Comedy has become one of the most overrated art forms, and I genuinely think most stand-up comedians get a free pass just because of the label. People go to a comedy show or watch a special already primed to laugh. They’ve paid money, the crowd is laughing, the lighting and pacing are all set up to say “this is a joke,” so they convince themselves it’s funny even when it’s not.
Strip away the context, the stage, the mic, the laugh track, and imagine some random guy at a bus stop saying the exact same “bit” out loud. Would you actually laugh? Probably not. You’d think they’re awkward or weird. But give it a Netflix special title and suddenly it’s “genius observational humor.”
We’ve developed this weird social bias where if someone is a comedian, people automatically assume they’re clever or hilarious, even when the jokes are painfully mid or just lazy recycled stereotypes. But if a friend or stranger made the same joke at a party, they’d get an awkward chuckle at best. It feels like the emperor’s new clothes of entertainment.
I’m not saying no comedian is funny, but the automatic respect and laughter they get is more about their status than their material. Most audiences are just following the laugh cues and social pressure, not actually responding to anything original or funny.
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“I don’t think it’s funny, so others who are having a good time must be sheep trying to impress one another. I am way above that, please be impressed with me. And why won’t anyone be my friend?!”
You’ve never seen a comedian bomb it huh…… Comedy clubs are not TV production rooms where they hold cards to make the audience react “correctly”. Go to one and see them bomb and realize it’s the TV comedians who are painfully unfunny while getting away with it, not “most comedians”
I’ve been to shows where the audience isn’t laughing. This isn’t something you can have an opinion about, you’re just wrong.
Who are some of the comedians you think aren’t funny?
>Strip away the context, the stage, the mic, the laugh track, and imagine some random guy at a bus stop saying the exact same “bit” out loud. Would you actually laugh? Probably not. You’d think they’re awkward or weird. But give it a Netflix special title and suddenly it’s “genius observational humor.”
Bro, lmao. “You know, actors aren’t actually good at acting. Take away the script, the cameras, direction, talent, staging, special effects and have someone pretend to be a super spy on the bus on your commute home. Would you actually enjoy that? Probably not.”
https://youtu.be/0rR9IaXH1M0?si=W9t21LwaAbX_u4mV
Upvoted, I disagree completely.
I go to a lot of open mics and big names and the same is always true. If they aren’t funny, people don’t laugh. Worse, if they aren’t funny, some people will get quite rude. It’s one of the most critical and relentless art forms and it’s incredibly hard.
Again, take your well earned upvote for your terrible opinion.
When it comes to comedy, it’s less what you say, it’s moreso how you say it, and your timing.
Twisting and reshaping your argument from the mess that it is into something slightly coherent: If you’re a comedian and you’ve repeatedly made funny comments in quite quick succession and you say something that’s not really funny or doesn’t really make sense, there’s that left over effect phenomenon where people will still laugh a bit, but it’s not an unlimited supply. Plus, all comedians have the opportunity to build up that goodwill by telling good jokes up to that point.
IMHO Politics make mediocre Comics brilliant!
I’ve tried watching stand up and it’s just shit. I enjoy comedy movies and comedy shows. But a goofball standing on stage forcing jokes just isn’t funny.
What are you smoking? I’ve watched plenty of bad comedy, it doesn’t make me laugh. Even great comics bomb all the time, there’s no automatic laughter just because they are a comedian.
I think what you are actually missing is delivery. A good comedian can make a mid joke hilarious with their delivery. The same joke coming from your mouth would bomb.
You are wrong. Also, Netflix puts out shitty specials.
It’s good to laugh. There are genuinely funny comedians. Even some stars have come back to do a little stand-up, and they’re still funny. Maybe you were born without a funny bone OP.
What the hell are you talking about?! Comedians face deafening silence all the time, they even have a word for it, bombing. If you’ve made it to Netflix, your audience isn’t a bunch of random people, its majority fans who know they already find you funny.
I think American comedians aren’t funny. Lots of British ones are hilarious.
Going to r/lostredditors this one
Just because you like something, doesn’t make it objectively good. Also, just because you don’t like something, doesn’t make it objectively bad.
It’s because Saturday Night Live is pretty boring, yet it’s seen as this standard of funny.
