[HN Gopher] The United States of Comedy: 2035 (2012)
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The United States of Comedy: 2035 (2012)
Author : sand33pn
Score : 39 points
Date : 2021-09-10 12:05 UTC (10 hours ago)
(HTM) web link (www.vanityfair.com)
(TXT) w3m dump (www.vanityfair.com)
| brodouevencode wrote:
| > By 2022 the last vestiges of reality dissolve. The Onion
| becomes the newspaper of record, only to be supplanted by an
| "Onion" version of The Onion, which makes the original Onion look
| "totally lame."
|
| Soothsayer!
| anm89 wrote:
| There's something about this concept that seems so
| realistically appealing to gen z to me.
|
| I guess to some degree this is what clickhole already is.
| dfxm12 wrote:
| That consumers of news parody understand the what's going on in
| the world better than people who consume what is ostensibly
| straight news dates back at least to 2004.
|
| _On top of that, "Daily Show" viewers know more about election
| issues than people who regularly read newspapers or watch
| television news, according to the National Annenberg Election
| Survey._
|
| https://www.cnn.com/2004/SHOWBIZ/TV/09/28/comedy.politics/
| dfxm12 wrote:
| _New late-night talk shows appear so rapidly that the fight for
| guests turns violent._
|
| This was written a few years after Conan had his bad experience
| with the Tonight Show. If you saw his live show around 2010,
| you'll know how he grew jaded, at least with the business end of
| things.
| geon wrote:
| What is the author even trying to say? I just get random
| rambling. Could as well have been written by a Markov generator.
| nickthemagicman wrote:
| I always wondered what stew of genetics and upbringing makes
| someone extremely funny. Its actually a pretty rare trait for
| someone to be 'professional quality' funny as evidenced by going
| to a few open mic nights.
|
| I think a lot of people want to be funny and the hustle is
| admirable, but I wonder if professional comedy is an inherent
| talent not something you can just read a book about.
|
| Still you don't know if you don't try.
| kritiko wrote:
| I'm married to a working comedian and know many. Everybody
| sucks when they start, and open mics are kind of built for
| people, even pros, to bomb at as they develop material.
|
| The people who seem "effortlessly funny" often work the hardest
| - although often that practice is developed in childhood.
| ethbr0 wrote:
| +1 I used to go to open mics weekly in undergrad (audience,
| not performing). And hey, it was BYOB in an un-air
| conditioned attic, for $5.
|
| It was almost more fascinating watching the same person go up
| week after week, with slight tweaks to their act.
|
| It convinced me that the "talent" for comedy is probably just
| "attention to detail."
|
| And that the _actions_ required to be successful in comedy
| were "practice", "perseverance", and ability to use
| constructive criticism.
| brodouevencode wrote:
| Exactly this. Bill Burr spent many, many years as an opener
| for other people way less funny than him. Dave Chappelle was
| in several bit parts and pilots before Half Baked. Richard
| Pryor was a writer for several years before even starting
| stand up. George Carlin in his early career is not the Carlin
| you may have seen, in the ~mid-70s after about a decade he
| completely changed his look and act. It may take a long time
| to hone in on an act that works.
| slg wrote:
| Chappelle is an interesting example here. He was doing
| standup on TV and staring in a Mel Brooks movie before he
| turned 20. But he also wasn't an overnight success. He
| supposedly started standup at 14 and spent years honing his
| craft before most comedians even start their career.
|
| Most comics I have heard talk about it say a person needs
| to do standup for 5-10 years before even naturally funny
| people actually become good at it. There is much more to it
| than just being a funny person.
| WalterBright wrote:
| No wonder nobody laughs at my jokes!
| WalterBright wrote:
| I'm not the least bit surprised. I was involved in the dance
| business long ago, and the top dancers danced in an
| effortlessly elegant manner. Beginners danced like drunk
| cows, and there was every level in between.
|
| Some people learned faster than others.
|
| But nobody was born elegant, and dancing smoothly and
| elegantly required endless hours of practice, and relentless
| attention to detail. You'll find even ballroom champions
| still spending hours going over how to take a step forward,
| again and again.
|
| BTW, it isn't about making it _look_ easy. It _is_ easy when
| you 've practiced it enough.
| ericmcer wrote:
| Growing up I had a group of 6ish close friends, and the goal
| was 100% to laugh (it kinda still is). Even when we were 13 we
| all knew who was funniest and who wasn't. There was no practice
| or work put into it. Granted standup is a totally different
| skillset from just riffing with friends, but some of us had the
| confidence, presence and ability and others were more
| precocious and less clever.
|
| This new Podcast generation of comics is interesting because
| some stand-ups can go on a show and just riff really well.
| Others are not that great once they get outside their comfort
| areas.
| spaetzleesser wrote:
| From what I have seen is that all the good comedians are very
| good observers and think a lot about how society works and why
| things are the way they are. It seems the funniness comes
| second after that. Bad comedians try to be funny but have no
| depth in their jokes.
| WalterBright wrote:
| Good comedy seems to stem from connecting one topic to
| another in an unexpected way. It's why puns are funny.
| jjj123 wrote:
| I'm reading Tom Sharpling's memoir right now and he mentions
| noticing as a teenager that his comedic skillset was better
| than his peers. One thing that stuck out to me was that he's
| able to string one thought to another easier than most.
|
| I found it interesting because I hadn't thought about comedy
| being about making connections in a funny way but that's what a
| lot of it is, and some people are probably predisposed to make
| those connections with less effort.
| cortesoft wrote:
| I think this can be said about a lot of professional level
| skills. They are hard, and most people can't do them.
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