Unresponsive audiences can be a real horror for stand - up comedians. There are times when the audience just sits there stone - faced, not laughing at all. It could be that the comedian misread the room or the audience just isn't in the mood. A friend of mine told me about a show where he tried everything but the audience remained completely silent throughout his performance. It was so demoralizing for him.
Technical issues are also quite common. For example, bad sound systems that make the comedian's voice sound distorted or the music cues not working properly. I know a comedian who had a video clip that was supposed to play as part of his act but it didn't load, and he had to improvise on the spot to cover up the awkwardness.
Stage fright is a common horror story. Many comedians have to battle extreme nervousness right before going on stage. It can make them forget their lines or mess up their delivery.
There was a stand - up comedian who was performing at a small club. His microphone started malfunctioning during the show. He tried to continue without it but the audience couldn't hear him well. To make matters worse, the club's lighting system then went haywire, casting strange shadows on the stage. It was a total nightmare for him as the whole performance went downhill from there.
Most stand-up comedy stories are based on real-life experiences but often exaggerated or fictionalized for comedic effect.
One great success story is Kevin Hart. He started from small comedy clubs and through his unique brand of energetic and relatable humor, he gradually built a huge fan base. His stand - up specials are extremely popular and he has also successfully transitioned into movies, becoming one of the most bankable stars in Hollywood.
Amy Schumer is known for her relatable stand up comedy stories. She often shares her experiences as a woman in modern society. Her story about dating disasters is really funny. She tells about the awkward encounters, the strange guys she has met, and how she handled those situations in her own unique and humorous way. It's not just funny but also makes a lot of women in the audience feel like she's speaking their language.
One that stands out is when a comedian told about his first date. He took the girl to a really fancy restaurant but he accidentally spilled red wine all over his white shirt. He tried to play it cool but ended up looking like a clumsy mess. It was so relatable and his comical take on it was great.
Timing is really important. Knowing when to pause for effect or deliver a punchline quickly can make or break a story. The ability to create vivid mental images for the audience is also crucial. You might describe a really smelly old apartment in such detail that the audience can almost smell it themselves. And having a unique perspective. Don't just tell the same old stories everyone else does. Look at things from a different angle, like how a dog might view a trip to the vet.
It depends. Some stand-up comics draw from their real-life experiences, but they often embellish or tweak the details to make it funnier. Others create completely made-up scenarios just to get laughs.
Definitely. Stand-up comedy requires a lot of skills like coming up with funny and original material, handling hecklers, and connecting with the audience. It's not for the faint-hearted.
One common element is the use of over - the - top characters. For example, in 'What We Do in the Shadows', the vampires have very extreme personalities which add to both the comedy and horror. Another is the unexpected twists. In 'The Cabin in the Woods', the way the story suddenly changes direction is both shocking and funny. Also, there's often a play on the typical horror settings. Like in 'Shaun of the Dead', a normal, everyday setting like a pub becomes a place full of horror during the zombie outbreak.
Both stand-up crosstalk and storytelling are traditional Chinese art forms, but there are some differences between them. A stand-up comedy was usually a story told by a crosstalk actor on a specific topic, usually presented in a humorous way. The way stand-up crosstalk was told was relatively free. The actors could flexibly use various crosstalk techniques and tones such as imitation, exaggeration, irony, etc. to express the characters and plots in the story. A stand-up crosstalk usually required a large stage so that the audience could clearly hear the actor's pronunciation and intonation. Storytelling was a form of crosstalk that mainly narrated historical stories and folklore. The storytelling method was usually more rigorous and required a certain historical and cultural background knowledge. Storytellers usually need to use vivid language, humorous tone and clever metaphor to tell stories so that people can understand history, culture and other aspects of knowledge in the process of listening to the story. Storytelling usually required a smaller stage to listen to the story in a quiet environment. Both stand-up crosstalk and storytelling were traditional Chinese art forms. The main difference between them was in the way they were told, the content of the story, and the needs of the audience.