Tina Fey has never been funny, yet she’s always been pushed as some symbol of comedy genius. She’s proof that the machine can tell audiences black is white, and not only believe it, but emulate it.
Comedy is hard. If you just rely on talent, you age out like Kevin Hart and Eddie Murphy. If you rely on gimmicks, Larry the Cable Guy gives you 15 mins.
If you work on your craft and actually make new material, then you handle stand up.
Up voted, probably the dumbest opinion I’ve read in a long time on here
Most of the crowd is drinking as well
Comedy remains subjective. Different artists fit for different tastes.
I don’t laugh at most comedians jokes but that’s more due to my specific somewhat niche humor that gets pleased with YouTube/Reels and Tiktok and not the failings of comedians and comedy as a craft.
Watched a fair share of live shows and every now and then some person wants to haggle with the comedian because they think its funny to make said comedian flop and bomb via interruptions or ” being funnier”. Nah man, people are out there wanting them to fail for their own amusement. They do not care for such things as a sign that says” Laugh”.
Comedians are still legit, just not for everyone and that’s good.
Any professional production that has been filmed or edited will add fake laugh/cheer tracks now. Not the case for live comedy shows. If comedians bomb, they bomb hard. No fake cheers or laughs for the most part, unless someone just really loves a particular style of comedy.
I was just realizing today that I don’t remember a single joke Tom Segura has ever told. Is he considered famous and do people think he’s funny? If people are funny they should at least be a little bit memorable. I remember lots of old comedy routines and jokes from old school comedians like Chris Rock, Dave Chappelle and George Carlin. Many of the guys who are considered well known today, I have no idea why they’re even considered famous.
People have different senses of humor. I don’t enjoy a chunk of comedians but I wouldn’t say that people don’t think they’re funny. I just don’t enjoy their sense of humor. I’m sure the people laughing do.
That’s on the worst end of comedy, sure.
But even duds like Sarah Silverman started out hilarious. Look up her early stand-up, she had some great moments. These days tho, she’s been surfing on her reputation(resting on her laurels?) for so long, nobody knows why she’s even famous or considered funny anymore.
The average “comedian” that you meet is pretty bad, yeah. Amateurs and wannabes flock to comedy bc it seems easy, right? Especially for class clowns who are deluded into thinking they are funnier than they ever were.
This is what depression looks like.
This is the equivalent of saying a song is no good of you just imagine some random dude singing it at you in a bus stop. The band has all the lighting, instruments, acoustics set up to make it sound good etc.
Perhaps you’ve just not got a love of comedy or your comedy tastes are narrow – nothing wrong with that, some people are very specific in their comedy tastes, not too dissimilar to music.
I think you’re just objectively wrong.
i don’t think it is as black and white as this. I think you are partially right I do agree that a confident stand up comedian can be just god awful at coming up with jokes, but as long as he says them confidently and appeals so some political spectrum then they can make it work. Audiences wont need to think they can just be like thing i agree with equals laugh. They absolutely can bomb though, like watching stand up comedians bomb is horrifying to witness
It seems to be a business where talent doesn’t necessarily mean you will make it to the top.
The rogan sphere of comedians for example are incredibly unfunny in my opinion. But because they are buddy buddy with rogan they get more exposure.
A lot of the time in the uk safe panel show comedians seem to rise to the top. They are decently funny on “have I got news for you” or “8 out of 10 cats” but then you watch their stand up like this 😐
Watch Female comedian’s and almost everything is about bashing men, Bad dates/marriage and SEX … Really funny girls.
I didn’t find the Comedian in Watchmen funny at all and that was supposedly his super power.
Personally I thought Rorschac upstaged him a bit, mostly through the use of physical comedy.
Yeah, this is just another one of the categorically incorrect opinions.
If its so easy, why aren’t you making bank with a bunch of netflix specials?
Because you couldn’t.
There are countless failed comedians.
Your analogy is complete bs as well. There are plenty of people who simply dont like stand-up, so of course, a stand-up comedian is going to get more attention at a comedy club than at a bus stop.
You could say the same about literally any art form.
Taylor Swift pulls in a bigger crowed than the average busker, does that prove musicians aren’t talented they simply get crowds because its in a stadium?
