Stand-Up Comedy: The Different Types Of Comedy

760 Words2 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: The influence of comedy

Throughout this Survey of Literary humor class I have learned a great amount concerning different types of comedy. Some types are satire, parody, stand-up, and African-American (race related) comedy. The most preeminent comedians use their personal pain and struggles to generate laughter from an audience. Eugene Bertin stated, “There is a purifying power in laughter. It is truth in palatable form. It is instant vacation. Seeing the comical side of many situations makes life a greater deal easier. It’s like riding through life on sensitive springs that ease every jolt.” Comedy is intended to take you to your “happy place”, and give you the utmost joy. All of your worries should fade when you are watching a comedy show/movie, or when you are …show more content…

Stand-up comedians are able to stand in front of an audience and use personal stories and jokes to create laughter throughout the audience. Dave Chappelle once told this story “Stand-up comedy is usually performed in an auditorium, comedy club, theater, or a bar. One of the most essential things to know before performing is whom you are performing for. An audience can alter what jokes you perform, and how successful your performance is. In stand-up comedy most comedians will ease their audience into the more racy jokes; in other words the comedian will “warm them up.” Lisa Lampanelli’s jokes tend to come close to crossing the line, but she had perfect execution. For example, “You’ve put up more worthless hotels than an autistic kid playing Monopoly.” which was pertaining to Donald Trump. Making people laugh while being offensive is difficult and it takes real talent to be a stand-up …show more content…

You made our class interesting, fun, and informative. Satire and parody will continue to be portrayed in Saturday Night Live, The Simpsons, and The Colbert Report, just to name a few. These shows continue to bring laughter to viewers while also bringing light to present day controversies. Stand-up comedy is a work of art; comedians are able to make people laugh at themselves, their own race, gender, and sexual identity. Bill Cosby said, “Through humor, you can soften some of the worst blows that life delivers. And once you find laughter, no matter how painful your situation might be, you can survive it.” Laughter helps us deal with our everyday struggles in life. Laughter keeps us going and makes us look at the bright side of life. The trick to comedy is being honest is funny…and reality is better than

Show More
Related

  • That's Not Funny By Caitlin Flanagan

    105 Words  | 1 Pages

    “Everyone has a sense of humor. If you don't laugh at jokes, you probably laugh at opinions.” Once said an American poet, essayist, and existentialist philosopher Criss Jami, Killosophy. I also believe that humor and laugh play a big role in our lives. However, there are two types of people’s personality; people who understand humor and more open minded, and those who just cannot get it, and that, in my opinion, just makes their live harder. The article, “That’s Not Funny” by Caitlin Flanagan, is talking about college students that are not allowed to joke because of comedians restrictiveness in what they are talking

    Read More

  • Analysis Of Steve Almond's Funny Is The New Deep

    892 Words  | 2 Pages

    Steve Almond’s “Funny is the New Deep” talks of the role that comedy has in our current society, and most certainly, it plays a huge role here. Namely, through what Almond [Aristotle?] calls the “comic impulse”, we as a people can speak of topics that would otherwise make many of uncomfortable. Almond deems the comic impulse as the most surefire way to keep heavy situations from becoming too foreboding. The comic impulse itself stems from our ability and unconscious need to defend and thus contend with the feeling of tragedy. As such, instead of rather forcing out humor, he implies that humor is something that is not consciously forced out from an author, but instead is more of a subconscious entity, coming out on its own. Almond emphasizes

    Read More

  • Exemplification Essay: Robin Williams Stand-Up Comedy

    777 Words  | 2 Pages

    Throughout his whole career, Williams was always performing standup comedy. While many stand up comedians were using the same routine for almost every show they performed, Williams was performing a different show every night. He would improvise most of his material based on his audiences reaction instead of going into the show with all of his jokes thought out. This material helped change what stand up comedy was (Lombardi). Late comedian Joan Rivers says: “My favorite is Robin Williams. There's nobody like him. His mind is just wonderful. I respect him because he does what I do. I've seen him get up at The Comedy Store, work out a whole Carson shot and then come on Carson and make it look like it's easy. He takes nothing for granted. He knows exactly what he's doing. Robin Williams is one of those people

