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Stand-up cliches you want to fuck off

Started by olliebean, April 16, 2018, 10:15:40 PM

Previous topic - Next topic

up_the_hampipe

Quote from: rasta-spouse on April 17, 2018, 03:07:14 PM
There's a thing lately where a comic will make a joke and say something like, "that's a much cleverer joke than you gave it credit for", or "that's my favourite joke in my set". And the thing is the actual joke wasn't great. Sometimes they won't even say anything and they'll just pause for a few seconds and give a smug smile. It bothers me, but what recourse do I have?

Sometimes the audience don't give a clearly brilliant joke enough.

the

Quote from: Cuellar on April 17, 2018, 03:09:04 PMYeah, but that would be academic if people didn't heckle. So I want heckling to fuck off, on the part of the audience.

Well the thing about heckling is, you're not supposed to anyway.

Besides, pretty much every multi-act billing I've been to has some wet compere at the start going "we're gonna have a real good time, and please don't heckle guys so we can all enjoy the show OK OK guys OK?".

rasta-spouse


QuoteSometimes the audience don't give a clearly brilliant joke enough.

It's true.

I think there's many a time when a gag has been over a crowd's head. But it's when that phrase becomes a standard part of the comic's toolkit. Like saying "this is the *weirdest* gig ever" when there's a bit of chaos and something has gone awry in the room. It's like they feel they have to include something like that per set. So for me as an audience member something excellent that was forged in the moment becomes a microwave meal.

slicesofjim

Quote from: Alternative Carpark on April 17, 2018, 05:57:59 AM
Not necessarily, as the person concerned maybe doesn't realise they're funny, or that some find them funny anyway, and at any rate, might not be interested in pursuing a career in comedy.

Absolutely. Also, 'being funny' is only one (not even necessary, in terms of the person themselves rather than the effect of the act) part of being a stand-up. There's a whole craft beyond that. It's the equivalent of thinking that being particularly good at keepy-up in the back yard means you should be a professional footballer.

Catchphrases.  Get laughs from being funny, not from the 'ha, he did it again!' response to an anticipated verbal tic/cliche.

up_the_hampipe

Quote from: Phoenix Lazarus on April 17, 2018, 04:11:37 PM
Catchphrases.  Get laughs from being funny, not from the 'ha, he did it again!' response to an anticipated verbal tic/cliche.

There's some good catchphrases out there.

Quote from: slicesofjim on April 17, 2018, 03:58:05 PM
Absolutely. Also, 'being funny' is only one (not even necessary, in terms of the person themselves rather than the effect of the act) part of being a stand-up. There's a whole craft beyond that. It's the equivalent of thinking that being particularly good at keepy-up in the back yard means you should be a professional footballer.

Indeed. I tell ya, these comics get no respect. They get no respect at all.

Ornlu

Quote from: Phoenix Lazarus on April 17, 2018, 04:11:37 PM
Catchphrases.  Get laughs from being funny, not from the 'ha, he did it again!' response to an anticipated verbal tic/cliche.

Slither!

AsparagusTrevor

Comedian tells lowbrow joke which goes down fairly well: "I've found your level."

Depressed Beyond Tables

Quote from: up_the_hampipe on April 17, 2018, 01:30:26 PM
That reminds me, I hate it when audience members try to be funny.

Never fear, I won't ever be caught in your audience.

up_the_hampipe

Quote from: Depressed Beyond Tables on April 17, 2018, 06:50:29 PM
Never fear, I won't ever be caught in your audience.

But how will I find out what you do for a living?

kalowski


MortSahlFan

Those who say nothing of value... Nothing funny, nothing profound.

If a "comic" starts out with "Um, like really" - go home.