To a certain degree you have a point. I did open mic stand-up comedy a while back and you kind of have to do comedy clubs as opposed to general open mics because people at general open mics aren’t in the frame of mind to laugh. When you follow three guys who just strummed on a guitar with a bunch of jokes, it’s harder to get a good reaction out of anyone than if you go to a club with an audience specifically geared towards laughing at jokes.
That’s not because comedians aren’t funny or because people just laugh at them for being comedians, though. It’s about audience expectations and atmosphere. There’s a lot that goes in to a stand-up comedy routine, when you think about it: staging, delivery, TOV, topicality, audiovisuals, venue… If just one of those things changes, it can have an impact on the performance and how it’s received.
Comedy is interesting because you have to put real and consistent effort into making what you’re doing appear off the cuff and casual. You have to adapt and read your audience to know what works and what doesn’t. You have to refine your jokes to maximise impact and efficiency. And, if you don’t do all that, you bomb. Every comedian you see with their own Netflix special busted their asses and bombed a hundred times to get to the stage where you can assume people are just laughing because they’re comedians. That alone is proof that it’s not true and a testament to the quality research and refinement that went into their set.
A lot of comedians ARE awkward and weird lol.
You know for them to get to the point that they have specials, they’ve been grinding their way through their comedy career and risen to that point right?
Have you ever actually gone to a small, amateur comedy show? It is absolutely not the case that everyone is laughing. You see some poor acts, and the crowds react accordingly. You’ll see comedians testing new jokes and again the crowd will react accordingly.
Literally every comedian has stories about how they bombed throughout their careers.
I do think there’s a little merit to the argument that the audience in that grand environment, like a special, are more prepped to laugh. But you’ve completely ignored the fact they’ve been proving they can draw and entertain a crowd a long time before they get a special.
Interesting take. Unpopular opinion. Take my upvote.
The part of this opinion that I actually agree with is that people laugh at comedians because they are comedians. A comedy audience has specifically gone out of their way to see a comedian, so that’s pretty much the softest scenario that a comedian can face. (Except maybe a wedding speech). People at comedy clubs are open to laughing at comedians. But that doesn’t mean audiences still aren’t discerning. A bad comedian will be unable to get laughs out of the softest audience. Solid comedians can struggle too at times.
Yes the context of an art form matters. If someone at a party busted out a perfectly acted Shakespearean monologue at a party you would think they’re a weirdo as well.
Some of the worst I’ve seen are on Netflix. Truly awful, loud shreeking and repeating nonsense while waving their arms . Unfunny crapola
I feel like most people that go to comedy shows actually have a higher bar because they’ve paid money to see it.
You poor soul
I’ve been at shows where the guy’s bit was actually just him complaining about his divorce, another where the guy described the horrors of picking up dog poop on a prickly plant. Hell, a few years back I was at a show for another comedian and out of nowhere fucking Chappelle showed up and did jokes about identifying as Chinese now because he can (bad accent and all), asked a person in a wheelchair with a service dog if they ever had it lick certain places, and many other horrible jokes and the whole place was silent. He scoffed and said this is why he doesn’t do daytime shows, as if we were the problem. Sooooo I am going to go with you just haven’t seen enough actually live comedy shows.
Your second half is on point. Take the show Hot Ones for example. When comedians go on, the host is doing this little chuckle through the whole interview, even when nothing remotely funny is said, but it’s a comedian so whatever comes out of their mouth is a joke.
I think you are a comedian because you just made me laugh.
It’s obvious you’ve never been to an actual comedy club. Try it out. You’ll see it’s not the conditioned seal clapping all the time you think it is.
Honestly, watching people bomb is just as entertaining as watching a good set of
Have you ever seen a live comedian bomb?
we had a radio station switch to ” The All Comedy Channel “. I thought it would be a joy to listen to and make me happy. Readers, it was not a joy to listen to. The vast majority of the presented material was just bitter unhappy venting, mean spirited sarcasm, or comments made at the expense of a different group.
This has to be one of, if not the, most demented thing I’ve seen on here.
this is real because if you’re paying to laugh, you’re forcing yourself to get your money’s worth and hence end up laughing. when the video is posted online, everyone hears the crowd go mad and hence they end up enjoying it too
Oh look. Another “__ is overrated” post🤦♂️