    Read More

  • The Importance Of Humor In Meika Loe's Aging Our Way

    1943 Words  | 4 Pages

    Bill utilizes his joke telling to ease the tensions surrounding his hearing loss, a common issue for the elderly. It allows him to remain a part of the conversation and maintain his position in social interactions, while deflecting from his physical deficiencies. Ann practices what Loe calls “painful self disclosure” by telling funny stories that happen in her personal life to talk about some of the experiences of discomfort and embarrassment in her personal life, and create a dialogue about them in a smoother, more digestible way. For example, she told a story where she was surprised that someone gave her his cell phone to make a call, and that someone the day before gave her bus fare so she could get home. She was most likely embarrassed from not having what she needed to get through her day two days in a row and certainly felt discomfort from receiving the help of strangers in the process. She dealt with the experience subconsciously by turning it into a funny story. She is using humor to expose her vulnerabilities as she ages and is increasingly unable to care for herself, but in a much smoother and easier to handle way. Both Bill and Ann utilize a sense of humor to address or deflect away from the various deficiencies they experience and as a result the vulnerabilities they

    Read More

  • Satire Essay

    536 Words  | 2 Pages

    According to Everything’s an Argument by Andrea A. Lunsford and John J. Ruszkiewicz, “Humor has always played an important role in argument…” (38). Humor itself is something that activates amusement or laughter. Moreover, in popular culture satire is a tool that is used to point out things in our society. Satire opens the minds of people to philosophies they might completely deny, using humor. There are many elements of satire that identify flaws within our society. A couple of satire elements that will be discussed are irony and exaggeration. In addition, a parody is used in popular culture as a way to mock or mimic situation or person.

    Read More

  • Analysis Of Rappoport

    1135 Words  | 3 Pages

    Richard Pryor once said, “There’s a thin line between to laugh with and to laugh at” (A-Z Quotes). Leon Rappoport, a professor at Kansas State University, believed in the same thin line as Pryor. Rappoport received his BA and MS at New York University, and completed his PhD in 1963 at the University of Colorado (Kansas State University). He studied psychological sciences, and concentrated his studies in decision making and human judgment, even writing a book called Punchlines: The Case for Racial, Ethnic, and Gender Humor (Kansas State University). In another book, The Sword and Shield Metaphor and Other Perspectives, Rappoport claims that humor depends on how the audience receives humor because humor depends on the individual and the experiences the audience has had. The audience can either be on the side of the audience that is getting laughed at, or they can be on the side of the audience that is laughing with other people.

    Read More

  • Analysis Of Status Anxiety By Alain De Botton

    850 Words  | 2 Pages

    Many politically based talk shows focus on controversial topics. Their shows aim to cause discussion over many politically controversial topics. The shows cause people from both sides of politics to argue over topics that usually both sides strongly believe in their opinion. The shows begin to turn into a screaming fest, where one side, of the argument, tries to talk over the other side, while the other does the same thing. It shows that without humor or something else being there to lighten the mood a small debate can turn into a fully heated argument. This shows the power of context and diction. Through the use of a humorful tone, when used in the right time and place, people are able to calmly talk about topics that without it would be a full on argument. Through a comedian’s humorful word choice, he is able to make his points usually without completely enraging his audience. Those who don’t use humor or something else to lighten the mood, end up creating an argument that just grows and grows until both sides are screaming at and denying everything the other side says. However, eventually something is said that lightens the mood. This is usually something somewhat comical that both sides can relate to. Whatever it was that was said becomes the thing that both sides can agrees on, and as a result makes the argument

    Read More

  • O 'Hara's Article' A Serious Business: What Can Comedy Do?