BeardFaceMan

I like Greg Davies but I wish he would stop prefacing punchlines to his stories with "and this is the funniest thing I've ever heard" or variations of, multiple times a show. If you absolutely have to do it, you only get to do it once. But I'd rather decide for myself how funny a line is without you telling me  how funny it is first.

up_the_hampipe

Quote from: BeardFaceMan on April 17, 2018, 08:20:20 PM
I like Greg Davies but I wish he would stop prefacing punchlines to his stories with "and this is the funniest thing I've ever heard" or variations of, multiple times a show. If you absolutely have to do it, you only get to do it once. But I'd rather decide for myself how funny a line is without you telling me  how funny it is first.

Yeah he did that too much. I think it hurt the punchlines. You could feel the audience being slightly disappointed when it wasn't the funniest thing ever.

rasta-spouse

Greg Davis really laid an egg on Netflix. The new special is 5% material and 95% coasting on his celebrity. But at least I got to hear Remix to Ignition.

BeardFaceMan

Quote from: up_the_hampipe on April 17, 2018, 08:30:19 PM
Yeah he did that too much. I think it hurt the punchlines. You could feel the audience being slightly disappointed when it wasn't the funniest thing ever.

Yeah a cynical person would say its because he didnt have a punchline that was as good as the story and doing that is a hacky way to get a laugh for a gag that you know is subpar but you have no other option but to tell it. He gets by on charm though, I see him more as a funny bloke than a stand up comedian.

DrGreggles

Quote from: rasta-spouse on April 17, 2018, 08:32:10 PM
Greg Davis really laid an egg on Netflix. The new special is 5% material and 95% coasting on his celebrity. But at least I got to hear Remix to Ignition.

I liked it, but it seemed to cut quite a lot from the tour show. Not sure why.

colacentral

Watching the Larry Sanders doc the other day I noticed that both him and Chris Rock began their work in progress sets by saying: "I've got NOTHING for you tonight so be prepared!" and it occurred to me how much of a cliche that is. Obviously it's to make light of the awkwardness of the comedian checking some notes but the audience obediently laughs at it every time.

In relation to the applause break one mentioned earlier, is the "comedian memorises a long list" that never elicits a laugh but always gets a triumphant round of applause.

Poetry. Maybe a bit unfair to lump it all in but it seems that 99% of the time it's a crutch for someone with no decent jokes to fall back on. Just seems like a cheat to me. Again, like the list thing above, the comedian knows that at the very least they'll get some applause for it.

There was a funny Bill Burr podcast where he mentioned the different bits of filler comedians use as they rack their brain to remember how the next bit goes. I think the white comedian version was "so how are we all doing tonight?" He gave the black comedian version too but I can't for the life of me remember it. Anyone know the podcast I'm talking about? He's done millions of them but it was in the last few months I'm sure.

rasta-spouse

Quoteit seemed to cut quite a lot from the tour show

do you know what the unbroadcastable joke was at the beginning?

DrGreggles

Quote from: rasta-spouse on April 17, 2018, 09:20:50 PM
do you know what the unbroadcastable joke was at the beginning?

Not a clue. Nothing in the show struck me as being problematic, except there was an A-Ha video clip in the show I saw and he just showed a still in the Netflix version (probably a permissions thing).
Perhaps the full version is being kept back for a DVD release?

BeardFaceMan

Quote from: DrGreggles on April 17, 2018, 10:13:56 PM
Not a clue. Nothing in the show struck me as being problematic, except there was an A-Ha video clip in the show I saw and he just showed a still in the Netflix version (probably a permissions thing).
Perhaps the full version is being kept back for a DVD release?

Did he come out to an R Kelly song? It seems he may have made an R Kelly joke which was legally dubious.

DrGreggles

Ah, that rings a bell.

Not sure it accounts for about 45 missing minutes though.

