strums and reaches for chords (okay, maybe genocide is worse). If the joke is how lousy your songs or your musicianship are (i.e. strumming a loud non-chord over and over again while shouting how much you hate your ex-girlfriend), that's hack as well.

[KevinLee]

nvm.

[scamboogah]

Nary Van Mote?

[DiscoInferiorityComplex]

I think he was asking if incorporating night vision monoculars into your act is hack. I'd say no.

[Cameron]

Nothing is ever "hack" as long you are able to to take it to new places, make it funny, and stay true to yourself.

I wouldn't worry about what is "hack" and what isn't. Just do what feels right to you.

[Kentock]

guys i have a joke about relationships.

[AliasRomanian]

Black people are always like AHHHH. And white people are always like ahhhh.

[pg13]

Nobody wants to be a hack.
I am making this thread for us newbs.

You mean like THIS thread from this very same section of this very same website?

What hackey comics do that make them hackey..

Hack.

pg--Seriously, there can scarcely be a less effective way for a comedian to use their valuable time than to collect and discuss what might or might not be hack. Stop it.--seattle

[scamboogah]

You mean like THIS thread from this very same section of this very same website?

What hackey comics do that make them hackey..

[AliasRomanian]

I don't get it...

[Dylan Niles]

Whether or not it is hack isn't so much based on your means of presenting your materiel, but rather the originality in the thought and delivery of your jokes. If your ideas are fresh you can get away with a played out format (one liners over instruments, half-assed character bits, etc.)

[suavepebble]

I used to be afraid of clowns as a child until I realized they were just fucking idiots

[ArchStanton]

I don't get it...

three of these four men are collectively levitating a knit bean bag with their testicles

[John Bennerman]

You mean like THIS thread from this very same section of this very same website?

What hackey comics do that make them hackey..

Hack.

pg--Seriously, there can scarcely be a less effective way for a comedian to use their valuable time than to collect and discuss what might or might not be hack. Stop it.--seattle

Very intelligent post PG-13 . There are bigger things to focus on then worrying about being a hack. The bottom line is not whether or not you are a hack (you do have to be origional), but how much you make your fucking audience laugh. The one constant that I've noticed at my home comedy club is that the manager books the comics who get the most yuks from his customers.

[pg13]

Very intelligent post PG-13 . There are bigger things to focus on then worrying about being a hack. The bottom line is not whether or not you are a hack (you do have to be origional), but how much you make your fucking audience laugh. The one constant that I've noticed at my home comedy club is that the manager books the comics who get the most yuks from his customers.

Respectfully, John...I don't think that was my point AT ALL.

It's not "OK to be hack as long as you're getting laughs" by ANY means.

What I was trying to say was that comedians shouldn't spend their valuable time complaining about what other comedians might be doing. Spend that time on your own shit--get your own house in order, make yourself undeniable...before you spend a minute worried about what someone else might do.

It's easy to get caught up in the obsessive compilation of a list of things that you think other comedians shouldn't be doing. It's easy...and pointless.

Strive to be original--that's the only instruction you need against being hack, you don't need a list...you don't need a debate...

Now...about the "bookers seem to book the people that get the biggest laughs" thing. That's basically true--with the acknowledgment that bookers really book the people who put butts into seats even more than they book the people that are funny...

Bookers are not on "Hack Patrol"--that's not their job. That's not anyone's job.

The true reason to strive to be original is so that no one else can do what you do...making you doing what you do valuable. If what you're doing could be done by countless others, what does it matter if YOU do it or someone else does it? So...strive to be original.

Is it frustrating to see someone skate by on tired premises and borrowed laughs? Sure. Is it infuriating to see someone like that succeed...especially when your efforts in striving to be original seem mired in the collective comedy mud? Absolutely.

Does compiling a list of supposedly "hack" topics change any of that? No. Does it change anything at all??? NO!

Especially when you consider that great comics are coming up with original takes on supposedly hack topics ALL THE TIME.

(This is where someone should link the excellent Louis CK bit from the old Conan show where he charts new waters in the ultimately labeled as hack topic of airplanes...and the comments that Louis made over at Shecky Magazine about that bit)

http://www.nbc.com/Late_Night_with_C...10208/1049744/

http://www.sheckymagazine.com/2009/0...t-topside.html


Comics need to quit worrying about what other comics do...they can't change others by complaining about them. Be the best comic that only you can be...set an example, set a standard for everyone else to try to follow...INSPIRE OTHERS TO BE GREAT BY BEING GREAT!!!

pg--And if I had any talent, that's what I'd be doing...instead, I type really long posts on message boards and I call it good.--seattle

[KevinLee]

The one constant that I've noticed at my home comedy club is that the manager books the comics who get the most yuks from his customers.

"Yuks." LoL

[John Bennerman]

"Yuks." LoL

"LoL." Yuck Yuck

[KevinLee]

"Yuck Yuck" Haha