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By Robert Scucci | Published
The foot comedy has a work problem of the crowd, and I do not see that it occurs in the short term. The work of the crowd used to be one of the many tools of trade, but gradually became the main attraction.
In the background, the stand-up has always been about the narration of stories: comedians live their life, observe and report. With luck, they do not bombard the process. If they do, an expert comedian can get the work card out of the crowd from your rear pocket and try to save your set. That is what makes it a tool. Story narration is the reason why the stand-up exists, and the work of crowds should help support that, not replace it.
Stories narration is stand-up reason to be
A hard reality that each comedian faces is hell. Patton Oswalt’s 2007 album Werewolf and lollipops It has a perfect example. It is in the middle of a little on an irresponsible support of a night that leads to a Costco trip for a emergency contraception pill. In the middle of the way, Oswalt gets silent and vulnerable, just for a member of the noisy audience to break the tension.
Changing gears to address the situation, compare the fall in its set with the construction of the song of a pixies, closes the Heckler with some acute words and then offers the death coup: “You will miss everything great and die angry.” He killed, and because the work of the crowd was without problems, it seemed that it was part of the story instead of a detour.
Short media have placed emphasis on the work of the crowd
In the era of social networks, the work of the crowd has become a giant because the algorithm loves the clips of the size of a bite. From 30 to 60 seconds is all you need to get attention, and comedians like Matt Rife have built huge followers with their shorts. It makes a lot of sense: a five -minute story will have no interest, but the work of crowds is an easy way to show the ingenuity of one in rapid bursts.
Log in Tiktok and you will see it everywhere. Some of Rife’s parts are fun, and you can’t blame him for giving the public what they paid to see. The problem is that people who discover it through Tiktok expect a complete set of crowd jobs. This expectation pushes other comedians to follow the same formula, filming an hour of content to extract viral clips.
It works, but also creates a cycle: the public wants more crowd work because that is what the comedian followers created first.
No more space for workshop
The biggest problem is how this change affects narration. With everyone carrying a camera, comedians run the risk of having unburned jokes and loaded before they are ready. The workshop material is supposed to be a vulnerable process, but if a half premise is filtered online, it is judged before it is completed. Why would comedians risk that when they can simply riff in the room and load?
The work of the crowd is safe. It is one and done, easier to turn into clips and less emotionally linked to personal stories. But if the public buys tickets that expect to see more of the same, they will be disappointed when the show is built around real narration.
The work of crowds in the comedy is more popular than ever, and eventually the hype will fade and the balance will return. Until then, I don’t know how many clips can I bear someone on the stage that says: “Pretty shirt. Where did you get it, the shirt stores?”