TMJ

Quote from: BeardFaceMan on April 17, 2018, 10:27:24 PM
Did he come out to an R Kelly song? It seems he may have made an R Kelly joke which was legally dubious.
From what my friend (who attended one of his shows) was saying, it was essentially just calling R Kelly a well known paedophile. He can't remember it word for word, but sounds similar to when I saw Stewart Lee a few years back whilst Mike Tyson was doing a show in the venue upstairs. If I recall correctly, Stew opened one of the halves with something to the effect of "Please welcome former heavyweight boxing champion and convicted wife-beater and rapist, Stewart Lee." I may have butchered that, but I bet it was still 100 times funnier than whatever Greg said.

zomgmouse

Quote from: up_the_hampipe on April 17, 2018, 01:30:26 PM
That reminds me, I hate it when audience members try to be funny.

Yeah, the show's for them but not about them. It totally ruins the flow. Shut up and let the person you've paid to do their work do their work. Likewise with heckling.

Quote from: Fambo Number Mive on April 17, 2018, 12:23:58 PM
"I'm from X. Anyone from X in tonight?"

Similarly the filler half-minute at the start of trying to endear yourself to the crowd with an empty "Good to be in X, how great is X, love to be in X" type thing with no jokes whatsoever.

Mobius

When they notice things. Bit lazy, just saying things you've noticed.

zomgmouse

Quote from: Mobius on April 18, 2018, 01:47:15 AM
When they notice things. Bit lazy, just saying things you've noticed.

Steve Coogan's Duncan Thicket: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dFEy9D44N28

There's one in one of the 90s live shows where he kept going "have you ever nooooticed, have you ever nooooooticed" and I always get that voice stuck in my head when I think of that phrase. Can't find it on YouTube though.

Rocket Surgery

Quote from: zomgmouse on April 18, 2018, 01:07:04 AM
Similarly the filler half-minute at the start of trying to endear yourself to the crowd with an empty "Good to be in X, how great is X, love to be in X" type thing with no jokes whatsoever.

Any excuse to rewatch - and repost - the opposite of that:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3jMhoGUiIkk

Icehaven

#57
Quote from: Fambo Number Mive on April 17, 2018, 02:44:41 PM
I hate the whole "have a go at the front row of the audience". It's so cringe and tedious, and sometimes that can fill 10 mins of a standup set.

I was picked on by a stand-up for not laughing enough once. It was in a small pub in the Black Country and I was only there was because it was a kind of variety thing with a few stand-ups then a set from a band to round off the evening, and I was in the band. I'd had an absolutely appalling day having had some terrible news and had been crying my eyes out intermittently most of the evening, and there's no way I'd have been there if I wouldn't have been letting my band down enormously by dropping out. He wasn't very good anyway, although not terrible, but I don't think I'd have laughed if he'd been the funniest fucker on the Earth. I wasn't even at the bloody front either but it was such a small pub he could clearly see my miserable face and went for me, doing a whole sarcastic ''Can I do anything to make you laugh, hmmmm?'' thing, to which I almost apologetically said ''No.'' I presume I denied him the chance to use the whole arsenal of brilliant comebacks he no doubt had ready for the obvious replies to such a clear set-up, as he just backed off after that. Wasn't really his fault as obviously he didn't know me and as far as he was concerned there was just some po-faced sod at his show apparently determined not to crack a smile, but I still kind of wished he'd dropped right down dead anyway, it was pretty excruciating for both of us tbh.

So I'd add to Fambo's point, stand-ups who make a beeline for one of the few people in the room seemingly not in hysterics and trying to show them up. Not sure how much of a cliché it really is but it can still fuck off.

BeardFaceMan

#58
If its an audience member shouting things out unprompted because they think theyre hilarious then they can fuck right off. If the stand up picks on an audience member to use as a straight man, that can fuck off too. If you ask an audience member a question then be prepared for them to be amusing in response, or does the standup expect the audience member to think "I better not give the really amusing reply I thought of, best to play it straight to give them something to work with"?

Oops! Wrong Planet

Do stand-ups still say "I don't want a Big Issue, thanks mate" to any long-haired bloke wearing scruffy jeans? Probably not, but I heard it a few times in Jongleurs back in the day. It might get booed now.