Different fans of humorous genres have their fans, but some people don’t like clowns or sitcoms. Perhaps a stand-up would be the perfect way to laugh or even try yourself as a comedian. This is a comedy genre that does not require scenery, a troupe gathering, or musicians. Only a funny story and spectators are needed.
Origin of the genre
Usually, the source of the stand-up is called a phenomenon such as parrhesia. This is a Greek word, which means that a speaker can cut the truth-uterus, without taking into account the ranks and influence of the people in whom the arrows of his criticism are directed. At the same time, only absolutely free speech, over which coercion, financial interest, and any other methods of pressure did not dominate, could be considered as parrhesia. In other words, this is sometimes quite harsh criticism, generated by the speaker’s inability to remain silent.
Since the 19th century, music halls have become popular in the UK, where comedians with all sorts of monologues could perform in between singers and dancers. The law adopted in the second half of the 20th century, which abolished censorship in theaters, made it possible to talk about a lot, but the music halls quickly gave way to radio and television. The stand-up at the same time simply moved to other clubs, and this contributed to its popularity.
At the moment, the classic stand-up is a performance in which a comedian in a free manner can make fun of any modern phenomena, while not looking back at the “sacred cows”. It was in this form that it began to develop in the United States after 1970 and gained enormous popularity.
Famous stand-up comedians
If we consider the USA as the birthplace of the genre, then Mark Twain became the ancestor. A wonderful writer, satirist and humorist, he was engaged not only in literature. His lectures in San Francisco in 1866 were a great success and were distinguished by such sparkling humor that every student willingly paid a dollar for the right to attend.
Woody Allen, Richard Pryor and Lenny Bruce - these people gave the stand-up a new life. George Carlin still performs, gathers full halls and sprinkles obscenities from the stage so that the inexperienced listener becomes embarrassed. But can it be considered that stand-up is an exclusively Western genre?
Zadornov, Zhvanetsky, Altov, Evdokimov and a galaxy of talented satirists managed to perform during the years of total Soviet censorship. Of course, it’s difficult to joke about everything in such a situation, and the texts had to be combed. Compared with the American, it was an extremely mild option.
Sharp stand-up humor
What are the comedians joking about now? The most popular topic remains, which is usually called "on the wickedness of the day." Judging by the number of topics, we have a lot of anger. Louis Cay, an American comedian of Irish descent, is happy to make fun of children, sexual minorities, modern youth and the elderly, doctors, television presenters, fashion - all in a row. He does it softer than George Carlin, but no less funny. Stand-up is the most liberal genre, there are no strictly defined topics on which you can or cannot joke.
For example, journalistic ethics imposes a certain framework on the author. The requirements of tolerance simply do not allow speaking out negatively about women, children, Africans, and homosexuals. In addition, the journalist is obliged to give out as objective information as possible, excluding his personal opinion. The stand-up comedian is completely free from any framework. Of course, if the speeches cause a furious indignation of the public, the viewer will vote with a wallet, and they simply will not go to his performance.
The line between improvisation and staging
Performances in the stand-up genre suggest a certain amount of improvisation, communication with the audience, although the performance is difficult to build on that alone. Of course, monologues are written, blanks are used in blocks, on which, as if on a skeleton, jokes are accumulated in an arbitrary order. A good comedian focuses on the reaction of the audience, so even the workpiece does not look strained.
An excellent example of improvisation can be seen in the movie “The Nutty Professor”, and it is no coincidence that Eddie Murphy, who himself played in the stand-up genre, looks so reliable in the scene of a spontaneous competition with an impudent and sharp comedian building his numbers on the crude ridicule of random victims from the audience. The standup about the shortcomings of different people is the most fertile topic, extensive and inexhaustible. But humor is just harsh, and it can be bile and even evil. Viewers prefer the first option.