    1027 Words  | 3 Pages

    For this reason, humor holds the capability to bring people together and lead to something, like change. Mary O’Hara writes “[comedy provides] a counterbalance to bigotry and prejudice” (O’Hara 106) to prove that humor can do more than make someone laugh, but to reinforce the truth. Humor is a natural human behavior that allows people to escape the mundane, laugh at themselves and also the world around them. O’Hara also writes that “comedy can have a profound impact on how we feel, and even how we act” (O’Hara 110). If humor can change the way we think and act, then it consequently has the ability to bring forth social

    Read More

  • Analysis Of Sherman Alexie's The Approximate Size Of My Favourite Tumor

    736 Words  | 2 Pages

    Humour was an antiseptic that cleaned the deepest of personal wounds.” Jimmy said (208). Throughout Alexie story many jokes were achieved as an effective humor since it brought laughter “Well, I told her the doctor showed me my X-rays and my favoruite tumour was just about the size of a baseball…” (204) Jimmy said joking about the tragedy of his illness and his imminent death. Dr. Gill Greengross an evolutionary psychologist and anthropologist from the University of New Mexico said “humor can help people deal with tragedies.” So humor is effective and a very good way to cope with

    Read More

  • The Importance Of Political Humor

    1048 Words  | 3 Pages

    James Conroy argues that laughter in serious topics has been regarded through the ages as dangerous, deviant, and subversive; yet equally as refreshing, challenging, and constructive. Political humor is extensively used in almost all countries, but political satire is perceived differently from one country to another. The research question is as follows: what factors make political satire an effective tool that affects politics and policy? I argue that humor is more influential when blended with serious topics, such as international relations or politics. Laughter is a great means to put serious topics under the lenses of critical thinking. The use of humor, and political satire specifically can bring about serious political change. Humor can play all sorts of roles in the political process through being informative, educational and influential while keeping its captive entertaining

    Read More

  • Free Essays - Comparing Time in Macbeth and As You Like It

    528 Words  | 2 Pages

    Comedy differs in the mood it approaches and addresses life. It presents situations which deal with common ground of man’s social experience rather than limits of his behaviour – it is not life in the tragic mode, lived at the difficult and perilous limits of the human condition.

    Read More

  • The Benefits of Laughter

    954 Words  | 2 Pages

    Never forget to laugh. "If you can laugh at it, you can survive it" (Cosby). Life is difficult for everyone. It is how people deal with these strives and struggle is what matters. Sometimes, the best way to get a break from the hardships of life is to simply laugh with friends and family. It’s a Balance process. Some people can be caught up in life’s problems and forget to laugh. Laughter is the mental medicine for life. Laughter supports the health of the body. Laughter can break up the quietness in a room. Laughter can change the room from black and white to a rainbow of colors. Laughter is a result of looking at something in a positive light. Is the glass half empty or half full? Whatever the circumstance, never underestimate the power of a good giggle. Never forget to laugh.

    Read More

  • The Relationship Between Humor and Culture: Emma Jameson

    1114 Words  | 3 Pages

    Similar to many other lively pleasures, humor can only be experienced if it resonates with a person. Without some kind of comprehension, there cannot be any type of reaction. Only once an outlandish statement, inappropriate remark, or unexpected situation, is remotely understood will a person be able to label it comical or sober. Since there are billions of people worldwide with their own languages including it’s respective idioms, euphemisms, the age old saying of “there is truth in every joke” applies to each culture individually.

    Read More

  • The Importance of Humor

    354 Words  | 1 Pages

    Humor has been the source of entertainment throughout history. Today humor is practiced in movies, plays, songs, television shows and radio. Humor has brought fame and fortune to those who have mastered its power.

    Read More

  • Essay About Comedy

    1048 Words  | 3 Pages

    If there is one way to bring a smile to someone’s face, it is laughter. Funny jokes, comical stunts, sarcasm- Every person is different when it comes to what makes them laugh. Some find dry humor comical. Others think sarcasm or joke-filled ranting are the best. ‘Comedy’ is such a broad term, broad enough to allow everyone to find something they find comical. In fact, ‘comedy’ includes a specific type of drama, one where the protagonist is joyful and happy endings are expected. Comedy is like a drug; it allows you to escape reality. When we say the word ‘comedy’ in the present, we are generally referring to a type of performance which provides humor. However, in its broadest sense, comedy has only one purpose: comedy makes people smile and

    Read More

More about Stand-Up Comedy: The Different Types Of Comedy

Open Document