Stand-up comedy

A stand-up comedian or stand-up comic is someone that performs comedy in an informal way, talking to the audience with the absence of a fourth wall. It is usually done by one comedian and usually with a microphone. It can be done in comedy clubs, colleges, theaters, alternative venues--almost anywhere an audience is open to comedy. The comic usually recites a fast paced succession of amusing stories, short jokes (called bits) and one-liners, typically called a monologue, routine or act. Some stand-up comedians use props, music, or magic tricks in their acts.

Related Topics:
Comedy club - Monologue

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Stand-up comedy is perhaps the easiest field of entertainment for new talent to enter, because many smaller venues hold "open mic" events where the inexperienced can perform comedy before a live audience. It is also considered by many performers of all genres to be the hardest type of performance to execute and one of the most difficult to master, perhaps because more than any other performer, the stand-up comedian is at the mercy of the audience, which is an integral element of the act. A truly adept stand-up comedian must nimbly play off the mood and tastes of any particular audience, and adjust his or her routine accordingly. Stand-up is the single comedic art form that is openly devoted to getting and receiving laughs from an audience above any other component of the form (unlike theatrical comedy, which creates comedy within the structure of a play and with character and situation). The skills attributed to being a stand-up comic are diverse; it is often neccessary for a solitary stand-up comic to simulaneously assume the roles of a writer, editor, performer, promoter, producer, and technician. One test of a master stand-up comedian is the ability to not only face down a "heckler," but win over and entertain the rest of the crowd with a retort. Many stand-up comedians work for years to get 45 minutes of material, and usually perform their bits over and over, slowly perfecting them over time. Will Ferrell has called Stand-up comedy hard, lonely and vicious.

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Some stand-up comedians achieve their own television programs or star in major motion pictures, reaching a level of mainstream success and recognition often unattainable in the comedy club circuit alone. Examples of this include Jerry Seinfeld, Bob Newhart, Bill Cosby and Ray Romano.

Related Topics:
Jerry Seinfeld - Bob Newhart - Bill Cosby - Ray Romano

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